Awesome, beautiful images , creative wording , smooth easy flow. I enjoyed the format, original and eye catching. Great piece

Wow! this is an amazing poem. I conjures so many images and fond memories of childhood. Feeling safe and secure. great poem!

Wow! Your opening stanza was amazing! I loved the wording but you know what my favorite part was? The pigtail part! I feel like it added a unique touch to what you were actually describing..

Searching for emeralds
in sapphire skies

^ this line was just beautiful!! I don't even know what to say about it besides that. I love it!! It took something so common, blue skies, and described there is so much more to ask for than just blue skies. I enjoyed the second stanza a lot!

Your ending stanza, LOVEDDDDD....I had such an awesome image in my head of an innocent girl, laying in grass, by a beautiful pond, under a beautiful clear sky!

Aside from the imagery, the whole story behind it was great!

I've read this poem a few times now, and remember it from before. Instantly I thought of the Wizard of Oz with the rainbow (I can't not associate the two) and felt a lot of it really went hand in hand. You write such beautiful images that I feel like I'm a part of them, back in my childhood.

"Full of paved roads,
good intentions
and a masquerade
of uncertainty."

This was definitely my childhood here, emphasis on masquerade of uncertainty. I always asked a zillion questions :)

The wisdom in your poetry always makes me feel like I'm talking to my family about their history, all the fun stories I never got to be a part of as it was before my time. This is one of them, and it made me think of the better family moments I've had. :) Thank you for making me reminisce!

I like your language a lot! awesomely figurative, yet.. soothing!

There's a gentile fairy tale vibe to this. I was taken back to my childhood, nostalgia and foggy memories... and I realized how right it is to associate a feel of magic and enchantment to young life.

Very well done. Congratulations on your win.

Kay,

This poem has such innocence to it and yet it was filled with so much wisdom.

As a child we always wish for more and sometimes we're given a childhood that isn't as happy as others, as bright, and so we search for something else. I really liked the reference to "withered paint" such an interesting metaphor.

I was curious as to why you mentioned gems and stones through out, did they have a particular symbolism? I know all gems have a meaning behind them, for example emeralds are known to symbolise hope and is lucky for love. Or perhaps you were connecting them to certain months or star signs. This poem made me had an extremely in depth look at the meaning behind the poem.

I was particularly fond of the ending, especially how you wake from a reminiscent state.
It created an extremely comfortable environment for the reader and made us feel at ease with the past, it was almost like you were saying things will get better.

I liked the reference to poppies, again poppies have much symbolism such as peace and sleep which worked well with your ending of a day dream.

"Full of paved roads,
good intentions
and a masquerade
of uncertainty."

I really liked this, it was very relatable from my perspective. Roads are often paved for us by other people with good intentions but we're full of uncertainty anyway.

Great tone used throughout Kay and a very thought provoking write.

Congrats on your win!
-Mel

Kudosxxx

Congrats Kay on a very well deserved win. Great write with awesome choice of words.

Nice to see you posting again :)

all the best and take care

"Autumn always found me
in pigtails"

I think we all know pigtails symbolyse childhood most of the time.. (little girls) I like the imaginary here,I think the "always" indicates a certain emotion.
perhaps careless ness because something that is "always" finding you at some point doesn't take you by surprise anymore.there is so much to pull out
from one simple phrase..

"Searching for emeralds
in sapphire skies.
Without guidance
of saffron paths
nor ruby shoes.
I found it."

I think this is brilliant,this could be seen from some many point of views not to mention that the "sapphire skies" created the most beautiful image in my mind
I LOVE how the writer kept the stones through out the whole stanza. To me this stands here as a way of saying that childhood was hard, I even believe the writer is speaking about money problems too.
the stanza in itself is already very elegant and I love the positivity of "I found it" it indicates perseverance and how she managed to even without guidance
find something she thought was impossible.

"I awaken,
in my own backyard
full of pine trees,
bermuda grass
and the little pond.
Each of us
-green- "

I think this is too beautiful.from what I know, people always say that green is the color of hope,and I don't know if the writer did this on purpose here
but what it did to me was so uplifting.. although this write does contain the melancholy of growing and finding our own place somewhere I do believe it also packed with beauty and hope and lessons..
Amazing Job, Gorgeous poetry

This poem is indeed the most pristine and immaculate piece of virginal art this entire month that I have encountered, in my opinion, written by someone who really knows how to pen the subtleties of lost opportunities in love, their fading memories, and the attempt to hold on to them, in all their magnificence and splendor. I think I will not do justice if I did not re-quote some of the lines/stanza's here with my simple interpretation next to some of these beautiful lines in parentheses:
Autumn always found me
in pigtails, behind the moon, (depicting childhood innocence)
beyond the rain, (as in beyond the rainbow)
with dreams...
that I dared to dream.
Hoping there was more
than gray skies, (more in life than just dark memories)
weathered paint (eroded wishes/desires)
and locked cellars. (opportunities denied)

Searching for emeralds (emeralds are symbolic for love)
in sapphire skies. (sapphire blue color depicts the color of sadness here)
Without guidance
of saffron paths (perhaps fiery, lit or elegant)
nor ruby shoes. (passion filled love)
I found it...
the golden side of the rainbow. (where the pot of gold lies hidden according to ancient Irish mythology)

Sands of youth
filtered through
the hour glass

^An elegant poetic way to say how my youth slipped away ever so slowly, like sand particles dripping through an houglass, one by one.

And the last stanza, was just superb, poignant and perhaps penned with perfection, in the way it projects to the readers mind that only fragments of those lovely memories remain, to which I clutch on, like poppies (delicate/thin) between fingers and palm....omg so beautiful! Followed by the amazingly beautiful ending lines stating the symbolism of the color green using pines, Bermuda grass and a mossy pond, in autumn/august to the green color of an emerald (=love) that I once sought....... were simply a treat to read.

I could not find a better poem this week to top my charts, perhaps this entire judging season. Simply elegant, brilliant and sublime in many ways and more.... much more deserving than these 3 adjectives, that I could find in my vocabulary today to describe how wonderful it was, as I read this piece of haunting art. (10 points).

(From Judging 1-29-12)