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Sol Magazine (C) 1999
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Twice a month, Sol Magazine sponsors poetry contests, and from the results, produces an electronic poetry magazine, published on the last day of each month. The winners are posted to our website at:

http://pages.prodigy.com/sol_magazine

Our 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, and the education of poets.
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Our thanks to this month's judge: Cheryl Bolen, Romance Writer.
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TOPIC ONE: ROMANCE
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HONORABLE MENTION

Rite of Passage

Heart beating wildly
Breathing heavily with passion
Perfume memories tingle the sensitive nose
Lips taste unfamiliar territory as eyes close in ecstasy
Warm hug flames into burning embrace
Love's first kiss consumes all in its glory.

Shelley L. Crabtree, Enid, OK
Editor's Comments: Well-described, sensual.
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HONORABLE MENTION

What a Life!

For adventure I sailed the seven seas.
For knowledge I attended universities.
For pride I had a successful career.
For me a life filled with joy and cheer.
For romance - a veritable fairyland;
For fifty-four years she's held my hand.

Milton Earnest, Smryna, GA
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HONORABLE MENTION

A Special Friend

I've found a new friend.
It's a little different though,
Where friendship started, love has begun to grow.
It's a special kind of love - not deep and full of desire,
But quiet, warm and tender,
Like the ashes of a dying fire.

Sharon Goodwin, Galveston, TX
Editor's Comments: Pleasant rhythm and rhyme, lovely description of this "special kind of love."
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FIRST PLACE - Winner of $5.00 book gift certificate

AFFECTIONS

Our chats are like fireplace whispers
Intimacy in our world of two
Your notes take me to the seashore
Where my tide rises, falls with you
We're not together this night
Tho' I sense your breath upon my neck.

J C Holland, Fort Worth, TX
Judge's Comments: Romantic, and original, with wonderful use of similes and metaphors.
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SECOND PLACE - winner of a bookmark

The Guest

As a ship leaves no trace in the ocean
And the shadow of the wanderer disappears in the sunshine,
As the flight of a bird leaves the air unmoved,
And the path of an arrow melts into invisibility,
So disappears the memory of the guest
Who stayed only a day.

Ulf Sundblad, Tumba, SWEDEN
Judge's Comments: Highly original, good use of simile.
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TOPIC TWO: MIDSUMMER DREAMS
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HONORABLE MENTION
Free Flight

In midsummer dreams I can fly
Over the beach and across the sky
Visit the living and talk with the dead.
Freed from all worries and despair
We glide together without a care.

Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX

Judge's Comments: Nice Rhythm, good title. Unique. I especially like the reference, "visit the living and talk with the dead."
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SECOND PLACE - winner of a bookmark
Friends in Love
Love is like a summer flower, it blooms then fades.
We often wonder where it went as it goes away.
But real love never dies, just nestles way down deep,
Touching us every now and then
in ways so sweet.

Sharon Goodwin, Galveston, TX
Judge's Comments: Title fits well. Good sentiment well-told, poignant. Excellent cadence.
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FIRST PLACE - winner of a $5.00 book gift certificate from Barnes & Noble.

North Sea

My storm-tossed ship is dark and damp; cold is in my bones.
I think of you, brown-skinned girl:
pink-flowered hair, dancing on the beach
in perfumed summer air, laughing still -
just out of reach.

John E. Rice, Houston, TX
Judge's Comments: Romantic, vivid imagery, good cadence.
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HONORABLE MENTION
Looking Out

Ragged skies drape mountain tops
with winter frowns
Robins check fresh turned clods
I flip calendar pages
to taste an August peach

Naomi Stroud Simmons, Fort Worth, TX
Judge's Comments: Good use of metaphor.
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HONORABLE MENTION

a promise of tomorrow

a lovely sight I've seen
at last the trees are singing
all dressed in summer green
while winter winds are howling
at my window as I dream

Holly Solt, Lauderdale MS

Judge's Comments: I liked the description, "dressed in summer green." The poet worked in the dreaming of summer well.
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FIRST PLACE - Winner of "Midsummer's Knight," a signed book by Tori Phillips.
Night's Embrace

Draw this summer night around us
Like a cloak with diamonds sparkling.
So cocooned, we will share our hearts,
Dream lover's dreams the night long,
Till morning whisks away the stars.

Patricia A Tabella, Providence, RI
Judge's Comments: Good use of simile, melodic, and most of all, romantic.
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TOPIC THREE: Winter Moon - Haiku
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THIRD PLACE - Winner of a $5.00 book gift certificate

Shimmering moonbeams
Illuminating new snow
Showcasing pawprints

Shelley L. Crabtree, Enid, OK
Member of Enid Writer's Club

Judge's Comments: Good whimsical imagery of the winter moon.
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HONORABLE MENTION

newborn moon
gliding over frozen forests
cradling star

Emily Earnest, Smyrna, GA

Judge's Comments: Fine haiku, good personification.
Editor's Comments: Emily, not yet in her teens, is one of our youngest poets. Her work proves that excellence in writing is not limited by age or experience. Because our judges do not know the identity or age of our poets, Emily regularly competes at the adult level, and she has won several honors with her poetry.
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SPECIAL MENTION

January
blue moon rising
and March

Milton Earnest, Smyrna, GA

Editor's Comments: Succinct commentary on the rarity of a blue moon, and also even more rare, two blue moons in one year!  Simple, powerful message.
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SPECIAL MENTION

bare trees
eerie
moonlight

Editor's Comments: this sparse poem proves it only takes a few words to show an entire landscape. Well done.

Jim Lay, Calhoun, GA
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FIRST PLACE - Winner of a $5.00 book gift certificate

luminous china disk
stands guard from distance
protects dormant earth

Lena S. Norman, Saginaw, TX
Member of: Poets of Tarrant County, Poetry Society of Texas, and Composers, Authors & Artists of America

Judge's Comments: Good personification and word use, particularly the word "dormant," a perceptive way to describe winter.
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SPECIAL MENTION

an owl's blue shadow
floats across the moonlit snow
merging with the hare's

Editor's Comments: Interesting imagery - this picture is clear
and complete.

John Rice, Houston, TX
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Moody moon pouting
Earth's surface a clear mirror
Reflects reflections.

Naomi Stroud Simmons, Fort Worth, TX
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HONORABLE MENTION

she casts silver nets
across a sea of midnight snow
while stars splash in the sky

Holly Solt, Lauderdale, MS

Judge's Comments: Original, good personification.
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SECOND PLACE - Winner of a $5.00 book gift certificate

snow whips past
a moon devoid of color
in a coal black sky

Patricia A Tabella, Providence, RI
Judge's Comments: Great imagery with few words.
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HONORABLE MENTION

setting sun
gathers the darkening sky
around a cold moon

Patricia A Tabella, Providence, RI

Judge's Comments: Succinct. Good personification.
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SPECIAL MENTION

jetstreams transit ice
blue orb in heaven's royal dome
transcendental glow

Bonnie Williams, Deptford, NJ

Editor's Comments: mystical treatment.
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TOPIC FOUR: SUNSHINE - upbeat personal stories -
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FIRST PRIZE SHORT STORY - winner of a copy of The Writer's Digest "Handbook of Short Story Writing."

Loquacious by Don Castiglioni, Austin, TX

Under the Texas stars, I proposed to the lovely co-ed. Sitting
by the campus fountain I began a long monologue. My well-
practiced speech detailed her virtues: a good kind heart,
concern for others, and willingness to help everyone. Perhaps,
I should have been less fluent for by the time I asked the
question she answered, "I would love to be your husband."
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FIRST PRIZE - PROSE POEM - winner of a copy of "The Incidental & Pertinent Stuff for Beginning Fiction Writers," by Lyn Bradley.

Foreign Affair by John Rice, Houston, TX

I fell hard for Florence; I knew she'd had many lovers. Each
left his gift, his own work - in gratitude. She has them still.
I went into her dark, dewy places. I smelled her many scents,
tasted her, touched her textured skin - and deeper. I rolled in
her bed, rose rampant on her bosom, climbed so high inside her
and burst forth into the Siennese sunlight to see her sprawled
all around me, a river running through her. Her cries and
laughter call to me still. I haven't answered yet - I have to
finish her gift.
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ALPHA POET - John Rice - Prize offered this month: "A Bouquet of Poems and Roses," edited by F. S. Roberts, illustrated by the "Raphael of flowers," Pierre-Joseph Redoute.

Genesis - by John Rice, Houston, TX

Perhaps it's filtration
or some distillation of cognitive dust,
The mind's meadows, so
silently seeded, bloom word
upon word
not seen,
never heard
but for this where THINK
becomes SAY - and that single bloom
begins a bouquet.
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Editor's Comments: I found this exceptional poem to be a beautifully worded treatise on the process of writing. It shows great finesse and refinement. Thanks for sharing it with us.
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PRODIGY POETS: Sol Magazine sponsored three poetry contests online in Prodigy. These are the winners.
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Prodigy Contest One: Romance
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SECOND PLACE
MAN

There is he, in sHE
and HEr, need he
Then what would woMAN do with just a wo...?
Slim chance for a make and roMANce
However, when mere words are expressed
It will be sHE who's un-addressed
Having HEr to impress, for roMANce

Louis Levy - Prodigy Poet

Editor's Comments: Original; unique way to express how man, woman, and romance are intertwined.
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FIRST PLACE - $5.00 book gift certificate
Sea of Love

I, sea; waving to the amorous shore,
(the rock, the pillar of romantic tales)
I be; churning , yearning, burning,
for the winds of pleasure
to ignite the passion...in me!

Leslie K. Mahaffey - Prodigy Poet
Editor's Comments: Lovely, romantic, passionate.
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HONORABLE MENTION
Dream Spring

new lawn green dawn.. animate pawn.. spew
white gold city jitters.. emerald.. skies brew
purple flowers.. satin towers.. April shower stew
passion pensive.. fences leapt.. sentiments off cue..

Paul Sheats - Prodigy Poet
Editor's Comments: Stream of consciousness style gives an interesting point of view to this poem.
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HONORABLE MENTION
distinct

slowly, soundlessly, the breezes
stirring, gently, through layers of loose clothing
appeared to drift and intertwine the summer places
of their youth...her skin white with the moon
as she cupped his chin in her palm, and he
merely wanted to look into her eyes
and she into his
in the long time remembered.

Betty Ann Whitney - Prodigy Poet
Editor's Comments: wonderful sense of the deliciousness of intimacy.
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THIRD PLACE
Fire's Burning Light

The hush of a whisper, flame of desire
red of the rose cast by the fire
these are the things of what love should be
accepted and given by souls such as we
passion runs deep, its river shines bright
with a hush of a whisper in fire's burning light...

Steven Zumwalt - Prodigy Poet
Editor's Comments: The use of the two earthly elements - fire and water - is pleasing. Thoughtful work, an intimate glimpse into a very personal view.
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Prodigy Contest Two: Winter Weather
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HONORABLE MENTION
Winter in Ice

Ice covered trees, frozen in time
Weighed down by the trials of winter.
Rigid soldiers standing in line
Branches on the verge of splinter.
Old Man Winter blows a cold breeze;
He is willing the limbs to break.
Whistling and crackling through the trees,
This season is so hard to take,
But Spring is just around the corner -
When nature and hearts grow warmer.

Diana Hebner - Prodigy Poet
Editor's Comments: makes me chilly just to read this poem!
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HONORABLE MENTION
No Mercy

Oh weather! your offering is intolerable.
Withering flowers, expiring plants!
Citrus groves, pitifully plagued with frost,
All life challenged to defy your compulsion.
What of squirrels, birds and hungered animals?
Time's conquest, of fragile bones and aged flesh,
Soon you will concede and feel remorse...
When our Sun has its way with you.

Louis Levy - Prodigy Poet
Editor's Comments: Man's lament against the inhuman, but not unfeeling weather.
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FIRST PLACE - Winner of a $5.00 book gift certificate
In that Bleak Void

lonely gull

reflecting on its wings
the pale, January light

riding the wind -- the waves
as if without meaning, its journey

survives

Betty Ann Whitney - Prodigy Poet
Editor's Comments: a beautifully understated, elegant poem, makes us see the journey of the gull through the bleak void of winter, even as we, too, survive the pale light of January.
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SECOND PLACE
Delight in White

Threes capped in white that sparkle and shine
waterfalls of Ice frozen in time
blanket of snow as earth takes her sleep
silence so loud you can hear your heart beat
this is the season, the season I love
cooled from a wind that blows from above
branding the memory like no other can
of trees capped in white that sparkle and shine
where waterfall's Ice is frozen in time

Steven Zumwalt - Prodigy Poet
Editor's Comments: Well-written; nice repetition of the line "sparkle and shine," that reflects back to the beginning. The line that ends with "can" has no mate, however, and this is a somewhat jarring note to an otherwise all rhyming poem. Chilly, clear images.
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Prodigy Contest Three: Quest
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HONORABLE MENTION
Lifelong Quest

Everyone has dreams that they must follow
Not knowing what lies ahead of tomorrow
You must always let your heart be your guide
For it should try to help your mind decide
What dreams should you chase, or paths to take
We all have hard choices that we must make
So set yourself a goal, and strive to reach
Each of life's roads has a lesson to teach
with this in your mind you can reach the stars
Our goals and our dreams can truly be ours

Diana M. Hebner - Prodigy Poet
Editor's Comments: Thoughtful work. Nice rhyme scheme, particularly "follow" and "tomorrow" where the "w" carries the rhyme.
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HONORABLE MENTION
Lost and Found

I found a feeling that I had lost
How do I describe "My Joy"
I feel it everywhere
A feeling to say, of one to hear
When I lost it last, I had it near
Today, I found in me the "Feeling" I lost
Was always there.

Louie Levy - Prodigy Poet
Editor's Comments: Really like the way this poem begins. Nice sentiment.
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HONORABLE MENTION
encompassing the invisible

in the freedom of moving forward
so much depends on the eye
making its map with the mind clear set
on the treasure for which it dreams

Betty Ann Whitney - Prodigy Poet
Editor's Comments: Wonderful title, well written work.
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FIRST PLACE - Winner of a $5.00 book gift certificate
Searching

In shifting mist that coils gray
at passing glance I spy the strife
see the bones of what lay gone
stripped of flesh by hellfire's fury
burnt and blackened dripping despair
they hang in a web of tortured memory
what creature could cause such destruction pain and sorrow
flay flesh to rot and fester consumed by flames degradation
an image forms as the mist pools
revealing my own reflection

Steven Zumwalt - Prodigy Poet
Editor's Comments: Grim and black, this dark poem has a depth that asks readers to re-examine their values. Strong words, heavy images.
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Send comments, questions, advice to:
DMHT67B@prodigy.com or Mary_M_Carlisle@prodigy.com
Sol Magazine, P.O. Box 580037, Houston, TX 77258-0037
Phone number: (281) 333-3741 call week days 8-5 CST
Website: http://pages.prodigy.com/sol_magazine
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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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Words like "Tis," "Thine," and "Thou" are no longer in common usage, so if you wish to be featured by Sol Magazine, and want to use the language of a Century earlier than the 20th, you must submit proof you were born before 1900.
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We correct grammar and spelling errors and sometimes change punctuation without asking for permission or forgiveness.
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Sponsors in 1999:

Emily Katherine Earnest, Brad and Mary Millar, Leo Waltz.
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Sponsors in 1998:

Lois Lay Castiglioni, Steven Cox, Sharon Goodwin, Jean McAllister, Sharon Murphy, Drs. Stella and Bogdan Nowicki, Joan Reeves, John Rice, Kathleen E. Schaefer, Rita Smithuysen, Leo Waltz, and Patsy Williams.

For a look at Steven's web site, go to:
http://www.mectec.com/nevets or http://www.mectec.com
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New sponsors always welcomed. Thanks for your support.
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Bonnie Williams manages an interesting website at http://pages.prodigy.com/artscafe
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Check out the website of Sol's Assistant Editor, Betty Ann Whitney, at http://pages.prodigy.com/dandelionsoup
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Sol Magazine (c) 1999
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