Poem Open for Your Link:

 

Laying on the grass alone
I left the door open...
                                Sandra
 

 

Your link should be a three-liner that opens this poem. The above two lines will be the end of the poem. Basically what you need to add is a haiku that gives meaning to the final two lines.

Form to send in your answer to the above poem as a link. 

Come back  to see the entries submitted and see if you agree with the winner!

The current winning verse linked to:

may is at doorway
clouds are traveling as to
a wedding – in white


.................. Jasminka

IS

staff in hand, I follow
wither the road shall take me.
..................Andrew

There were so many links that  could have been borrowed to fit  here that now that I have made my choice, I am wishing I had picked more. Yet, when I read them all over again, I still like this link the best. My reasons are many. By Andrew's use of "whither" (which at first threw me off of liking the link) he gives a nod of recognition to "wedding" by using an archaic word such as in the ceremony. Also, the idea of "following" relates to the idea of marriage's "wither thou goes, I will follow" concept. Yet when one reads the link, the strongest idea is of someone enjoying the beautiful May day by going on a hike which is the very opposite of going to a wedding. Too many entries got caught up in the wedding concept and continued that. Nothing wrong with that, but Andrew made the twist away by going for a hike and yet through his use of the language and the images, was able to make the subtle connection to marriage. It is good that the last two lines give the image "starting out" that echoes "doorway" from the first line. While many of the links offered various emotional states - sadness, allergies, aloneness, impending gloom, questions of whether marriage was the right thing, etc. - Andrew's link displays complete trust in what he is doing and where he is going. This calmness and total acceptance of whatever is going to be links the poem back to the clouds and nature being nature. 

 

Winner was picked from these poems:

Tears, not for a bride,
but allergy to grass.

but the sunlight beams
so bright my eyes are tearing

black tuxedos
have silver linings
 

alone at the reception

dolmas & sweet white Bordeaux

A cloud passes over
Dreaming in daylight

 

Doctor's on the way,
Frantic parents to be,
a newborn

Time is drawn near,
Tears are among us,
A eulogy is said.

gliding across the infinite
summer is near.

 

Maekuzuki
for-get-me-not are blue
cannot go out like a lamb

Love is at window ­
Entering or leaving?

January bitter loving
melting snowflakes down my spine

 

That flower not picked last year
I wonder: is It still there?
 
 
across the canal
a blue heron lands
and gulps a fish

 

My fingers blurred with ink
I feel a storm coming

Words conquering the paper
A gallop of black horses

Little white ships
Sinking into the sky
 

A ladybird in my hair
tangled up, captured,
seeks her way out


Snow flying freely
As do his fists..again

 

Rose petal falling -

Drifting dreamily down to
The snow covered ground.

 

dew on grass
calls my feet outside

green sprouts soil huddle, fearing
horizon funeral clouds

April's mud reeks mortality
stricken from May's guest list

 

Faeries fly through the portal
To revel in the warm wind

As angelic doves
Perch upon Heaven's gateway
love reborn anew

 

old gray pussycat
warm in grandma's lap

once again by myself
I wear a shroud - of black

her dress has lace
pale and pretty as cherry blossom.

softly as wind she pauses
sighing through whispering pines

Stiff - knuckles buckled
Sleepless - senses atrophied
Age - I surrender

 

Fresh earth stretches its roots while
Blossoms fade within the house

hurling down the mountain
thunder, like black bowling balls

a white gown floating
along the skyline looking
forward to this day

seven color flower
blooms in amber
a warm greeting

 
She journeys home and finds peace
in a purring tawny cat.

A sweet pause on the
Threshold of new life


Through your pink eyes alone
I feel a sorrow amplified

Green is everywhere
New life springs eternal now
Spring has come to stay

black crawling on sky
sun is pale

flowers in showers, raining
neither party complaining.


FIRST WIN OF 2001

pinned-back ears and wagging tail
peak over the garbage can
................................Kimi Rose 

IS:

Scanning the wet streets
All senses at full alert
Hunting the next trick
..............................W. V. Kahler

Maybe a word of explanation why this link was picked as winner will clarify how linking works. As you see in the first link we have the images indicating a dog and a garbage can. W. V Kahler's link starts out ambiguous enough with the first two lines that could apply to the actions of a dog so the reader feels these lines are an elaboration of the scene. Then whap! in the very last word, Kahler changes the subject of the poem from a dog to a prostitute. By using the euphemism of "trick" for prostitute, the reader is, even in the moment of realizing that the subject has been switched, still able to make a slim connection to the dog due to our thinking of "dogs - tricks - trick dog". Beyond this and much deeper, is the social implication that such women are treated 'like dogs'. Also, I see the word "hunting" in the last line. This again associates the person with the dog. Because the first verse did not say "dog" but kept the image only by implication, Kahler continued this mood perfectly. Kahler also kept the scene the same (the alley) while skillfully moving the emphasis from a dog to a person. This link is absolutely genius. It is this shift that is so admired in renga writing and in doing the maekuzuki. Thanks for all the links! 


May - June, 2000 Poem and Winner!

guilty secret
taking pleasure
alone in the kitchen


.................... manhole

Slicing, dicing wet celery
It squirts my naked hands.

...................Abs 

March - April, 2000 Winner

Weave succulent tales of
pulpy oranges, bitten and
dripped through parted lips.

.............................nanobody

hide and seek in the orchard
butterflies don't tell secrets

...............................jen

December, 1999 Maekuzuki:

if i could see myself on paper,
reflected in the ink from someone else's pen,
could I be seduced? - chizoba

Swirling black and white ink-drops
Mirror-like and tempting
I could - so I crumple up the paper.

..............................ABS

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