Winning Poems November 2010
Featured Reader & Judge: Cora Lee Palma-Hayden
First Place:
I READ YOU
by Tom Pangia
like eager fingers
on brail
I hear you
like hummingbird’s wings
hovering over a flower `
I breathe
your bouquet
like fine wine
I see
the glow of your body
in simshine
I taste you
like rich spices
of the orient
I feel
your warmth
like the glow of a firefly
searching
for love
Second Place:
DECEMBER FUNERAL
by Riva Dunaief
Today we freeze
memory, forget other days,
warm days, filled T
with no one gone away.
The kitchen icy now,
chills our mugs of tea,
the stove contracting
as cold siphons heat.
Sleet taps windows in code,
the message an old bedtime
story told to a child who
believed people will live
happily ever alter.
Outside, ice forms
on poppy stems. Yet,
tomorrow we will
think of seeds tucked in
beds of mulch, and know
spring will come.
Honorable Mention:
Collateral Damage
by Janice Fine
I promised to marry Rob,
he promised to come home from the war.
But the telegram: We regret to inform you. ..
Rob’s brother came back
to his family,
His family and my family
acted as if fate brought him back -- to me.
Sixty years of marriage
I don’t know the man
Barely recognize him in photos,
try not to pose with him alone
They say he’s quite sophisticated
with his steel gray hair, wrap-around sun glasses,
and his pin-striped suits spell success.
In my mirrored enchantment,
I see Rob’s glowing eyes and vibrant skin,
his polished shoes, laced with sunshine,
the way it was the day we met, after a terrible storm --
He’s coming from one end of the street,
me from the other.
We meet in the middle.
Rob and I
will not fade, grow old, be ordinary,
compromise our love.
I’m lonely after a rain.
Honorable Mention:
The Me That I Am
by Cyndee Bowdorie
Do you see me?
Oh, not this worn, twisted form
My soul, for now calls home
But the real me, my true self
Limbs long, lean, Amazon-strong i
A daughter of Isis
Running toward the promise of a new day
A beam of sunlight made flesh
Embracing and embraced by all Creation
Do you see me?
Oh, not this weary, wrinkled visage
Marked by the tracks of too many tears
But the real me, my true self
Face smooth, clear, and radiant-pure
A child of Gaia
Dancing barefoot in the moonlight
Kissed by stars and ocean breezes
Embracing and embraced by Eternity
Do you see me?
Look deep inside
Past my battle scarred heart
Deep into the place where my spirit dwells
A brilliance shining out from the darkness
Look closely!
You will see a thing of beauty
If you would just see me
Honorable Mention:
Hitching the Keys, 1972
by John Palozzi
Star rays floated onto the peaceful field
where Jimmy and I lay upon our sleeping bags
Cannabis, our beagle, sat at attention
his ears perked like sentinels listening for intruders
We settled ourselves next to the fence
that bounded the property
We could see the house in the distance
which appeared sleeping for the night
as we should be
It was a place we found ourselves
after forcing that drunken fool
weaving all over the highway
to stop and let us out
A place on a Key between two bridges
along the two lane highway leading to Key West.
A place where songs of insects
would lull us to sleep as soon as we could settle
Headlights appeared suddenly making their way to the house
Then a flashlight walked toward us
A large man, black in the night, wanted to know
"He was drunk and we made him drop us off
We’re going to Key West in the morning"
The flashlight went back to the house
Cannabis lay down between us
Unconsciousness overcame our minds
Morning light illuminated our scene
After we rolled our bags
and started walking to the road
we finally realized where we slept the night
and who possessed the flashlight
The sign read: Police Station
Special Contest: Rondeau
Sowing Seeds
by Shirley Kent
I went to seed with humble pride,
With dignity, with life’s long guide.
Yet, there remained such mystery
Of how this came to mortal me,
What pregnant meanings it implied.
In childhood, nothing to provide
Just floating on soft moning tide.
Like blossoms spent, with irony,
I went to seed?
Slow swelling bud to fruit, inside
Progeny, SEEDS, each fortified,
I hoped, with deep profundity,
Broadcasting timed maturity
And so with this all clarified
I went to seed!