About the Book
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a poem is worth a thousand sentiments. An Old Fart and a Thousand Sentiments takes you on adventure into the fertile imagination of an Old Fart with an unbridled poetic license. Brace yourself for designed lyrical chaos that covers a wide range of fascinating subjects including love, breakups, fantasy, words of wisdom, spirituality, nature, freedom, civil rights, life, death, healing, motivation, humor, the COVID-19 pandemic from the viruses' point of view, etc. This creative lyrical literary resource highlights over twenty-five styles of poetry (and how they're structured) including a few that were created by Phetote Mshairi based on variations of other styles. Take a stroll through the wilderness of wonders with an Old Fart and discover one of your new favorite forms of poetry in An Old Fart and a Thousand Sentiments. Ever since Old Fart could form sentences, he has been sentenced to a life of making sense of life by translating sentiments into rhythmic sentences call poetry. Poetry is an artform that has countless clearly defined styles. How a poem is written determines the type of poem it is. (If the formula is off, it becomes a different potion.) It's up to the discipline, skill, vocabulary, courage, and imagination of the writer to maintain the parameters and integrity of the form of poem they're writing. An Old Fart and a Thousand Sentiments is Phetote Mshairi's ode to the artistry of poetry.
About the Author: Phetote (Fee toh tee) Mshairi (Em shah ee ree) is a poet/interdisciplinary artist with Tulsa Artist Fellowship; owner/publisher at New Greenwood, LLC; Vice-Chair of the Poetry Committee and member of the Programming Committee at Living Arts of Tulsa; and a Greenwood Art Project artist from Tulsa, OK (2021). He got his Bachelor of Business Administration from Langston University. He is the editor and publisher of RELEASE ME, the Spirits of Greenwood Speak anthology; writer/publisher of An Old Fart and a Thousand Sentiments; and writer/publisher of publications in the works from children's books to anthologies advocating literacy (Tulsa Artist Fellows Inciting: LITERACY). He has curated over 100 poetry events and performed in over 500 live multi-disciplinary collaborative events. Phetote is also a mentor with 100 Black Men of Tulsa, community activist, poetry slam champion, copywriter, songwriter, host, actor, keynote speaker, and perpetual learner. Ever since Phetote could form sentences, he's been sentenced to a life of making sense of life by translating sentiments into rhythmic sentences. Phetote Mshairi writes for those at a loss for words.
Arthur Haywood is an illustrator and muralist. His work celebrates the wonder of stories. His paintings are seen on murals for the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Summer of Soul film, Sprocket Mural Festival, his book "The Great Library" and Space and Time Magazine. He exhibits his paintings in Paris, New York and Pennsylvania and completes commissions. Creating murals and illustrations to inspire others and engage youth in reading is his passion. He is focused on making murals for libraries and schools in addition to book covers. He earned a B.F.A in Illustration from The Maryland Institute College of Art, before furthering his study of classical drawing and painting at Cambridge Street Studios in Philadelphia and Grand Central Atelier in New York. He is a recipient of the 2020-2021 Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship at the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris. There he developed murals to inspire a love of learning and cultural appreciation. He worked with students at Lycée Paul Lapie, Ecollectif and André Malraux Elementary school to create murals depicting students of diverse origins reading and the stories that have engaged them. He is a recipient of the 2022 - 2023 Tulsa Artist Fellowship where he is continuing his series of paintings for schools to inspire reading. Poet, curator, President of the Poetry/Spoken-word Committee at Living Arts of Tulsa, Secretary and Mentor at 100 Black Men of Tulsa, host, etc. Arthur Malcolm Dixon is co-founder, lead translator, and Managing Editor of the
multilingual literary journal Latin American Literature Today. His book-length
translations to date include the novels Immigration: The Contest by Carlos Gámez Pérez and There Are Not So Many Stars by Isaí Moreno and the verse collection Intensive Care by Arturo Gutiérrez Plaza. His work has been featured in Asymptote, Boston Review, International Poetry Review, Literary Hub, Poesía, Trafika Europe, and World Literature Today. He also works as a community interpreter in Tulsa and has been a Tulsa Artist Fellow since August 2020. Translated "Ode to a Mother's Nature" from English to Spanish.
Translated "Forbidden Love of Moonlight and Moon Flower" from English to Spanish, then back to English.
Translated "My Muse" from English to Spanish.
Translated "If I Were Invisible" from English to Spanish. Chelsea T. Hicks' writing has been published in McSweeney's, Poetry magazine, the LA Review of Books, Indian Country Today, the Believer, The Audacity, The Paris Review, and shown at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. She is a recent graduate from the creative writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts and her first book, A Calm & Normal Heart, is forthcoming from Unnamed Press on June 21, 2022. She is a LIFT Awardee at work on a poetry collection in Wahzhazhe ie with support from the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation and in 2021, she received an honorable mention from the Ford Foundation for promotion of Indigenous-language creative writing. She is organizing an Indigenous language creative writing workshop called Words of the People, scheduled for October 26-29. Translated "Ode to a Mother's Nature" from English to Wahzhazhe ie (Osage), then back to English Clotilde Hill RN, BSN, MHR is a 77-year-old African American woman who has lived through the 1960 era of civil rights unrest and legislations. She grew up in an atmosphere of discrimination and racial segregation. Her belief as an educator, wife, mother, registered nurse, and person with a high degree of compassion is that people have more similar needs and struggles than differences. Her translation of "Mama in the Den of Polar Bears" is an effort to aid in the attempt to promote awareness of a past era doomed to re-occur if we as a society become complacent and accepting of the circumstances surrounding an unequal social climate. Translated "Mama in the Den of Polar Bears" from English to Spanish, then back to English. Sarah Ahmad - Sarah Ahmad's artwork has been featured in exhibitions nationally and internationally including the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, the Sharjah Art Museum in United Arab Emirates, public art projects in Tennessee, and solo shows in Pakistan and the United States. Her work has garnered mention in national publications, including the New York Times, artnet news, and Hyperallergic; internationally in Gulf News, and numerous publications in Pakistan. She has been a guest on NPR's Public Radio Tulsa. Sarah continues to create and display her work in various places around the world. Translated "If I Were Invisible" from English to Urdu (national language of Pakistan).
