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Sol Magazine (C) 1998
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The September Edition: ABC, Prose, Haiku, and Feed the Hungry.
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Sol Magazine sponsors monthly poetry contests, and from the results, produces an electronic poetry magazine, usually published on the last day of each month.  The topics are on a variety of subjects about nature and the nature of humanity.  Our purpose: to foster the reading and writing of short poetry.
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This issue is sponsored by Lois Lay Castiglioni.  She dedicates the September edition of Sol Magazine to one of our poets, her brother-in-law, Milton Earnest, whose birthday was the first of September.
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Without compare
    Poet, chef, friend*
        Milton Sims Earnest
*Not necessarily in that order
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Our judge is Pamela Wilfinger, novelist, poet, and editor of "Inscriptions" e-zine.
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ABCDERIAN POETRY
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Transition  HONORABLE MENTION

Accented beautifully
cast down
entranced from
godless heavens
in joyous
kaleidoscopic laughter
maddened nascent
opals penitent
quiescent raindrops
sublimating tears
ululating viaduct
wielding yearning

Susan Conarroe, Danville, KY
Judge's Comments:  Imagery is quite strong.
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Sensual   HONORABLE MENTION

A bountifully
curbed delight
ethereal familiarly
groomed here
is joyfully
kibitzing lively
men nearly
oblivious possibly
quivering rambunctious
systematically tearing
unctuous violets
while Xanadu
yammers zanily

Shelley L. Crabtree, Enid OK
A member of Enid Writer's Club
A Lucidity writer
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Harvest SECOND PLACE  WINNER OF A $5.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE

autumn's bounty
creates daily
endless food
grapes hung
in juicy
knots lovely
melons nearby
offer prodigious
quantities red
sweet tomatoes
upon vine
wonderful yield

Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA
Poet's Note:  The US is divided into numbered zones to help gardeners determine the proper time to place plants in the ground.
Judge's Comments:  Elegant writing. This poem places the reader directly in Autumn path, only to find beauty in Nature's simplicity.
Editor's Comments:  Kay originally ended her poem with "Zounds!"
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Art  FIRST PLACE  WINNER OF A $5.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE

abstract beauty
canvassed dimensions
eclectic fantasies
graphically hued
inventions jeweled
kaleidoscopes lucid
meanings optical
patina qualities
redeeming subtle
tints underlying
venus welcoming
yonder zeniths

Roz Garay, Whittier, CA
Judge's Comments:  without a paintbrush, this poet mixes colors and strokes on the printed page.  Monet would be proud to see such words describing his work.
Poet's Note: The ABCDerian contest was a real mind bender.  Fun, challenging, and that was only when I was trying to say the word, "ABCDerian!"  Please send phonetical guide, I still wonder what I am saying.  More fun than I could convey...I feel like that in itself was a gift.
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condemned HONORABLE MENTION

abandoned buildings
crusty declining
empty facades
grounded high-rise
illusions jointly
knowing life's
moral nakedness
organized privacy
quietly roaring
silence threatening
universal violence
waiting you

Sharon Goodwin, Galveston, TX
Galveston Poets Roundtable Member
Judge's Comments:  a bleak look at city life from an omnipotent child's point of view.
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Sweetheart  EDITOR'S PICK

ambivalent beauty
cosmopolite delicious
explosively feminist
glamorously humble
intellectual jewel
kind loving
modestly naughty
obedient purchaser
queen ruler
stubbornly temperamental
ubiquitous vision
weirdly xeno
youthfully zany

Joel Ontiberoz, Galveston, TX
Galveston Poets Roundtable Member
Editor's comments:  The very picture of wife, sweetheart, woman, in all her aspects.
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Tendrils  THIRD PLACE

Allamanda blooms
climb deliberately
effortlessly fast
growing high
into joists
kerfs lacing
mansards newels
ornate pillars
quietly rambling
spreading twisting
unfettered vine
wild xylophilous
yellow zoomer

John E. Rice, Houston, Texas
A member of Bay Area Writers League
Judge's comments:  There is a quiet, hushed quality about this poem.  Within the confines of this form the poet offers a blooming garden no longer touched by trained hands.
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FEED THE HUNGRY POETRY
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September Ritual  FIRST PLACE  WINNER $5.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE

Vacation ends, routine starts.
Yellow buses fill streets again.
Teachers impart knowledge
Feed insatiable children.

Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA
Judge's Comments:  Quite interesting.  A simple concept, handled with grace.   Kids hungry for both knowledge and routine.
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Homeless Hungry  HONORABLE MENTION

We avoid them with eyes
  to see the skyscrapers
We feel past them
  to touch our wallets
We allow them to remain
  since they're unseen

J.C. Holland, Fort Worth, TX
A member of the Trinity Writer's Group
Judge's Comments:  Strong, simple wording.
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On the Town  HONORABLE MENTION

I eat out every night - out of
Dumpsters, out of garbage cans.  Out of
Oozing, old pizza boxes.  Out of
Sight and mind.  Out of
Human kindness, perhaps you'll think of me next time you say
"Let's eat out tonight."

John E. Rice, Houston, TX
A member of Bay Area Writer's League
Judge's Comments:  Hunger and homelessness from a personal perspective.  In the rush of our daily lives, we tend to forget how some live.
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Dinner at Six?  THIRD PLACE

"My second lunch, " claimed the redheaded boy.
"Just a snack," said the youth with mixing bowl.
"I'll just have a salad," spake the teenaged beauty.
"I picked up something," offered the apologetic spouse.
I put back the pans, measuring spoons and books,
and called my favorite restaurant.  "Table for one."

Marsha Steed, Citrus Heights, CA
Judge's Comments:  Eloquent and succinct.  What fun!
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Library Gourmet  HONORABLE MENTION

There they sit, staring
with dust covered surfaces
all the sustenance that I could wish
silent and untouched
as I wait to be fed
by Osmosis.

Marsha Steed, Citrus Heights, CA
Judge's Comments:  Feed me, old wise Osmosis.  This "god" of learning is one we all pray to, regardless of religious background.  May he forever grace us with library smorgasbords.
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Every Day  SECOND PLACE  WINNER OF A $5.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE

In America
Abandoned, poor, sick, old,
People live with little food--
Handicapped people who can't be involved.
In Calcutta
One million more.

Betty Ann Whitney, Land O'Lakes, FL
Judge's Comments:  Americans have woes, but in the rest of the world, woes are compounded by sheer numbers.
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PROSE POETRY
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The Rug Monster

Once there was a little girl named Ashley and she was four years
old.  She was not scared of the dark, but she was afraid of the
hump under her rug.  She called it the Rug Monster.  every night
it would appear in the same place.  One morning she saw it moving!
 She got so curious, she lifted up the rug.  Out popped her cat,
Tiger!  So that's all the monster was...her silly little cat!

Emily Katherine Earnest, Smyrna, GA
Note:  Emily is 10 years old.
Judge's Comment:  Discovery of the lump is a good one.  Explore the fear a little more.  It will improve the reader's emotional input.
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Pioneer Mother  SECOND PLACE  $5.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE

Fetching water from the spring 150 yards away was a daily dilemma
for my great grandmother in 1848.  She was often alone with a lap
baby, a crawling baby, and a walking child.  The path was too
rough to manage both babies and buckets.  First, she placed baby
Lottie in a chair on a chest, then anchored Bettie's dress tail to
a table, and took three-year old Stanford's hand.  Looking back
she whispered, "Is this the best I can do?"  A prayer passed her
lips as she fastened the latch and hurried away.  Often I think of
those days when my grandaughters ask for water and I simply turn
on the tap.

Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA
Judge's Comments:  a stunning piece.  Speaks volumes about grandmothers and change.  Even without the year, the phrasing offers an easily discernible time frame.
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Heart Cramp  FIRST PLACE  WINNER OF A $5.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE

At night the walls press in on me.  The ceiling comes down like
the lid of a casket.  In daytime the walls of my prison force me
into an airless corner of the world.  My cramp locks my cry for
help in an impotent grasp of air.  The wall, the ceiling, the
lungs are joint witnesses that I am seconds from death.  I carry
death in my chest.  Sometimes it whips out a reminder of his
closeness.  Then my legs go limp and my vision blurs, my tongue
dries out and my heart aches.  I see no dark tunnel, no light, no
angels, no emptiness, no godhead.  But I feel the bliss of letting
go of all demands.  I never understood life until I met death.

Ulf Sunblad, Tumba, Sweden
An honorary member of Galveston Poets Society, where his poetry has been read in his absence.
Judge's Comments:  Without experiencing a heart attack, this poem gives an accurate description of what it must feel like.  Images are a bit mixed (courtroom/prison metaphors) but seem fitting in this context.
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Family  THIRD PLACE

A turn of the century governor's mansion is the setting for the
bridal shower.  Gram and the great aunts have come.  All in their
eighties and nineties, they look as if they have strolled out of
the dark old painting that grace these walls.  Surprise!  The
women of the family, young and old, gather lovingly around the
bride-to-be, the way Mom used to tuck the covers in around me at
night.  Smiles rich in welcoming, affection is exchanged.  She is
one of us.

Patricia A. Tabella, Providence, RI
Judge's Comments:  Quintessential coming of age.  Terrific story-telling, good descriptions.
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HAIKU
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HONORABLE MENTION

gossiping
over the fence
magpies

Don Castiglioni, Austin, TX
Judge's Comments:  The use of the word, "gossiping," give the reader a definite sense of the sound these birds make.
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THIRD PLACE

maples dancing
in skirts of gold
autumn

Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX
Galveston Poets Roundtable member
Judge's comments:  Although not spelled out, the reader can easily picture the trees doing an erotic belly dance or hula in the wind.
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HONORABLE MENTION

tendrils curling
around the island
fog

Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX
Galveston Poets Roundtable member
Judge's comments:  an ethereal weather moment.
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HONORABLE MENTION

caterpillar nudes branch
crysalis
exquisite butterfly

Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA
Judge's comments:  Descriptive.
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HONORABLE MENTION

colorful wings
decorate the garden
monarch butterfly

Nina NightRaine, St. Louis, MO
Judge's Comments:  Butterflies are good topics for haiku.
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HONORABLE MENTION

lightning dances
across gray clouds
thunderstorm

Nina NightRaine, St. Louis, MO
Judge's Comments:  has a great premise.
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FIRST PLACE  WINNER OF A $5.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE

precisely patterned
translucent in morning light
a cast-off snake skin

John Rice, Houston, TX
A member of Bay Area Writer's League
Judge's Comments:  we see the color of sunlight shining through cast-off skin.
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HONORABLE MENTION

soft rain breaks the pond
into silver green blue black
fish come up to bathe

John Rice, Houston, TX
A member of Bay Area Writer's League
Judge's Comments:  One rarely thinks of fish bathing, but the lyrical quality of this haiku make such an action believable.
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SECOND PLACE WINNER OF A $5.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE

four-leaf clovers
dense around the flower beds
luck enough for all

Pat Tabella, Providence, RI
Judge's Comments:  Let's all find these flower beds and pounce in the greenery.  Who couldn't use a bit of luck.  Whimsical.
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Send comments, questions, advice to:  DMHT67B@Prodigy.com
Snail mail:  Sol Magazine, P.O. Box 580037, Houston, TX  77258-0037
Phone number:  (281) 333-3741
Website:  http://pages.prodigy.com/sol_magazine
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Write to above address to be added or deleted from this list.
Include the id that needs to be deleted, please.  Some folks have more than one.
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Do you want to be a judge, guest editor, interviewee?  Tell us.
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All poetry remains the property of the poet, except Sol Magazine reserves the right to publish all poems (once) at a future date, or to post them to a web page.  NONE may be reproduced without permission of Sol Magazine.  Electronic forwarding is permitted as long as no portion of this magazine is changed and all credits are given.
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See our contest website or last contest for current guidelines.
We do not accept entries that make use of graphic language, touch on partisan politics, or support particular religious views.
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We correct grammar and spelling errors, and often add a leading capital to the start of every line without asking permission or forgiveness.  We usually ask about other changes.  If you use punctuation, expect us to make it consistent throughout your entry.
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New sponsors for Sol Magazine are always welcome.  Thanks for your support.

Blessings to Lois Castiglioni, sponsor of September; Leo Waltz, sponsor of October; Sharon Goodwin and Steven Cox, sponsors of November; and John Rice, sponsor of December.

Previous sponsors this year were:  Leo Waltz, Rita Smithuysen, Patsy Wiliams and Jean McAllister.  And to our angel, Lois Lay Castiglioni of Galveston, Texas, thanks for her continuing help.

Our thanks to members of the Galveston Poets Roundtable, Lucidity, Bay Area Writing League, and the Enid Writing Club who submit poetry to this magazine.   Long may you write!
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Sol Magazine (C) 1998
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