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Sol Magazine © 1999
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| Dreams
This small ceramic ball
Duane Lyon
|
From St. Louis, to Clear Lake City, to Galveston, Duane remained a friend for forty-five years. He offered his home, his hand, and a friendship that never wavered. His favorite quote was, "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." The poem above, "Dreams," written in May of this year, was his first - and his last. We will think of you often, Duane.
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October 1946 - September 1999 A first cousin to Leo F. Waltz, our Web Manager, George lived down the road toward Galveston. He was a landscaping expert, the creator of Bush's Best Compost. His home was on a bayou, and he loved to watch the water, even when it rose right up to his doorstep. We'll miss you, George. |
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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Member of the Poetry Society of Texas (PST) and the National Federation
of State Poetry Societies, Leona Welch founded the Texoma Poetry Society
and the Young Poets of Texoma, in Sherman, Texas. Active in the PST
in a variety of roles, she was nominated for the state society's highest
award, the Hilton Ross Greer Outstanding Service Award in 1998 and 1999.
She is a past editor of "A Galaxy of Verse," published by the A Galaxy
of Verse Literary Foundation where she served as president. Ms. Welch
is retired and lives in Denison, Texas with a sister and two poodles, Dusty
and Monique.
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BGC from B&N = BOOK GIFT CERTIFICATE from BARNES AND NOBLE
Golden leaves
Go gliding down.
Gusts of wind
Gather swirls in
Gleeful moments.
Grandeur fades,
Goes--that's life.
Roberta Pipes Bowman, Fort Worth, TX
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Dear
Days go by with the mind not holding you
Dire needs of the moment cover as a thick blanket
Desperate for being needed by all, I, the bull
Doing that which is not me after all
Days of a quickened clock passing time
Devoid of hope, my touchstone
Dear, I am in you, don't leave
S.J.Carr, Houston, TX
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Spouse
She called me sweetheart when she handed me the broom
Sang praises of my virtues as I straightened out the room
Said my frozen Food Cuisine created a most romantic scene
Showered me with kisses for washing the dirty dishes, but now
She curses me all day as I watch the Cowboys play although
Sweetly I ask her, "Dear, could you go out for more beer?"
Seems our marriage is down the drain but I'm focused on the game
Don Castiglioni, Austin, TX
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Sonny
Son pipes us aboard the
Ship of life where he
Stows laughter on each deck. When
Sorrow splashes over the prow, he
Swabs away our tears. All our
Sailing trips are delightful with
Sonny at the helm
Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX
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HONORABLE MENTION
Subservience
Seven sisters, scattered dimly in darkened sky,
shielded from we spawn of Orion who pursue.
Softly gleaming, more succinct some than others,
shiny senescents of lost love unending,
surrogated by we who constantly seek in dreams,
staring at sad-faced crowds and silted windows,
symbols skyward of what's lost, but still adored.
Warner D. Conarton, Zephyrhills, FL
Judge's Comments: The "S" is a wonderfully clever weaving in
and out and around the relationships of sisters.
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Lovers
Long distance relationships
Livened up many an evening
Listening to idle gossip and chatter
Lounging in dad's overstuffed recliner while
Looking at television programs on mute, and
Leaving crumbs to be cleaned up
Later, after hanging up the phone.
Shelley Crabtree, Enid, OK
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Machinations
Marching band was a learning field
Marking time to various tunes while
Making plans with friends for trips-
Musically inclined individuals on a
Mission toward graduating with honors,
Mixing youthful attitudes with adult ideals and
Memories to last a lifetime.
Shelley Crabtree, Enid, OK
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HONORABLE MENTION
Discover
Do lovers ever realize, deep within their hearts, that
day to day can wear them down, destroying what they started?
But
dreaming is that special key, dissolving stress and strife. It
dotes on magic promises, our dreams of better lives. It
differs from reality, our dreaming helps us soar. Forget the
debts, the rent, the job, the knocking at the door. To
dream will share a vision, and discover love once more.
Diane M. Davis, Chelmsford, MA
Judge's Comments: The alliteration doubles the delightful "discovery"
of a poem well done!
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Lifeline
Lee
Less than five feet tall
Listens with big open heart to all
Lifting morale, extending a helping hand
Little angel casting
Life's lasting lesson,
Love
Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA
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THIRD PLACE Winner of a $5.00 BGC from B&N
Sibling
Since the day
She was born and placed in a
Shoebox, my tiny third
Sister has held a
Special spot in my heart.
Scattering love and hope to family and friends
Seizing and sharing joys of each day.
Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA
Judge's Comments: Such vivid details and stunning display of
sisterly love!
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Union
Under the guise of impassiveness,
Uncertain, two souls touch timidly,
Ultimately discarding insecurities.
Unified, two hearts pulse beat for beat,
Undeniably connected in harmony.
Unbreakable, one bond seals two fates
Uniting them for an eternity.
Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA
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SECOND PLACE Winner of a $5.00 BGC from B&N
Love
Loneliness hides, deeply concealed,
Lost in our joy of togetherness.
Luminous eyes glow contentedly,
Lifelong promises we will keep.
Laughter radiates our happiness,
Lingering in the obscuring light,
Lulling us off to tranquil dreams.
Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA
Judge's Comments: The tempo of this poem is simply magic.
I feel a Waltz coming on.
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Ancestor
Aunt Bai, Grandmother's spinster sister, was
A wise teacher
And the family matriarch who
Always remembered everyone's
Ancestors. She said we must
Amount to something, count our blessings,
Air our beliefs, stand up for
All things that
Are worth fighting for
As well as believe that good will triumph.
James W. Lay, Calhoun, Georgia
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Carla
Cousin of mine,
Coolest and neatest,
Caution none about you,
Could I ever do.
Come we here now,
Close as sisters,
Complete love's momental purpose.
Jennifer Camille Manganello, Boca Raton, FL
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Nightfall
Now is Zen. Your gnomic
needles, knitting in reverse, unravel
nets of knotted
negatives. In this quiet place
next to you,
Nirvana is
near enough.
John E. Rice, Houston, TX
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FIRST PLACE Winner of a $5.00 BGC from B&N and a copy
of "Seeing America First," Poems by Nathaniel Tarn.
YardsticksJudge's Comments: Beautiful flow of words and usage of symbolic joining "Y" leaves no doubt of loving years together.
"Yes",
you said, all those
years ago, and stepped into life's
yawning chasm. And I stepped, too.
Yet we were never lost.
Youth is far behind us but I still hold
your hand.
John E. Rice, Houston, TX
Long ago, astrologers foretold
Looking at the Pleiades
Leaves one without eyesight
Little did astrologers know,
Long ago, that
Lasting blindness is caused not by
Looking at stars, but falling in love.
Lynne Remick, Nesconset, NY
Judge's Comments: Excellent referral to the Pleiades - I especially
like the subtle suggestion of blindness to "falling in love"
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Shivaree
Seeking remnants of a dream
Seasons turn and passions scream
Sun unleashes rising tides
Senses act as emotional guides
Strong seas soon ebb
Stars cast dim light
Still, embers of true love burn bright
Lynne Remick, Nesconset, NY
|
by Craig Tigerman, Assistant Editor http://sol-magazine-projects.org/prodigy/craig_tigerman After registration at http://www.eClix.net you are welcome to post to your heart's content. The variety of offerings is inviting, with a dozen Bulletin Boards. Try the Arts Board, hosted by Sol Magazine contributors Lilibon (Bonnie Williams) and Nevets (Steven Cox). Quality abounds in all of their domain. |
The form of this contest is the "Etheree," a simple, yet elegant form
based on syllable count.
============
Recycling
Pile
of leaves.
I bag them.
Globs of summer
at the curb await
garbage trucks to haul them
off where compost dumps recycle.
Then fertile bits will rise from earth
and live again in summer's laughter.
Small comfort now, I hate to say good byes.
Roberta Pipes Bowman, Fort Worth,TX
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Blown Leaves
They
Seem to
Lay there as
A reminder
Of fragility,
Seasonality and
Short precarious life we
Live through quickly as we arrive,
Seasons passed, nurtured, bright in giving
In shade, shelter, now dried, scattered and blown.
S.J.Carr, Houston, TX
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HONORABLE MENTION
Fleeting
Bright
Colors
Hide inside
Each leaf till fall
Comes around pulling
The sap down revealing
Nature's scarlet and gold hues
Cool winds whisper through the treetops
"It's time to drift down." Creating the
Splendor of September's brief tapestry
Don Castiglioni, Austin, TX
Judge's Comments: Comments: A delightful allusion to the
children's game of Hide & Seek- I especially like the weave of: "Creating
the Splendor of September's brief tapestry."
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SECOND PLACE - WINNER OF $5.00 BGC from B&N.
Last Dance
Gold
Skirted
Maple trees
Dancing in the
Autumn Breezes for
Tourist laden buses
Snaking over the mountains
Performance ends, trees toss down their
Fall frocks and sleep thorough winter dreaming
Of flashy spring fashions in shades of green
Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX
Judge's Comments: This brings such wonderful memories of New
England. Take your curtain calls. . . Encore! Encore!
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Follow
One
leaf falls,
drifts to earth,
example now
to all remaining.
Autumn leaves see, leaves do,
spinning, whirling down through space,
providing earth's quilt of color,
keeping tree's feet warm through icy cold,
touching my eyes with glorious motion.
Warner D. Conarton, Zephyrhills, FL
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HONORABLE MENTION
Autumn Greeting
I
See the
Colorful
Method Fall has
Of introducing
Itself by way of an
Avalanche of beautiful
Leaves, as they drift gently downward
Until their numbers rise to hundreds-
Leaving me with rake in hand to pile them.
Shelley Crabtree, Enid, Ok
Judge's Comments: Hard Labor - beautifully reduced to language
easily understood and appreciated.
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HONORABLE MENTION
View from the Top
Watch
Autumn
Slowly climb
Up the mountain
Splashing new brilliance
On unprotected trees.
Limbs shivering in fall breeze
Toss down their many colored leaves
Making a warm blanket for their feet
Standing bare to signal summer's retreat
Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA
Judge's Comments: Beauty in slow motion, and just as lovely from
my point of view.
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Summer Ending
Oak,
Poplar,
Sweet Gum trees;
Autumn colors.
Red and yellow leaves
'Gainst blue September skies
Mark the season's waning days.
Nature's annual renewal!
It wraps the trees in Winter's drab scene,
Until Spring resurgent restores the green.
Milton Earnest, Smyrna, GA
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THIRD PLACE - WINNER OF $5.00 BGC from B&N.
A Final Dance
I
shiver
as they fall.
Brown rustic leaves
that once held promise
of springtime beginnings,
now gasp autumn's last warm breath.
A final dance before they die,
they twirl and bob, carried by the wind.
Winter's bitter wrath can't be far behind.
Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA
Judge's Comments: There's a definite bite to the air! No need
counting syllables, I can feel regrets of good things ending.
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Frustration
The
wonder
of autumn
trees next door; gold
maples, red sumac,
oaks. Beauty everywhere.
Then I sigh, then I cry. Why
oh why, do they all blow into
our yard, making me break my old back
while I am raking blasted leaves away.
James W. Lay, Calhoun, Georgia
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Autumnal Foliage
Maple
leaf of
the autumn
tree, there in my
lonely yard. Colored
green to red to brown, it
dies. Tumbling off the naked
branch, it crashes to the floor. It
knew its time had come: preparing for
winter, giving its beauty to all else.
Jennifer Camille Manganello, Boca Raton, FL
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Undressing
No
longer
nourishing
new life and growth
the branches prepare
for winter's peacefulness
by preening feathery twigs
and smoothing away curled-up bark.
In one final burst of energy
they shake themselves free of autumn's colors.
Lena S, Norman, Saginaw, Texas
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FIRST PLACE - WINNER OF $5.00 BGC from B&N. This winner
also receives a copy of "Blue Juanita: A Life," by Malcolm Cowley.
Judge's Comments: What a vivid picture! The internal rhymes move these lines with terrific rhythm. May I have this dance!
Autumn's Farewell
Now
comes a
time for one
last dance without
spring's youthful pomp and
circumstance. Orange swirls
light the sky as scarlet leaves
go waltzing by. They bid adieu
with stately grace and slip forgotten
beneath the cold of winter's fine white lace.
Lynne Remick, Nesconset, NY
This
year leaves
have fallen
quickly, if there
were leaves at all. No
saccharine residues
blazing yellow, orange, red
as Summer's sap subsides into
subterranean sanctuary -
relieved, restored at last by early snow.
John E. Rice, Houston, Texas
Duane Lyon, a Galveston, TX, poet (August 1910 - September 1999) created
this form and sponsored this contest.
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Night Life
Self spent for others, the day closed
Now to places, sights and scenes
Imagined, oh but what it means
Surprise me I sleep not knowing
Which awakening and from what life.
S.J. Carr, Houston, TX
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HONORABLE MENTION
Therapy
Twin shadows,
Grief and depression,
Slip the fingers of my mind
As I sit by the sounding sea
Daydreaming of you.
Don Castiglioni, Austin, TX
Judge's Comments: What stunning Therapy! Daydreams, the
sea, and the healing power of poetry. YES!
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THIRD PLACE - WINNER OF A $5 BGC from B&N
Writer
In dreams I am a poet
Words wafting to the page
Comes dawn
They're gone
Without a trace
Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX
Judge's Comments: Been there! Done that! But because
dreams come to the writer, so will words come to the poet
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HONORABLE MENTION
Novelist
I traveled to another world
from the safety of my bed
Plots and people filled my head
At morning's light the journey ended
Writer's block now broken!
Shelley Crabtree, Enid, OK
Enid Writer's Club
Judge's Comments: The magic words here are: "Writer's block
now broken!" The block experience is shared by all writers; never
stop sharing the dreams.
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Variety
Sometimes I dream of happy places
And then some nights the dreams are sad
But when my worries drive me mad
My dreams are comforting and sweet
I wake refreshed to start another day.
Shelley Crabtree, Enid, OK
Enid Writer's Club
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Appetiser
Ever wonder why a fish
travels 'round in schools?
Does he like the rules?
And why we're on the topic,
why don't they ever graduate?
Diane M. Davis, Chelmsford, MA
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Jitters
Freshman orientation.
Can they scare me with a longer word
or make me do something more absurd
than playing Bingo
to find my locker combination?
Diane M. Davis, Chelmsford, MA
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HONORABLE MENTION
Deadlines
Summer reading is almost due
with papers full of thoughts and quotes-
but school shopping for jeans and coats
and cool looking hats, and shoes and vests
took up all the extra time I had.
Diane M. Davis, Chelmsford, MA
Judge's Comments: Oh, those nasty Deadlines, when shopping is
SUCH fun!!! And the poem made me smile because I can relate.
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Alarmed
The edge of wake
full of pleated imaging
so real this imagining
breaks into bored bedroom
how could have I believed, forgotten?
Duncan Earle, El Paso, TX
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Yoko
Then my hands touched your head behind
you slipped silent into the snowy deep
a monk, the sound of crunching feet
a crane lifting from a bamboo stand
scenes from far inside you flow to me
Duncan Earle, El Paso, TX
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Interweave
Welcome the voice says to all your dreams
you thought the tales all separate, discrete
you did not imagine woken how they do meet
and converse among themselves so eagerly
conspiring to keep you here in noisy sleep
Duncan Earle, El Paso, TX
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FIRST PLACE - WINNER OF A $5 BGC from B&N
ReflectionsJudge's Comments: Distinct, strong details make this Grandmother come alive. I feel she is mine. I love the poetic description of the fire.
Grandmother stares into the fire
Watching scarlet cinders
In thick warm blankets of gray ashes
Dreaming of old days, old times, old friends
In her private reverie
Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA
A film lights up the darkened screen.
Flickering frames in sepia tones,
Reel through my subconscious mind.
Leaving reality far behind,
I'm cast in the role of my dreams.
Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA
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HONORABLE MENTION
Dreamcatcher
Spider web of Indian lore
Dangles feathers over my bed.
Captured in its silvery threads,
Sweet dreams linger overnight
To sustain me through troubling days.
Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA
Judge's Comments: Traditional in visions, Indian lore and dreamcatchers
never fail to seize the imagination. Weaving silver threads among
the dreams give this a healing power.
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Whispers
I can hear you, your familiar tale.
As sure as the morn, your voice speaks.
Kind words, slightly whispered, brush my heart.
Though the longing remains, I'll rarely return
To this tantalizing world of my dreams.
Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA
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Aberrations
Ancestors sleep in my fevered brain
Arising in endless dreams
To join me
On the treadmill
Of remembrances of things past
James W. Lay, Calhoun, Georgia
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Moonlight
Perfection comes nightly
In the form of dreams.
It's the time, it seems,
To drift off to the sky,
Land on the moon, and live worry-free.
Jennifer Camille Manganello, Boca Raton, FL
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SECOND PLACE - WINNER OF A $5 BGC from B&N
Margin
In the dim margin
Where sleep encroaches upon conscious thought
As rolling fog creates invisibility
There lies a certain transient wisdom
Rehearsing heaven's altered state.
Jean McAllister, Bellevue, WA
Judge's Comments: What a marvelous word picture of dreamland.
You have certainly created the dream-fog!
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Premature
Looking at my image in the morning mirror
I saw that overnight my hair had turned all white.
Somehow I was not disturbed; it seemed exactly right
For my dreaming face. Awake, I wondered
Why such hastening of inevitable change.
Jean McAllister, Bellevue, WA
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Dreamland
Mystic magic
enfolds a trip of fantasy
to unknown destinations
with strange acquaintances
sharing pleasure or horror.
Lena S. Norman, Saginaw, Texas
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HONORABLE MENTION
Caprichos
Demon creatures stalk the Dark.
Astride night stallions, astride nightmares,
they sing, they chant their grotesque prayers
and wake me screaming,
gasping, fingers grasping for reality.
John E. Rice, Houston, Texas
Judge's Comments: Oh My ~ You have certainly made the night creatures
of the imagination very, very real! Pinch me quick!
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Homonymbus
There are island Lyons.
There are bares and gaiters, too,
and beas and byrds,
wilde beests in heards -
or so it seams in Tyger's dreams.
John E. Rice, Houston, Texas
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Realidad
During nights of different rhythms
and days of blazing sun,
I talk with many people, the old ones and the young.
I struggle with palabras as I speak their native tongue -
but in the dark and in my mind, my dreams are in my own.
John E. Rice, Houston, Texas
Poet's Comment: Realidad = reality, palabras = words.
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Through Dreams
She slept in peace
She slept in fear
she slept through dreams
Until the night went on
Of purple and pink sunsets and fluffy white clouds.
Maggie Stearns, Wilmette IL
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Wild Dreams
In dreams we sleep
in sleep we dream of clouds of peace,
of war, of nightmares
some are good some are bad
we feel real feeling like a cloud floating in thin air.
Maggie Stearns, Wilmette IL
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Dreamscapes
Sand mixes with fear,
Shapes formed from carrions.
Melting walls and bloody bats
swim behind my closed eyelids.
Shivering, I wake.
Jade Walker, Lake Worth, FL
============
============
BGC from B&N = BOOK GIFT CERTIFICATE from BARNES AND NOBLE
Dog Trey meets me at Heaven's Gate
Greeting me with warm, wet kisses
We roam around streets of gold
As in our happy days of old
He flies in the air with the greatest of ease
Stopping only to scratch his fleas.
Don Castiglioni, Austin, TX
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HONORABLE MENTION
Peter
I picture our Peter Rabbit
In heaven on Potter's knees
Nibbling tossed green salad
With just a sneeze of cheese
Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX
Poet's note: Beatrice Potter created the Peter Rabbit stories
Judge's Comments: What a charming pet portrait! "A sneeze of
cheese" made me smile.
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Retriever
Limping on the heels of age
Old Red passed on to heaven
Ravaged by the hands of time
He lived four years past seven
Now he stretches out his legs
and runs in fields of green
Swims in holy water ponds
His coat a lustrous sheen
Forever he'll be hunting free
The way he used to do for me
Shelley Crabtree, Enid, Ok
Enid Writer's Club
============
Destiny
In walking down around the mall
I saw the pet store windows
Just inside were many pups
It did not smell like heaven
Someone came to clean the pen
Then came food and water
Fresh bedding next for one and all
And then I saw the sale sign
I purchased one and took him home
My pet seems heaven sent
Shelley Crabtree, Enid, Ok
Enid Writer's Club
============
THIRD PLACE - Winner of a bookmark
Retriever
My goldie's name
is I'm-your-dog
cause everyone that comes to visit
is greeted as a long lost friend
and I am sure that in the end,
for heaven bound I hope to go,
that when I pass the pearly gates
I'm-your-dog will be the gatekeeper.
Diane M. Davis, Chelmsford, MA
Judge's Comments: The meter applied, added to the occasional
rhyme makes Old Red young again. And don't we wish to keep them that
way! [My Dusty is nine but still brings his football
to play.]
============
Dead Pet Sentiment
red squirrel goes to pet heaven
for he has been my nagual
shadowing my way on earth paths
my soul's secret life companion
You're not a pet but a wild one
says the keeper of the pet pearly
cannot the wild ones be tamed by love
the ancestors of every pet once was
for you were wild like me and more
so says the red squirrel, glaring in the door
Duncan Earle, El Paso, TX
============
FIRST PLACE - Winner of a subscription to LUDICITY
AloofJudge's Comments: This scenario is just adorable and so predictably Siamese. I love the occasional rhyme and the hook line. Believably - cat!
Our Siamese was a shy one
When company was about
She scooted under the bed
No one could coax her out
No matter what we said.
Now she resides in heaven
Enthroned on her private cloud
She explained to the Holy Father
I never could stand a crowd.
Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA
There is no mistake in the spelling of dog
For God in heaven knows those four paws
That furry face and wagging tail
Ears perked up
Waiting to sail
Across the clouds at His side
Romping, barking the Kingdom wide
Dancing with angels every day
God's best friend is but a lick away
Dawn Ireland, Houston, TX
Judge's Comments: The rhyme adds greatly to the playfulness here,
and the acronym pleases me to know others believe God has a special love
for dogs.
============
HONORABLE MENTION
Sleeplessness
She stretches out and hogs the bed,
The blankets she does steal.
Wherever I turn my puppy dog
Soon follows at my heel.
So though well deserved in Heaven,
I still won't get my sleep.
My fluffy cloud soon occupied
In one large beagle leap!
Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA
Judge's Comments: Though my companion is a miniature poodle,
you have
expressed my sentiments exactly; love the quatrains with exact rhymes-
Thanks and well done!
============
Luminosity
Jerky treats and puppy toys,
Her vet bills leave me poor.
Expensive, yes, but my beagle
Gives back to me much more.
Faithful love and companionship,
Undying loyalty,
My dog is a shining example
Of what we all should be.
Heaven will be a most glorious place
If it's blessed with the glow of my canine's face.
Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA
============
Judgment
When I arrive in heaven
And Meet St.Peter face to face,
Perhaps words from my pet sheep
Will help me get a comfy seat:
"The old boy did foolish things,
Some folks even thought him mad.
But he was kind to us animals
And really wasn't so baaaad."
James W. Lay, Calhoun, GA
============
HONORABLE MENTION
Joy
For heaven's grounds no gravity restricts
Its creatures, who here on earth are bound.
What joy for hippopotami and elephants
To fly with larks or hawks
Espying far below all heaven for their landing place.
Landing as they may with grace and skill
Their will their only bond.
Jean McAllister, Bellevue, WA
Judge's Comments: To know all things great and small are worthy
of recognition is pure joy. Thank you!
============
Halo
What was earthly life like
Before we had the pleasure
Of purring cats and faithful dogs?
How incomplete it must have been.
Surely, in heaven,
They will again romp and play
Fulfilling our need
To love and be loved in return.
The circle will be closed.
Lena S. Norman, Saginaw, Texas
============
SCOUT HAS ARRIVED
Ah, my loyal dog has passed,
no doubt to check it out,
he always was my Scout -
of course, there is no way to know,
only my heart tells me it's so,
why I have even heard, to have
a place in heaven reserved for you,
a recommendation must be on file
from at least one of your beguiling pets.
Janet Parker, Lunenburg, Ma
============
HONORABLE MENTION
Shadow
When I get to heaven
the first thing that I'll see
is the shadow of ol' Rootbeer
waiting there for me.
He'll jump up like a puppy
without constraints of age
and never leave my side again,
when life turns its last page.
Lynne Remick, Nesconset, NY
Comments: "Rootbeer." What a delightful name. I am
very fond of the quatrain. Your exact rhymes make your shadows so
believable!
============
HONORABLE MENTION
Wings
Butterflies
with angel wings
heavenly messengers
sent to show us
to believe in
higher things.
Lynne Remick, Nesconset, NY
Judge's Comments: While I am not certain one might have Butterflies
for pets, I simply adore the thought of them having "angel wings," and
being "heavenly messengers."
============
EPICURE
Each and every million years
angels meet for snacks and beers.
They sing and dance in Heaven's hall.
They all get down, they have a ball.
Fallen angels, including Satan,
are invited - He's been awaitin'.
He appears as Serpent, a la Eden,
with seductive hisses, "Isss it time for feedin'?
I'd like a niccce fat, furry rat
or, how about God'sss calico cat?"
John E. Rice, Houston, TX
============
Tigger
My lovely cat oh lovely
She looks upon me from heaven above
From the peaks of Glory
She smiles like a Cheshire cat
Her eyes blind, blind by the 18 years of seeing
Her ears deaf by the years of hearing
I am too young, young to go up to heaven
If I were able I would, for my cat Tigger is up there waiting
Waiting for someone to stroke her white and orange stripes.
Maggie Stearns
Wilmette, IL
|
"The view from inside," by Betty Ann Whitney, Assistant Editor http://pages.prodigy.com/dandelionsoup Have we not all heard, "A picture's worth a thousand words." Word pictures communicate directly with our senses, providing a concrete visual experience. Imagery may represent sound, odor, touch, taste, or even an internal sensation, such as hunger, thirst, happiness or fear. Imagery can convey shape, texture, color, motion. The use of imagery helps to describe an experience in the following poem: |
STORMWATCH
Ink blue, green, soaring surging slabs
of white-capped grey
advancing, avalanching,
running before the roaring wind
assaulting everything afloat.
There is no peace in the valleys
of these September mountains.
The siren's seductive song is
drowned by the drone of baritone banshees
and rocks and hills of home are distant memories ashore.
John E. Rice, Houston, Texas
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