First Place Winner of the March/April 2009 Gulf Coast Poets “The Love of Poetry” contest, sponsored by Mary Margaret Carlisle.

Poetry, love of my life, transpires
steps I take each day.
Words are sprinkled throughout
my computer files
to evoke poetic expressions
and stimulate my sense organs
with sensational, rational emotions.
Poetry wears marvelous style
like satin and lace in elegant taste
on a new bridal gown.
Poetry is Shakespeare sonnets,
ruffles of love fresh and new---
songs I sing and share,
the opera at LaScala in Milan, Italy.
It is words flowing downstream
in traditional meter and flow,
it is the subway in New York City
humming above daily routines,
the runs from Manhattan to the Bronx and back.
Poetry sharpens intelligence,
like stories woodpeckers
carve on oaks.  They tap
out stanzas in rhyme,
Haiku with “ah” moments,
and plots of prose.
Poetry is ads, it’s in the air.
It’s on city buses, it’s everywhere:
in classrooms, and children’s play,
The Holy Book we read every day.
Poetry cruises the cutting edge articulate,
when I utter words on paper.

Second Place Winner of the March/April 2009 Gulf Coast Poets “The Love of Poetry” contest, sponsored by Mary Margaret Carlisle.

Third Place Winner of the March/April 2009 Gulf Coast Poets “The Love of Poetry” contest, sponsored by Mary Margaret Carlisle.

Granny recognized family members’ walk—
the cadence of their footsteps imprinted on her sight
before blue-gray eyes raised from
crochet, or biscuit dough.

Poets’ rhythms
gallop
tip-toe
frolic
tramp
skip
stride

dance a different drumbeat.
Down strokes and upbeats
mark signatures of entitled tempo.

I, a kitten at your bowl
lap your words to fill a hole
of hunger haunting me inside
hunting what the dark can hide.