INDIVIDUAL POEMS - 33 winners with 15 or more votes
25 votes
*1.
my own name
repeated like a mantra
a hollow sound
I touch her hand, then her face
as her mind slips farther away
Thelma Mariano
15 votes
*6
New boots and a peach –
odd that the moment I feel
grit beneath my sole
is the moment I notice
my teeth strike against the stone.
James Roderick Burns
16 votes
*7
idly I watch
the wren from my window
coming and going
and trilling -
last night there were stars like this
Doreen King
27 votes
*12
If only the leaves
were not so green,
this lover’s heart
might enjoy
a little emptiness.
M. Kei
22 votes
*16
second time around -
you hold me tighter now
even in sleep
lest I visit the place
where old wounds lie
Thelma Mariano
18 votes
*17
With a groan
like the breaking of a man’s heart,
the chokecherry tree
comes down in a white fury
of lightning and blossoms.
M. Kei
16 votes
*18
no reply needed
for the mute moon
on this pond
but the silence at home
is screaming for words
Darrell Lindsey
28 votes
*26
fireflies-
the conversation turns
towards the stars
I wonder if it is we who've
been captured in a jar
Collin Barber
17 votes
*28
another winter
colder than the last
I'm still waiting
for the day she tells me
she wants a divorce
Collin Barber
16 votes
*29
my dogwood
sheds its blossoms
without fuss–
friends insist I hear
their latest bad news
Jack Prewitt
19 votes
*31
a white butterfly
settles on my boot,
folds its wings…
for as long as it takes
and a moment more
Jack Prewitt
25 votes
*36
the sound of water
through a curtain of willow –
isn’t this how love begins
first an opening and then
the spilling over
Lynne Rees
17votes
*44
on her cell phone
outside the doctor's office
"the bone scan was clear"
half a block later
I stop for the lilacs
Philomene Kocher
16 votes
*46
I know not
of gods or grace
but am content
to hold your hand and
eat this apple with you
Zane Parks
18 votes
*62
a pile of stones
deep in the woods
all that’s left
of someone’s life
built day upon day
Dave Bacharach
15 votes
*65
I want you to make
something beautiful, she says
She cups her cold hands
over my face - mother, why
am I not enough?
Fiona Lee
20 votes
*70
Father
in the nursing home...
ever smaller
the circles he walks
the circles of his thoughts
Irene Golas
18 votes
*71
each morning
it flourishes along the fence
star jasmine
I planted there where
you said it wouldn't grow
Amelia Fielden
32 votes (this poem got the most votes)
*88
unexpectedly
a letter from you
after all these years
I discover the lost me
in your memory
Linda Jeannette Ward
16 votes
*110
My little brother
Punished all day in his room
Envies the sparrows
Outside his window
Shivering in the bright snow
Sal Amico M. Buttaci
15 votes
*118
autumn afternoon ...
driving past my childhood home
I can almost see
Mother washing windows
Dad making leaf piles
Joanne Morcom
22 votes
*120
stopping for gas
in the small prairie town
we listen
to the meadowlark's song
and nothing else
Joanne Morcom
16 votes
*123
searching for seeds
a chickadee hops around
the limestone Buddha:
the garden feeds
different hungers
Pat Tompkins
17 votes
*137
something
inside me is weeping
white lilies keep
dropping yellow pollen
on the night table
Kozue Uzawa
15 votes
*138
dialing your number
only the polite exchange
with a stranger
rain in the hotel courtyard
falls on yellow bamboo
Cherie Hunter Day
23 votes
*145
these days when
everything seems so strange --
I glimpse a blue hibiscus
down a path
I never thought I'd take
Angela Leuck
16 votes
*147
your strong arms
lifting me high in the branches
of the cherry tree--
only a child but I knew
this was forbidden fruit
Angela Leuck
16 votes
*169
she said
the freesias had lost
their scent
her old hands wrapped
so tight around the vase
Andria Plowman
17 votes
*177
a new pacemaker
in my grandfather's chest--
on the warm tongue
of the doe he shot
snowflakes melt
Andrew Riutta
20 votes
*179
now that
my little girl has taught me
rainbow and friend
in sign language
what do I say to her?
Andrew Riutta
15 votes
*192
applying my face
from assorted bottles
and tubes
all for a glimpse of the girl
I used to be
Kathy Lippard Cobb
22 votes
*194
as dark-clad figures
whisper condolences
I recall
your booming laughter
. . . and how you hated black
Kathy Lippard Cobb
15 votes
210
these pixels
running across the screen
spelling words
if only I were the keys
your fingertips touch
CW Hawes
SEQUENCES - PLEASE PICK FIVE
18 votes
*SEQ 2
WEEKEND
Dawn Bruce
wind
whips the grey lake
to silver
voices of poets turn
dull words to gold
curl
upon curl
moves the lake
hour after hour
we study poetry
sunset
and the red-gold arc
slips into the lake
at last hurts subside
in my twilight years
night
and long slow shadows
on the lake
will I take this peace
into my own work
morning
a clatter of oars
on the blue lake
I turn to my computer
begin a long sequence
31 votes (most votes for a sequence)
*SEQ 6
DATE-STAMP
Julie Thorndyke
September gone
and another birthday
I pause
before turning the fourth
corner of the year
these book-lined walls
all thought, every emotion
contained
on my calendar I schedule
a day to run free
last day of term
locking the library door
on silence
I check myself out
for a long, long loan
18 votes
*SEQ 10
INDIA
Melisa Fauceglia
The air is thick by mid-morning
Bandanas conceal moped or mouths
Debris takes flight
The day has begun
But it never really stops
India is shrinking
Between Indian, cow and car
Fewer spaces remain
Bindi after bindi
Foreheads bob
In a multitude of directions
Three sets of dilated eyes
Reel in the tasks at hand
Up and down bicycle legs pump
Broken pedals into horn-happy traffic
Among cars, cows, rickshaw,
Camels and buses, side to side
Stringing marigold heads
For Diwali celebrations, orange piles
Thread blanket residences together
Obstacle course beggars
Dodge raging hooves and wheels
Through jungle traffic
To reach stopped cars at streetlights
While city monkeys ponder
Familiar gestures
With reoccurring déjà vu
Outstretched palms
Beat like rain on car windows
Expecting rupees’ clatter
Black star and lotus pink fabric
Wrap figures balancing big hats of rice
To nearby destinations
Everywhere is nearby
India is getting closer.
18 votes
*SEQ 12
AIRPLANE TANKA
Zack Rogow
stranger sitting directly
across from me
waiting for the same plane
what life
are you returning to
tail lights flexing on and off
the jet climbs
the ramp of the sky
melting in seconds
into the fog
below the clouds
a hurricane tweezes
a coastline—
above the clouds
bright sun
why look for alien glyphs
in the grain?
so beautiful
the circles farmers plough
grooved like old records
across a grid
of farmland
a river squiggles
unconcerned
with geometry
in that landscape
of neuron valleys
is there a single person
on those scratchy roads
who hears this plane I’m on
when his plane went down
suddenly
did my dad even have time
for last images
of me or my mom
a thin trail of clouds
goes on
for a whole county
rushing the ghosts
to their carnival
airplanes wake us
like hospitals
to feed us
cheesy food
at weird hours
I hurdle my neighbor
and head to the john
when it hits me I’m
walking way
above the clouds
these clouds streaming
all at the same
altitude—
boats
in a higher sea
the pure bliss of soaring
lighter than nitrogen
bores me now
put me on the ground
where the real game is played
landing at home runway
dollhouses suddenly enlarge
or am I shrinking
to fit inside
their tiny doors
after the flight
an unclaimed suitcase
after the flight
a stray bag
doesn’t arrive
18 votes
*SEQ 13
THE TANKA OF TANKA
Alvin Thomas Ethington
A series of twenty-two tanka (one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet) based
on the Biblical Book of Canticles
I. Aleph
the sun gazed on me
I am black but beautiful
from harvesting vines
I recline upon my couch
thou art beautiful, my love
II. Bet
tell me, O my love
where dost thou pasture thy flock?
where do the sheep lie?
note their tracks, O fair woman
thou art a mare with dove's eyes
III. Gimel
a rose of Sharon
the lily of the valleys
that is who I am
a lily amongst rough thorns
that thou art, my belovéd
IV. Dalet
like an apple tree
amongst trees of the forest
is my belovéd
daughters of Jerusalem
do not rouse or hasten love
V. He
feed me with raisins
resurrect me with apples
I am faint with love
swear by the gazelles and does,
maidens, not to trouble love
VI. Vav
bounding over hills
leaping upon the mountains
my belovéd comes
allow me to hear thy voice
allow me to see thy face
VII. Zayin
my love is a stag
with the grace of a gazelle
winter is over
thy voice is sweet like honey
thy countenance is lovely
VIII. Het
the birds are singing
the turtle-doves are cooing
figs ripen on trees
my belovéd is a dove
she hides in holes in the cliff
IX. Tet
the rains are over
entwined vines blossom in spring
send forth their fragrance
the jackals spoil my vineyard
full of the blossoms of love
X. Yod
thy flock is grazing
fragrant spices on the hill
sheep amongst lilies
I am a quick swift gazelle
young stag amidst the mountains
XI. Kaf
from the wilderness
perfumed frankincense and myrrh
powdered spices brought
thy hair is a flock of goats
thy teeth like freshly shorn sheep
XII. Lamed
a spring of water
running down from Lebanon
enjoy the choice fruit
open lips beneath thy veil
are juicy pomegranates
XIII. Mem
awaken, north wind
enchant my garden, south wind
scatter its spices
thy cheeks are pomegranates
thy skin milk; thy taste honey
XIV. Nun
my heart is awake
my hair is moist from the night
my head drenched with dew
I gather myrrh and spices
thou art drunk with love, my dove
XV. Samek
gone to his garden
my belovéd picks lilies
grazes his flock there
turn away thy dazzling eyes
like mine, they are doves by pools
XVI. Ayin
his hair is golden
palm-fronds are his locks of hair
my true belovéd
thy beauty is like the moon
thou art the sun's radiance
XVII. Pe
his lips are lilies
his cheeks are beds of spices
mouth drops liquid myrrh
gone to the garden of trees
I view the green shoots of palms
XVIII. Tsade
noble cedar trees
that is my love's countenance
quite desirable
the vine buds and flourishes
pomegranates in flower
XIX. Qof
mandrakes yield their scent
new and old fruits are ready
I give thee my love
thy breasts are clusters of grapes
they are like a gazelle's fawns
XX. Resh
I give thee mulled wine
and fresh pomegranate juice
drink, my belovéd
thy breath's scent is of apples
fragrant wine for me to drink
XXI. Shin
in Ba'al-hamon
Solomon has a vineyard
I keep my vineyard
thou art by the apple tree
many floods cannot quench love
XXII. Tav
come to me, my love
show thyself as a gazelle
a stag on the hill
sit in my garden, my bride
let me hear thy voice once more
END OF CONTEST ENTRIES