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VALUES Bring Us Together
Express yourself - Here, Now and Wow. From the Page, to the Stage, to the Digital Age
Welcome to the Global Poetry Showcase in support of World Values Day.
We bring the worlds of values and poetry together and want to bring out the poet in everyone. This is an opportunity for people in communities all over the world to express thoughts, feelings, wishes and dreams about the topic of values.
Join with others in your community (school, family, club, company, street, village, church, group etc) to apply your creative energy into poetic words, in written, performed or digital formats. Poetry is a wonderful way to spark thinking, reflection and conversation.
The theme is VALUES Bring Us Together
Just express yourself in poetry!
Experienced poets and beginners are all welcome as are different styles and formats of poetry. You can enjoy a safe space to inspire poetry-led sharing, thinking, insight, reflection, exploration and conversation.
This is a Showcase rather than a competition so please strive to include people from all backgrounds and groups as well as providing relevant help where needed – this guide might help. We will publish a selection of poems to coincide with World Values Day celebrations in October and continue forward for a year.
Register your interest for Global Poetry Showcase 2023 to receive:
- Global Poetry Showcase Guide: Values theme, ideas for how to spread the word, invite members of your community, write poems, how to collect and submit the poems into the showcase platform.
- Link to pay the £25 recommended donation to cover the cost of submissions. Your donation might be more or less than £25 – you decide. All proceeds will be reinvested in developing the Global Poetry Showcase.
Read the short community guidelines.
Invite members of your community to start writing and/or recording poems ready for submission. Plan your celebration to share poetry 1-31 October.
Use Global Poetry Showcase Submissions link https://artsandvalues.creactos.net/ poetry to share with your community members to collect your community poems. Collect your community poems between end of May and the 23rd September submission date.
Attend the Global Poetry Showcase Meet ups for creative tips and techniques for all categories GLOBAL POETRY SHOWCASE MEET & GREET Tickets, Multiple Dates | Eventbrite.
Follow up with community members to collect your community poems.
Review the poetry submissions and recognise and encourage participation.
Enter your community’s 5 chosen poems by midnight Friday 23rd September (BST) 2023 with your community name, region and country plus poet’s initials only (no names please). Email to alan@servicebrandglobal.com. The categories are as follows for submissions (which can be written word in any language (please provide English translation), accompanied by artwork, and accompanied by a reading (any language):
- Pre-school
- Primary
- Secondary
- Further Education
- Adult
Collect and share your community poems (inc performance and on social media) during 1st to 31st October to celebrate World Values Day and use #WorldValuesDay #GlobalPoetryShowcase #COMMUNITY #values #poetry
The Poets Review Panel chooses a diverse selection of poems for each category. The ‘favourites’ will be published on www.valuesalliance.net and www.worldvaluesday.com on 20th October 2022 and then further sets of poems selected by the Review Panel will be published each month from November 2022 to September 2023.
Please make sure the poems you submit abide by the Rules to avoid disappointment as no exceptions can be made.
Enjoy the Global Poetry Showcase and we look forward to receiving your poems!

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Poems
FAMILY
The first people to hold you,
The first people who told you,
I will love you forever,
even in rainy weather.
Family is like a role you were born with,
An oath a swear to love a behold with,
To share and share all the great moments with,
Until you aren’t there so make memories you can live with.
Our trust for each other is
unbreakable
Our smiles for each other is
unshakable
And our love for each other
will always be there
Even in the darkest of times.
Some families are like a circle of love and strength
others are made of smiles and styles.
Some members of the family are kind and kindle
Other members of the family are sky and sly.
How cheerfully they
seem to grin
How easily they
Seem to spin
They will love you forever
Even in rainy weather.
A. S. 11, submitted by URUNGA PUBLIC SCHOOL, NSW AUSTRALIA
CHALK AND CHEESE
I’m the product of oppression, history of segregation;
stop and search without possession, negative discrimination…
Guardian-reading chitter-chatter! Can you really tell me that you
aren’t fed up of Black Lives Matter? Don’t you dare knock down that statue!
Feelings of identity are all-important to our being:
show respect and try to see our reasoning for disagreeing.
Foreign workers have vacated, left us short of vital labour,
since your xenophobic hatred scared away my Polish neighbour.
Our once-proud and mighty nation, forced by European muscle
to adopt their regulation, had become a slave to Brussels.
Don’t descend to shouting names at those whose outlook we can’t fathom;
Brexiteers against Remains, at odds across a mighty chasm.
If you want a stable future for your families and children,
learn to work together, put your differences aside and build one!
Get your Covid vaccination, wear your mask in public buildings.
This protects the population: be responsible and willing.
I won’t be a guinea pig for unsafe Covid vaccination.
Masks are useless and infringe your liberty; just fabrication.
Always there is common ground, a principle we surely shall use:
Let us hope it can be found so we can reconnect with values
JHL, 55, UK GOLDEN THREAD – TAPESTRY OF LIFE COMMUNITY
My angel’s image
I breathe in
with my eyes closed
The salty scent of the air
In my nose
Goes to my throat
Deep in my lungs.
And I hear
my angel’s voice
whispering in my ears.
I breathe in with my eyes closed
And I smell
the fragrance of an old lemon tree
in an old window sill.
I breathe in
my eyes are still close.
And I feel
A feather touch
In my head
and I smile
I open my eyes
And I see
The unforgettable image of my father
Smiling at me.
Now I feel so calm and secure.
And I breath in…
M.D., 51, ALBANIA, ALBANIA FRIENDS
For Clint, (It’s a blessing to have known true love)
I met a man who baked me cakes For birthdays and of course, The holidays and special times, But sometimes just because.
I met a man who watched the Simpsons, OMG, the Simpsons? He’d laugh and laugh and laugh, Which made me laugh
I met a man with no sweet tooth, Not even for chocolate! When it came to whip cream, He’d let me have my fun.
I met a man who liked to dance, Especially in the rain. He’d pull me from the couch, And make me go outside with him.
I met a man who wore blue jeans and tee-shirts, But he put on a button-down, Coral-colored shirt and uncomfortable shoes, Because I asked him to.
I met a man who wanted to be Free from worldly cares. He let me grow in the wildflowers that sprung up around his home
I met a man who wanted to be Free from worldly cares. He let me grow in the wildflowers that sprung up around his home
I met a man who held me close When nights were fiercely dark. A lighthouse between the rocky cliffs That led to peaceful shores.
I met a man who left me here To travel on alone, But in the gentle breeze that blows, He whispers still to me.
I met a man who loved me.
TEACHER, MIAMI HIGH SCHOOL, MIAMI ARIZONA, UNITED STATES
The Wheel of Life
A voice from the dark call out
When I am trapped on a desert of gunshots
The dread of these recently freed slaves
With no knowledge or experience of warfare
Only a confidence in their virtue
Marching forward with extreme boldness
The stories of subdued cities announced their arrival
The tales of defeated kingdoms heralded their entry
To deny entry was to self-destruct
His tears are sunflower seeds
To allow passage was a chance to believe
My eyes compressing into two blue pearls
My heart and lungs disappearing, leaving no trace
Leaving only my bones and the soles of my shoes
Oh! The blessing of associating with the Chosen ones
The excitement as they walked through our lands
The opportunity to hear their tales of triumph
The chance to join and maybe become one with them
My joy to mix with the children and women
To watch as the men shared from our farms
To help this great nation in their journey
To experience their healing
It is time to keep the promise
I.T., 10, GROUP SCHOOL AFIA NSIT ATAI
NSIT UBIUM LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA
AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

Poppie’s thoughts…
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Poppie’s thoughts…
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New Category - World Values Day Song Submissions
VALUES Bring Us Together
The Global Poetry Showcase is inclusive and encourages submissions from songwriters, composers, bands, and recording artists everywhere. This is open to all, regardless of nationality, country origin or background.