Photo credit: WANDAROCKS (Wanda Ruggeria)
Julie Flanders is a master lyrical shape-shifter. Over the years, her award-winning songwriting skills (honed since her teens) have morphed into related manifestations as a bestselling poet and her use of neuro-linguistic programming in her hypnosis/ coaching practice. We thought Flanders was an ideal person to rev up our Ideablog’s “Discoveries” theme because her varied portfolio of career successes is a case study of what great things can happen when one never gives up on discovering—especially the untapped potential within oneself. As she writes here, she didn’t set out to write a book of poetry, but as a lifelong collaborative creator, she wanted to reconnect her own independent spark which eventually coalesced into her poetry collection Joyride. And she continues to explore new musical forms with her band, “The October Project” which has released (in their namesake month!) their latest album, “The Book of Rounds: 21 Songs of Grace,” resplendent with their signature: mesmerizingly moody layered harmonies. We predict these will cast as powerful a hypnotic spell on you as they have upon our office. As October always heralds the seasonal shift towards the colder, contemplative months of the year, we wish you the thrill of unexpected discoveries.
~Victoria C. Rowan, Ideasmyth Creatrix-in-Chief
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This poem was written from a photo by William DiCecca (whose FB name is Bill DiCamera), which inspired me with its quiet mystic beauty. I seem to remember it as an image of white birds rising from snow, though perhaps they were actually dark birds that changed in the light of my imagination.
Surprise of Angels
From the nest of snow
on the roof of the morning
white birds rise
into surprising angels
of the same dark substance
as the man
who sees them emerge
from no
thing
into nothing
into something
into something miraculous
See more of Julie Flanders’ Featured Creative posts on our Ideablog
~~~#1 Bestselling Amazon author, Julie Flanders is known for her passionate and haunting texts.
With deceptively simple words, she guides readers through the mysteries of the familiar to a deeper understanding of life and love, death and loss, miracles of perception, and the magic of the ordinary.
An award-winning songwriter, Flanders is the lyricist for the band, October Project, which she co-founded with composer Emil Adler, and which is still celebrated for its two groundbreaking albums recorded for Epic Records that together have sold over 1/2 million copies worldwide. October Project is set to release its newest studio album, The Ghost of Childhood, in 2016.
Flanders’ songs with many artists have been widely featured on television and in film. She is considered an innovator in both the creation and marketing of independent music. Her newest work, The Book of Rounds: 21 Songs of Grace, an original cycle of musical rounds, is being released by Sounds True Records in September of 2015.
Flanders is also an acclaimed Achievement Expert and Master Success Coach, mentoring creative leaders and innovators and forward-thinkers in business, design and the arts. Her client list includes business visionaries, Academy Award winners, New York Times best-selling authors, and social influencers who are shaping the future now.
