Media Press
Poems for Peace: Media and Press
Persuing Peace, One Poem at a Time.
By Tony Evans
Idaho Mountain Express, December 23rd, 2009.
Click here to download a copy of the article. It is on Page 7.
Make A Difference Now Partners with Poems for Peace
By Theresa Grant
United States of America (Press Release) November 10, 2008 --
Lauri Bunting, founder of Poems for Peace welcomed partnership with Make A Difference Now and the children they help in Africa. Bunting traveled over to Tanzania to setup her poetry and yoga program as a volunteer. While she was in Tanzania, she talked to some of the children Make A Difference Now helps. She talked about the meaning of peace, where it abides, how it is created, how it is destroyed, and as peacemakers, actions that they can take to contribute to world peace. Together the children and Bunting explored the five aspects of peace-inner peace, family peace, communal peace, environmental peace and global peace.
In discussing symbols of peace, the children volunteered things that had personal significance-graceful giraffes; soft, round and calm elephants; fragrant and colorful flowers. One child announced that the National Anthem made him feel peaceful inside. Bunting asked him if it was because of the meaning of the words or if perhaps it was the experience of singing with others. There was an eagerness among all the children to answer the questions. The consensus was that a group of people singing about peace, unity and wisdom creates a profound sense of peace.
When it seemed like the energy in the room was waning, Bunting had the students stand-up and introduced them to a few simple yoga poses that incorporated breath. She explained that in her hometown of Sun Valley, Idaho, she teaches yoga and it is one method of feeling inner peace. Inevitably, in each class when asked if anyone knew what yoga was, someone would say, "it's that food that is creamy and sweet!" Although poetry seemed like a foreign concept to many of the children, it was not an obstacle. Bunting broadly defined poetry as a written expression from the heart - an inner truth. The goal was for each child to tap into his/her own creativity. They were invited to write a traditional poem, a story, a prayer or a letter. The more visual thinkers are encouraged to draw a picture or symbol of peace and then explain the picture.
Make A Difference Now is seeking more volunteers to teach the children about poetry and help with other projects. For more information visit: www.MakeADifferenceNow.org
Poems for Peace
Visions of hope through the hearts and minds of our youth.
November 2008, news from The Dalai Lama Foundation
Periodically the Dalai Lama Foundation features an organization whose mission is aligned with ours - This month's organization is Poems for Peace.
Poems for Peace is an international poetry exchange that gives youth a means to transcend prejudices, embrace differences and recognize the common thread that unites us all. Cross-cultural connections are established though the sharing of ideas, hopes, fears and dreams, weaving a strong and colorful tapestry of peace. As Poems for Peace founder, Lauri Bunting explains, "the goal is to raise awareness and allow curiosity and empathy to replace prejudice, apathy and fear." Each poem is posted on the Poems for Peace website, giving each message an infinite capacity to be heard
Loosely defined, Poems for Peace describes a poem as any written expression, letter, prayer, story or artwork that conveys a heart-felt message, a personal truth. "It's through these expressions of the heart that one can see beyond the constructs of the mind," asserts Bunting.
Poems for Peace invites individuals to contemplate the meaning of peace as it pertains to their own lives, their families, their communities, the earth and the world. They are asked to consider the meaning of peace, where it abides, how it is created, how it is destroyed, and as peacemakers, how they can contribute to world peace.
According to Bunting, "There is an endemic thirst for peace right now and the opportunity to write peace poems is the cool water so desperately sought." She adds, "I've been deeply touched by how graciously this project has been received."
Contributors include India's "untouchables," Tanzania's AIDS orphans, Israel's war-battered youth, as well as young peace-makers from Nepal, Jamaica, The United States, and Tibet Autonomous Region of China. In a poignant message from Israel, Muslims and Jews collaborated in art to show a united effort towards peace.
Poems for Peace continues to look for ways to extend its reach into the world.
Locally, in Ketchum, Idaho where Poems for Peace is based, the focus has been on schools and camps. Looking forward, Poems for Peace hopes to expand into interfaith and refugee communities and also work with special needs youth. Internationally, Poems for Peace will continue to cooperate with schools and youth organizations.
According to Bunting, The hidden gift of Poems for Peace has been the extraordinary people that she has met. "I am so grateful for each encounter, which has altered the prism through which I see the world. Whereas I once saw a world of problems, I now see a world of problem solvers."
Poems for Peace
Visions of a hope through the hearts and minds of our youth
November 23, 2008, news from Buddha Smile School
Last spring, Buddha Smile School received an invitation for their students to participate in an international poetry exchange called Poems for Peace. With great enthusiasm, eleven-year-old Daisy Saini embraced the idea and inspired 14 students from grades 5 and 6 to ponder the meaning of peace and express their thoughts in pictures and poems. Daisy also wrote a peace poem and her enthusiasm was contagious-many of the adults at BSS contributed their musings too.
Poems for Peace is a cross-cultural poetry exchange that aims to strengthen understanding between youth worldwide, enabling curiosity and knowledge to replace prejudice, apathy and fear. Students are asked to consider the meaning of peace, where it abides, how it is created, how it is destroyed and how, as peacemakers, they can contribute to world peace. All poems are posted on the Poems for Peace website, www.poemsforpeace.org.
Poems for Peace loosely describes a poem as any written expression that conveys a heart-felt message, an inner truth. It may appear as a letter, prayer, story, traditional poem or a picture. It's through these expressions of the heart that one can see beyond the constructs of the mind and appreciate the common thread that unites us all.
So far, Poems for Peace has received poems from India, Nepal, Tibet Autonomous Region of China, Israel, Jamaica, Tanzania and The United States. For more information about Poems for Peace or to contribute a poem, please visit www.poemsforpeace.org.
Three poems:
Listen to our Prayers
God, please listen to our words of prayer:
By reading and writing, we become more skillful.
Always do the right things.
Let us make peace shine all over the world.
By Dharam Chand Kumar, 5th Grade, Age 12
My Heart Fills with Peace
When stars and moon get up at night
My heart fills with peace
When butterflies sit upon the flowers
To collect nectar and pollen
When rivers and seas dance
Then my heart fills up with peace.
By Mamta Kumar, 5th grade, age 10
Gandhi's Teaching
Never see or speak wrong or cause harm to others.
Never pay attention to the negative things in the world.
This is the teaching of Mahatma Gandhi.
Everyone try to practice this valuable lesson,
Which will help everyone to attain peace,
A state of mind with no wars,
Only silence.
By Shiv Kumar Patel, 6th grade, age 11
Living artfully for peace
Poems can create healthy links
by DANA DUGAN - Friday July 4th, 2008, news from the Idaho Mountain Express
In times of war, crisis and chaos artists of all types get busy. Conflict stirs the creative juices, and in doing can be a link between disparate factions. Connections are made, perspectives may be better understood and art survives.
Lauri Bunting, a yoga teacher and board member of the Sun Valley Film Festival, with encouragement from festival director Mary Gervase, considered how she could emphasize the International Day of Peace, which coincides with the last day of the film festival in September.
"I wanted to tie that in," she said. "First, I thought we could have the kids in our community write about peace and then I thought, 'why not get kids from all over to participate.'"
Her concept flowered into being as Poems for Peace, a cross-cultural poetry exchange between children in this community and children around the world. The mission is to "create a means for children to express who they are and connect with others on the same level," she said. "By transcending racial, religious, socioeconomic, physical and intellectual barriers, a common thread is revealed thereby weaving together a strong and colorful fabric of peace."
Through networking with friends and acquaintances around the world, response has come in from many places, including Jamaica, India, Israel, Nepal, Tibet, Tanzania, Bangladesh, The Philippines, England, and across U.S.
The poetry, broadly defined, is any "written expression, letter, prayer, story, poem or artwork that conveys a heart-felt message, a personal truth," Bunting said.
In local schools the project was already being bandied about before summer vacation.
"Summer is non-structured but I'm receiving poems," Bunting said. "They can be emailed to p4p@cox.net, or sent to Poems for Peace, Box 6567, Ketchum, ID 83340."
Bunting and a few other valley residents will introduce the project to AIDS-orphans in Tanzania with Hailey resident Theresa Grant's non-profit Make A Difference.
"I'll be bringing poems from here, working with the kids, teaching yoga to staff and kids and doing poems for peace," Bunting said.