Challenge for Clubs and Non-club members (Part 2)

Okay, below are the rules of the contest.

All poems that are submitted (on this thread) will be posted by either the manager or an assistant of the club (or a self compeating member). All poet names should be removed from the poems, if not, they will be disqualified from the contest.

ALL poems posted on this thread WILL NOT BE POSTED ON THE SITE, until the contest is over.

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Each club may enter a poem for the topic under each genre. For example 'Love poems' has eleven topics so a club may enter 11 poems under that genre, only 1 poem per topic.

Each poet from the clubs may only enter two poems into the contest. All Poems MUST be new. Do NOT post your poems on the site UNTIL the contest is over.

Any individual members that are compeating are allowed to enter up to 3 poems (to make it fair since clubs can enter upto 11 poems total), but again only 1 poem per topic.

Their will be a panel of Judges that are not in any of the clubs. When submitted, you need to have the title, topic, genre, your username, and then club name on it. A poem can be of any style, however if it's a haiku or a specific style you must follow the format exactly or your poem will be disqualified. All poems will be submitted all at once via PM to me. To be fair I am going to Number them and take away all the other information when sent to the Judges.

Example of posting poems

TITLE: The Lost World
TOPIC: Depression
GENRE: Sad Poems
NAME: Italian Stallion
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Then post the poem following that.

Remember your club (or you) doesn't have to enter every topic or genre. The contest will be judged by genre. So yes, there will be 3 winners from every genre.

Contest end date is June 22nd

***Rules***

1) Must be your own work
2) No Profanity
3) Only one poem per topic
4) Only two Poems per person
5) No prewritten pieces

If any of the above are done, your poem will be deleted from the contest. If plagerised, It will also delete from the contest and the Site as well.

___________

If there are any questions cocerning this challenge, please ask in the other "Challenge" thread.

Thank you and enjoy writing,
Joe

TITLE: Victorian Felo-de-se [Kyrielle - Ekphrasis]
TOPIC: other poems
GENRE: Life & Society
CLUB: RTVW

Thou knowest how my shadows wax
midst lonely mere of torn lilacs
Where damsels drown, I still tarry
Alee, martyr-eyne weep esprit

Soothfast daystar dareth to grin
Meseems, sweven bewrayeth sin
'Tis serpent blood meand'ring thro me
Alee, martyr-eyne weep esprit

With a wanion, death clepeth troth
Cold river bestoweth cerecloth
Found in misery's bed, prithee,
alee, martyr-eyne weep esprit

[http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Found-Drowned.html]

soothfast = truthful; honest; faithful
sweven = vision seen in sleep; a dream
bewray = to reveal; to expose
clepe = to call; to name

TITLE : Midnight Blue
TOPIC: Depression
GENRE: Sad poems
CLUB: RTVW

Midnight Blue

My world within the arms
of midnight blue
dangling hopelessly upon
palm lines
-unread-

Forever ...
perhaps only a breath away
teetering on the edge of broken lines
and the fall -
of a final rose petal

Oh sky !
How does the beauty of your moon
still hang
`neath my rain
And the twinkle of your stars
shine
`neath the darkness of my shadows

I,
a bitter lonely soul
dying -
within the arms
of midnight blue

TITLE: Where Us Begun...
TOPIC: Sensual Love
GENRE: Love & Romance
CLUB: RTVW

Embalmed in a yearning blindness,

I crawl through the crushing weight of Moon's shivering debris

to touch the oral darkness of your dream-shaped lips

and You, my trembling Beloved,

You, with eternal pearls

gleaming in your eyes

make me suffer for your groaning flames

of nakedness

Oh, in a raging surrender

I cry out for your thrillingly anonymous whispers

And as the branches of my exile

melts away the languorous distance

Celtic pleasure of amorous muscles,

escort me into the alcoves of your ebon domain

There are no voices anchoring us to reality,

no foaming gaze escaping us,

not a frosted echo parting us,

You pour the crystallized midnight

into these crimson veins

and from my soul,

You peel away the layers of fossilized tears

to read my unwritten poems

in the language of three-dimensional Love

This is the never fleeting moment

where You and I merge

This is Life's Big Bang,

where us begun...

TITLE: A Thousand Splended Suns
TOPIC: Grieving, Loss
GENRE: Sad
CLUB: RTVW

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Setting sun cast away, darkness comforting,
eyes sparking of crystals of amethyst, filled
with ardent love, quiet surroundings
vibrated without strings, notes merging
with one another; their hearts sang along,
inwardly, after this engagement in love's
laborious craft....

But,
all in vain, brightest glories of their love
-stretching beneath this bruised vale-
beguiled the lonely girl her fate to bear
mysterious fate! which caused her heart to
break !

for soon he would leave, hence perchance 'tis
why her house half-haunted seems, as if there clings
about it yet, remembrance of such things
which her heart's closest searching will defy.

a sudden chill creeps o'er her heart, of fear
brightness seems all false! beneath is gloom.
bustling among shadows of that tomb
surely tings of death she softly hears.

streams cascade down her face
cheeks quiver, as air cradles inebriated
roses, leaves silenced by rose gatherer's wrists
her speech silenced, she lay as an ancient grave...

--Title borrowed from the book of same name by Khaled Hosseini
--Inspired from the love story of Laila and Tariq in A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini..

TITLE: Relation to the Universe
TOPIC: Miscellaneous
GENRE: Miscellaneous
CLUB: RTVW

I often wonder the purpose
of persistent sunbeams
Creeping through my curtains
Each morning on repeat

How something so far
away can seem so close
that you may feel the majestic
warmth of the sun's kiss

Why the night sky
is mysteriously cold
the glow of trillions of icy crystals
illuminate our heavens

Face of reflective rock
wearing the scars
of a violent past
Surely patterns repeat

And this little earth
taken for granted
does anyone ever ponder
how small we really are

TITLE: Spring Garden
TOPIC: Nature and Environment
GENRE: Nature
CLUB: RTVW

Bells of brilliant blue
Amongst african lillies
Orchids and pansies

Dogwood and lilacs
Emerge from beds of ivy
Lovely spring garden

TITLE: Awakening
TOPIC: Dark & Fantasy
GENRE: unexplained
CLUB: RTVW

Phantom loveletters scatter
by somnambulism of death

beyond the celestial threshold
until dawn-wanderers' paths awake

Flames of faceless souls align
within labyrinths, soon demystified

Meeting a different midnight
where windblown kisses sleep

TITLE: I; The Sun's Secret Court.
TOPIC: Secret Love
GENRE: Love
CLUB: RTVW

I rise, to see not her;
she wanes to seek divinity.
Time between us deter
fate from hearing my sullen pleas.

I hear, from the whispers
by fellow promenading wind-
A celestial transverse;
behind illuminescent skin.

I feel, nonexistent
in the world she dances in.
Reproaching the distant,
she takes my place where I've been.

Only from the remains of the clouds caressing her wings,
could I abstract her spirited touch that clings.

TITLE: The Courtier's Sighs.
TOPIC: # 2 about society
GENRE: LIFE & SOCIETY
CLUB: RTVW

By a silver stream she knelt
-waiting- watching streaks of life
meander by wantonly.

"If life were to be a patch,
beautifully missed
once swum by;
a mote on the brink
of Forgotten Time's crease
once I sigh.
Might I be bereaved,
or should I conceive?"

Hollow pine trees sing a tune
of shared concordance
-as do I-
for she reflects my inner mind.

"Burgeoning odyssey manifests
crippled dreams of hope;
dashed hopes of faith,
lacerating my heart.
Might I form a fort,
or better,
piece a pervious film?"

She shall find peace if ever
the world were to rest
beneath falsified superficiality.

....into a realm of impossibility

TITLE: Til Death Do Us Part
TOPIC: Lost Love
GENRE: Love
CLUB: R.T.V.W.

Til Death Do Us Part

Gone, absent the memories
forever cherished, those quiet moments
shared unconditionally
between man and beast

a gentle paw, wagging tail
an unjudgemental ear
that strange sense of empathy
when no one else cared

we were one
a linking of the soul
now half of me has gone
buried in a desolate hole

til death do us part
yet the pain lingers forever.

dedicated to "Buddy" who passed after 17 years of bringing complete and utter joy into my life

TITLE: Oneiro, Moon.
TOPIC: Love
GENRE: Lasting Love
CLUB: R.T.V.W

He -

like silver essence of the moon;

whispered -mercy-

to ethereal lips;
-conscious-

of the timeless existence
mirrored in his eyes.

and he who tore imperial feathers
from a silken dream catcher..
..brushed tips 'pon
chest of a hundred heartbeats;

with the delicacy of
a murmurous reverie.

...Oneiro.

I -

who watched sunken dew drops

-melt-

within his palm;

slept 'pon his imagination;
reflected in my mind.

-to oneiro tis eleftheria-

and we who held dandelion's
sullen by thy stars,
became surreal night lights;
hushing -hypnos-

to our hearts.

Oneiro -
Selene,
Oneiro.

NOTES:
"Oneiro" = Greek translation of "Dream."
"to onerio tis eleftheria" = Greek translation of "Dream of Freedom."
"Selene" = Greek goddess of the moon/ Greek word for "moon."
"Hypnos" = Greek God of sleep/ Greek word for "sleep."

Phoenix Rising Poems

TITLE: Tiny Little Fractures
TOPIC: Desired Love
GENRE: Love & Romance
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Tiny Little Fractures

One becomes a million
as the day melts away like
thick crushed umber candle
wax due to an overwhelming
uprising of rushing heat all
causing an equilibrium within
the mind..

Temptation--
the sweetest of
all sins. Love the deadliest way
to live. Trapped in a labyrinth
of simple gestures mixed with
blunt facial expressions that
hold too much emotional
content for the heart to bear
alone.

Say I love you...just this once

And lessen the burden on my spirit
that no longer lives beside you. My
soul can not exist in a realm
of diseased tranquility manipulated
by the broken promises of yesterday.
The totality of my being has shattered
at my calling from the angels leaving behind
tiny little fractures

My goodbye to you.

TITLE: The invisible heart of the rose
TOPIC: I Love You
GENRE: Love & Romance
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

The invisible heart of the rose

Under the wintry moon, passion stood a moment in my forlorn eyes, humming despised lullabies, serenading my deaf flowers, retracing my shy minutes, my widowed hours.

His words baptized my disenchanted hands:
I believed I was free from the isolation of the sky.
He would keep rain from me as I listened to the voices of earth singing across the sea. He would shelter my soul from the frost, reading my petals, deciphering my delicate fragrance.
(my perfumed garden did laugh and dance)

Under a fizzy shadow I waited observing his words, his light, his beauty, gathering stars, bathing in flames, surprising my cherished scars.
Those were nights of bottomless potable water and half-waking dreams.
I was mesmerized.
(he carried me away to his lovely northern streams)

Unremembered oceans were expanding within when the trajectory was interrupted and my space shifted. In sweet nothingness I could still see the sun in him, feeling what was deeper than love, sinking in blindness, diving where the moon embraced the horizon.
(dimmed tenderness)

Darkness dreamt for me: a wonder bubbled into my soul,hiding my sunny heart in secret rivers of fire. I was consumed like a curse. I was the fear of my sick desire. I drowned.

O Love!
Reach out towards me,
save me from this wreck:
(the pieces of my soul are scattered in hell)
Hold my hand again, pull me up,
this silence is a spell.

O Love!
Race down my avenues of hope,
unlock our fountains of peace.
This pain is innocent,
This pain shall cease.

The invisible heart of this rose is still yours.
The invisible heart of this rose will always be yours.

TITLE: You and I
TOPIC: Lasting Love
GENRE: Love & Romance
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

You and I

The waves gave just a gentle toss,
Beneath the moonlights hue,
Mid whispers of a calming wind,
In dreams I walked with you.

On lazy floats long rippling streams,
Where colors made us sigh,
Below the weeping willow branch,
Lay dreaming you and I.

In early morn on mountain tops,
We laughed mid pleasant days,
On winter nights beside log fires,
We loved our nights away.

When storms upon horizons brewed,
And faith grew sharply weak,
It was your arms around my neck,
And you who kissed my cheek.

When pains of life tore at my sail,
My soul cried deep within,
Present on my darkest night,
To guard me as a friend.

Crushing heart till seemly broke,
With mind to numb to think,
Hells fury seemed to be unleashed,
I never saw you blink.

Then one day the sun came out,
Forced back the oceans tide,
As in our days of peace and joy,
We walked on side by side.

TITLE: Strange Lust
TOPIC: Love Is
GENRE: Love & Romance
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Strange Lust

Ladies dressed in gowns of white were singing songs of glee,
Surprised, I sat down to listen and see what I might see.
Suddenly, the voices changed, dark clouds filled up the skies,
Thunder boomed in rhythm while fire shot from their eyes.

Each ladies gown changed color, clinging tight against her skin,
The song turned so hypnotic, it almost pulled me in.
Some man stood before me speaking of each ones charm,
Promising me great pleasure if I were in their arms.

Feeling lust grow hot inside me, I turned my eyes away
Looking at my one true love, who next to me did lay.
The want of them went away watching my soul mate sleep,
Strange lust can never beat a man when his love is deep.

TITLE: Nocturnal Nomad
TOPIC: Lost Love
GENRE: Love & Romance
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Nocturnal Nomand

The sun's work completed
retires to the west
consumed by the fingers of darkness
opening across the city
enveloping all in her grip.
Restlessness gnawing at my thoughts,
driving me to search for the cure.

Headlight casts silent shadows
toward the entrance
of yet another tavern.
The inquisitive glances judge my intrusion,
bartender flashes a practiced fake smile
I reply with my own,
she pours the elixir.

Cigarette smoke curls around my hand
rising to meet the thickening haze above,
perfect mixer for the liquid truth I ingest.
Familiar clink of ice cubes,
emptied glass
unwanted memories take their leave,
euphoria introduces herself and takes a seat.

Last call arrives and with it comes
the familiar taste of a pillaged passion,
breathing life
back into subdued thoughts.
Shards of a broken mirror glued back together
the reflection distorted, conjured by
my intoxicated conscience.

Night looms heavily on my guilty mind
trying to focus on the infinite white line,
streets long since abandoned
by those with more sensible sentiment.
Contemplating my sanity
as I await the sunrise
I embrace the solitude and accept
the punishment for my sins.

TITLE: Away From The Sun.
TOPIC: New Love
GENRE: Love & Romance
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Away From The Sun.

"Every end has a new beginning"

Hope stood betwixt
remnants of life-
camouflaged by
my unwillingness-
unconscious of such beauty.

Thousands of miles
from the sun, I stood
unwilling to let go-
tangling myself into an impasse-
daydreaming until time
was forever gone.

Happiness danced
freely on fingertips;
yet I was too numb
to feel your touch.
Unable to see the best
of the end.

-transformation-

As I traveled through
loneliness, it evaporated.
As I moved closer to the sun-
my charcoal heart
was graced with a new
beginning; hues blossomed-

Uncovering hope-
I found happiness again...
you.

TITLE: Wish
TOPIC: Lost Relationship
GENRE: Sadness & Depression
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Wish

Wish that I'd known myself
a little better than I do
that day you said hello,
winking at me from hell.

Wish I knew how to resist
the lure of a smooth vixen
forked tongue dripping in honey,
trapped when we first kissed.

Wish that I was able to see
the wolf in snake's clothing
making a play for my soul,
separating me from reality.

Wish that I had never met you,
seen through your coy smile
rejected your sly seduction,
don't I know that's just not true.

Title : Running Out Of Days
Topic : About Death
Genre : Sadness & Depression
Club : Phoenix Rising

Running out of Days

Put on my favorite dress
Legs below strong and bare
Wandering streets of this town
No longer drawing stares

Again see sun shining
Clouds float across blue sky
Birds soar high above
No longer cry to die

Breezes caressing hair
Rain stinging my face
Soft grass tickles bare feet
Dreams of a living place

Running out of days
Locked within hells walls
Clock ticks away hours
Waiting for angels call

TITLE: Endless Fall
TOPIC: Other Sad Poems
GENRE: Sadness & Depression
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Endless Fall

Behind the darkness of light
Breathes a creature of memories
Wearing away normal thoughts
Hiding your soul's pain with ease

Evil eyes, bring haunted dreams
Echos promised eternity
With arms capturing broken hearts
Embracing our serenity

All it takes is one divine kiss
Bringing those tortured fears back
Trapping you within your own mind
Until every vein burns and cracks

Far behind this endless fall
We breathe with our memories
With plastic smiles painted on
So much sadness yet to release

TITLE: Your Arms Feel Like Home...(An Acrostic)
TOPIC: Inspirational
GENRE: Life & Society
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Your Arms Feel Like Home...(An Acrostic)

Your arms feel like home, like heaven to me.
On them I'll repose, eternally...
Underneath me, these everlasting arms,
Reliant and trusting, they keep me from harm.

Always protecting, come what may...
Releasing me gently, and guiding my day.
My heart knows that always, forever I'll be
Safe in your keeping, because You love me.

Forever, I'll praise You, my Master, my Friend.
Ever uplift You to, until the end...
Everlasting Your love, with what can compare?
Life has no meaning, unless You are there.

Long days I have traveled, but You brought me home
I wandered far from You, but was never alone..
Kept by your power, You sustained me...
Ever I'll thank You, for saving me.

How can I ever flee from these arms?
On them I'll repose... they keep me from harm,
My refuge, my shelter, my all they provide
Everlasting their strength, in them I'll abide.

TITLE: Behind those eyes
TOPIC: About Society
GENRE: Life & Society
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Behind those eyes

In the silent watches of night,
my heart sank in subliminal depths:
she had drifted away from the shores of life.
A flood of thoughts invaded my mind.
--she has always been my obscure passion--

I remembered the first time, I sat at her
feet in awe, worshiping her past, bowing
to the fire I could see on the palms of her
warrior hands.

Behind those eyes,
History had another name.
She taught me to spell it bleeding.
(I knew she had talents to madness
and anger)
I learnt to keep my conscience warped,
unleashing my claws, sharpening the blade
of hatred with care.
I inherited her unnatural rigidity, uncomplaining
patience and uncommon spice for disobedience.

Those were years of thunder and rage
and I was a hopeless angry little girl.
She taught me to clad my soul in armor,
I blossomed in mud and in mud we fought.
They had painted monstrosities upon
the walls of our hearts.
--we never knelt down, never--

One day, they arrested her.
She was tortured like a man.
(it was what they said)
She survived time and death,
embracing infinity, retreating
into her own shadow.
Exiled.

Her smile was no smile anymore.
But her eyes were still radiant
as the eyes of a saint.
She had known the darkness of the path,
cursing the setting sun and the guilty serpents.
She had known the purity of despair.
Her purposes were eternal as this flag
I now bathe with my own tears.

Behind those eyes,
History stared at the perpetual night
and succumbed to intangible ashes.
Behind those eyes,
my past, my life, my pain.

*This poem is a tribute to Vera Silvia Magalhaes, Iara Iavelberg, Dinalva Oliveira Teixeira, Lucia Maria de Souza, Maria Lucia Petit and all the Brazilian women who fought against dictatorship and died.

TITLE: My Sweet, Sweet Dear
TOPIC: Meaning of life
GENRE: Life & Society
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

My Sweet, Sweet Dear

Beyond our time my sweet, sweet dear,
To know will be no more,
No difference can be made at all,
When we pass through life's door.

All the moments we have shared,
Will wash away without a care,
And never again shall we stare,
Upon our native shore.

Beyond our time my sweet, sweet dear,
The world will soon forget,
And not an ounce or thought will come,
Much less a pure regret.

Of two who loved through all of life,
Just a husband and a wife,
Our memories fade in evenings light,
When our sun comes to set.

So for now my sweet, sweet dear,
Let's live within our sun,
We shall take life as it is,
With our employer being fun.

For today, the smiles are free,
Let's fill our baskets you and me,
Choose to live life happily,
Before our life is done.

TITLE: The fish Run for Cover
TOPIC: Patriotism
GENRE: Life & Society
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

The fish Run for Cover

As the ocean darkens life changes
Fish mutate to survive,
Octipi now have feet
Will the coral stay alive?

Ships docked in the harbor
Waiting for a reason to fleet,
Nobody wants to clean the mess
Not caring about the fish we eat,

No more pearls to be found
In the black ocean we see,
The shrimp now run for cover
Waiting for help from you and me,

Many will lose their jobs
Many don't seem to care,
The only way to save our future
Is in the efforts that we share

TITLE: Discord
TOPIC: Meaning of Life
GENRE: Life & Society
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Discord

Through streets of Winter spirits roam
afore that moment your past lovers sing.
Surrounded by shadows of wanting trees hurt.
Beneath the surface of time leaves pursue
a journey under a cloudless sky of tears.

Just before a thought of the dance trees seek,
women weep in that instant.
On a bed of wanting poets ramble,
along boulevards of harmony they mourn,
and in the dying of a soul, young lovers wander.

Among the spectre of summer, the aged whisper.
On the frigid summit of ourselves, they grieve.
Antiquated, they speak with an air of harmony,
while young ones search for the stillness of weeping.

Within the meaning of discord men echo
the thought of a soul as dreamers fade.
Waves escape the stillness of strife.
Midst the meaning of time, spirits evade.
In a air of disagreement dreamers hurt,
and old ones turn on the cold mountain of words.

TITLE: Breath of New Air (Triple Tanka)
TOPIC: Nature & Environment
GENRE: Nature & Environment
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Breath of New Air (Triple Tanka)

Sweet delicacy,
Remembered from my childhood,
Help me remember
Springs first storm or maybe some
Pleasantly smelling flowers.

A breath of new air,
Lasting hopes born now anew.
Sprouting in our lives,
Full of Love, Peace, and Kindness.
Oh! My heart couldn't want more.

Dovetailing the dregs,
Conveying unwhispered thoughts.
Drawing to a life,
Life gives us another breath.
Alas' a breath of new air.

Tanka
Tanka is a classic form of Japanese poetry related to the haiku with five unrhymed lines of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables. (5, 7, 5, 7, 7) The 5&7&5&7&7 rule is rumored to have been made up for school children to understand and learn this type of poetry.

TITLE: Storm (Cascade)
TOPIC: Other Dark Poems
GENRE: Dark & Fantasy
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Storm (Cascade)

Black clouds saturate a murky grey sky,
turning day into night.
Thunder, lightening, storm brewing.

Rain falling, blown about by
howling winds, mimicking emotions as
black clouds saturate a murky grey sky.

Thoughts assault the psyche,
bringing darkness to a soul,
turning day into night.

No rainbows or pots of gold,
only sadness flooding the landscape.
Thunder, lightening, storm brewing.

Cascade, a form created by Udit Bhatia, is all about receptiveness, but in a smooth cascading way like a waterfall. The poem does not have any rhyme scheme; therefore, the layout is simple. Say the first verse has three lines. Line one of verse one becomes the last line of verse two. To follow in suit, the second line of verse one becomes the last line of verse three. The third line of verse one now becomes the last line of verse four, the last stanza of the poem. See the structure example below:

a&b&c, d&e&A, f&g&B, h&i&C

To make the Cascade an even longer poem, use more lines in verse one. For example, if verse one has 6 lines, the poem must have seven stanzas so that each line of verse one is reused as a refrain in each following stanza (a cascading effect).

TITLE: Flight (Senryu)
TOPIC: Misc. Poems
GENRE: Misc. Poems
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Flight (Senryu)

Airplanes scintillate
through the drowsy atmosphere-
shooting stars of night.

Senryu
Most popular definition, but there is more to senryu than meets the eye:

Senryu (also called human haiku) is an unrhymed Japanese verse consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables (5, 7, 5) or 17 syllables in all. Senryu is usually written in
the present tense and only references to some aspect of human nature or emotions. They possess no references to the natural world and thus stand out from nature/seasonal haiku. The 5/7/5 rule was made up for school children to understand and learn this type of poetry.

1.
TITLE: Legacy
TOPIC: Nature & Environment
GENRE: Environment
CLUB: THE CLUB

The earth bellows in pain
Boulders, dust, rock, billowing upwards
large elliptic bubbles, momentarily motionless
Collapsing inwards
Gorging forth its riches for desecration

Poisoned scarred landscape
A patch work quilt
Blighted
Blistered
Bleeding
Do Butterflies hover, flowers bejewel?
No, no pretty pictures here
Only hell
Only despair

Rent crevices, cavernous holes
Of excavation and machination
24 hours
Day in
Day out
Day in
Day out
Spewing forth bloodied wealth
To appease glass top cynics encased in mahogany

While this, our planet, our legacy
Evaporates like discarded icecaps
Leaving toxic, oxygen depleted air
As carnivorous canyons beneath our feet
Swallow past
Swallow future
Swallow life

Think, our destiny predestined
Homo erectus, flint napper
First crude clay pot
The very beginning
Foretold our very end....

----

2.
TITLE: Flower
TOPIC: Life & Society
GENRE: Inspirational
CLUB: THE CLUB

My heart, not merely a tempestuous thing
Nor inarticulate of rhythm
More a flower awakening
Gentle, fresh and clean

Young, blemish less
Unfolding, it strengthens
Bursting in full blossom
Blazing for many moons

Till

Faltering at its zenith
Subsiding perceivably
Craggy brown edges appear
Surround its pulsing core

To wither, falter, die
Leaving behind a sprig of hope
Within the fallen seed
Full of promise

Tis there we lay our dreams

----

3.
Title: Elysium
Genre: Dark, Fantasy
Subgenre: Unexplained
Club: THE CLUB

We went where we always go -

the place where the telephone lines shoot
off into the distance,
cutting a wide swath through rich vegetation.
It's the place I always went to imagine -
thoughts rushing down the lines,
out to the horizon and beyond, to the mystery of the future.
It's the place we'd leave notes to each other
tucked away shyly under rocks or in folds of grey bark,
sometimes slipped in with forest violets,
tiny and pristine.
It's the place I always thought I'd kiss you first -
a shadow of a fate
sweetly fulfilled.

Tonight, this place holds all the wonder of dreams.

The earth swells greenly with mystery and the flush of life.
The air, still holding the heat of the day,
begins to catch and cup the scent of nighttime,
that dusky smell of dirt and dew and moon-blooming flowers.

We stand,
shoulder to shoulder,
soul to soul,
and watch the firebugs flicker to life around us.
They emerge like a deep abiding magic,
a score more every minute,
pulsing like the lights of little lives, which blaze into existence and then shudder out
again.

They circle, most thickly, near to the tree we planted
years ago,
before our lips had touched -
the small frail tree with the white ribbon,
whose buds we kiss in awe
every year it makes it through the winter.

Tonight this is the place all souls return to,
after shucking off the peeling skin of life -
glowing dots, all drawn together,
whirling slowly in the green thickness and dew.

We kiss for the thousandth time
and it's a true first kiss,
with all the fragile scrubbing newness of rainstorms,
flower buds, and birth. We are
bare,
skin to skin
flame to flame,
swarmed up with the pulsing glow surrounding us -

we are bright spots
in a field of green.

----

4.
Title: Bibliophile, Philosophia
Genre: Poems about Life
Subgenre: Meaning of Life
Club: THE CLUB

A million worlds
inhabit a single stretch of bookshelf

the letters, clicked like tongues onto the pages,
spell out words - stretch
into sentences, swell into paragraphs,
arch into myth.

These tales: merely
crystallizations of thought,

and all
the heady dreams,
the scratched out chapters,
the daydreams spawned of idle minds...
the worlds beyond the words...
those remain, uncaptured,
pulling at the line like caught fish
turning free and restricted
around the trapped syntax.

Hidden behind the pristine letters
are the madnesses of authors-
every nightmare of their sleep,
the imprint of every kiss on their lips,
every memory of light, red through their eyelids.

Under each line of poetry
a sensual pulse seethes, heated and serpentine
like a pear left by the window on a warm day,
infused with the sun's heat,
ripening and rotting into juicy sweetness.

And to understand this,
to sense it in your heart
while leafing through pages white and still...
Oh, to touch a word is to touch worlds.

----

5.
Title: We the People
Topic: Patriotism
Genre: Special Event
Club: THE CLUB

They say "we the people" started this nation that endures
The beautiful land that is mine, the same land that is yours
Founding fathers new eternity is a right smart piece of time
As they pleaged alligegiance to the source of their rhythm and rhyme
Must "we" became "they" at the end of the day,
or does every generation have something to say?
"O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,"
was it "we" or "they" that gives us the right?

----

6.
Title: Time to the Rust of Things
Topic: Sadness & Depression
Genre: About Death
Club: THE CLUB

There you were,
Inanimate,
Melting into a cracked shadow,
Enveloped by time.

There I was, a cracked shadow
of an ontological being.

There now! Love,
happiness, forgotten at its
end.

Resting beneath a poem of
Unwritten verses,
Still waiting for your
Testament.

Oh, but only time to etch
forth the rust of things.

Then, there we were,
Happiness elapsed,
Inanimate,
Near the edge of hope, I -
Grasping vainly at your cracked
Shadow.

----

7.
Title: Because of Blob
Genre: Love & Romance
Topic: Lasting Love
Club: THE CLUB

Let us not die peacefully.

Let us not leave
silently, head
shakingly, shoulder
shruggingly, hearts
sighingly. Sombre holy water,
sprinkled over those

ashy kisses on our mouths
from campfired marshmallows
as we watched the night sky
turn towards the sea

would do little.
Snuffed candles would not conceal the

four moles on your neck
Jenkins, Harlow, Bertie, Blob.

Let us die like the day,
glorious and blinding.

Let us die like demons,
bloody and snarling,
heroic and doomed.

Please, let us die
like galaxies, flashing
with the explosions of stars,
blowing themselves apart.

----

8.
Title: I Saw The Light
Topic: Life and Society
Genre: Faith and religion
Club: THE CLUB

I saw the Light, and it was good
when I followed it like I should
But even when I turned away
it was free to return one day
thus my Spirit's bound for glory
in a never ending story

----

9.
Title: Creatures of the Hidden Lands
Topic: Dark, Fantasy
Genre: Mystical
Club: THE CLUB

Leapt forth into flames
The steed in his reigns
With a demon, whip-cracked
On his back, dressed in black

Halted fast, drawn up head
Sped 'round, coat of lead
To stare the wicked fiend
And host of hell thus convened

So he forward, boldly stepped
Awakened that once had long slept
Great kraken deep in cave
Spite contempt 'cross the knave

Then the sword, drawn it forth
And it pointed surely north
As the beast lurched to grasp
Hiss exhumed, wicked rasp

Fiery battle, blood and scorn
Fight to death thus been born
With monster quick upon his heels
And tentacles fast upon the wheels

Crash down came stone walls
Collapse fast did marble halls
Rumbled fierce and relentless
Fires of hell comparative endless

Shone down a glorious light
For a moment ceased to fight
Fiend or kraken, though they try
Blinded by the whited sky

Mighty voice bellowed deep
Frozen tracks tentacles creep
Trembled hooves ebony steed
Thus words both forced to heed

'Creatures of my hidden lands
Bend your furious ancient hands
Lay this vengeance to thy rest
Know that both of thine are best'

Light that blazed fled quick back
But who should then on attack?
He himself with granted words
Shepherd of the earthly herds

Bolts of crackles piercing clouds
Split the ground in hazy shrouds
Back the demon on his horse
Back the kraken with remorse

A hundred leagues, canyon formed
Thunder bolts how well it stormed
Screamed the beasts, for far apart
And longing deep within each heart

'But soon I will return great kraken
Journey through rocks and bracken
To flay your burning flesh alive
And back your ugly self to drive!'

Hissed 'cross such cavernous falls
Over shattered walls, broken halls
Whispers breath the serpents' sea
'No, not mine whose death will be!'

Thus sworn to another once again
To meet in the Kraken's fiery den
Demon destined to ever stalking
In the nighttime, steed is walking

Long the roundabout, long the trail
But it is writ one will prevail
In some centuries hence the fight
When enemies are bound to reunite

TITLE: The Light of Thy Virtues [Sonnet]
TOPIC: about death
GENRE: Sadness & Depression
CLUB: RTVW

Be not afraid of this thief named death
whence came such intruder not one dared.
Thine eyes doth shut when what bodes cometh
in deep slumber thy self be prepared.
Thou may'st decay; thy pursuits art done
no moth nor rust shall covet thy charm,
nor thy fair soul need'st not to be gone.
Thus, help the brethren and cause no harm
thou that lovest, in peace must commence.
When foes' wraths upon thee bestowest
then thy patience shall not take offense
nor troubles shall trouble thy viewest.
Thou that dwell in dust, our patterns be
for thy virtues live, as thine breaths flee.

TITLE: Undone
TOPIC: Lost relationship
GENRE: Sadness & Depression
CLUB: RTVW

Each evaporating night

is drenched by an unquenchable thirst

forcing my fingertips to take a lacerated flight

to find, and trace,

the eddies of your softly flowing breath.

but alas!

your see-through dress

drifted beyond the suspended sunset

and the twirling cinders of our unmade bed

are cold,

lying still, forsaken,

in the valley of yesterday's marvels

where once I was roaming entwined

by the nubile haze of your penetrable lullaby..

Metallic shadows of black swans

from within the eclipse of asphyxiating twilight

call for me,

inviting my immobile waxen flash

for a last shivering dance

and as they sing their mournful songs

throughout the slaughter of white Chrysanthemums,

they breathe into my naked soul

Oh, Sweet Beloved,

I am undone...!

Alone, condemned

beneath God's exasperated planetarium

in the liquid embrace

of my own great collapse,

re-dreaming yesterday's dreams

that soon will be tomorrow's lost hopes,

on this forsaken checkered board of Joy and Pain

I call life...

Nice work everyone! The results will be posted in a timely manor.

I think you should give this contest another week.

Couldn't hurt.

If everyone agrees, then I have no problem extending it another week...

We all agree for an extension yes? I shall post some more poems then.

TITLE: Moonsong (Sonnett III)
TOPIC: Sad
GENRE: Other
CLUB: RTVW

Moonsong (Sonnett III)

Ironic moon extolled by poet's pen
Illuminate as lovers do imbibe
Intoxicated rise and rise again
Captured not by lyric nor by scribe

O'er mossy bank of lazy river's clasp
Haunts of dreams and druids tarry nigh
Perchance my true love saves me with his grasp?
Nay! Taunts me with seductive wanton cries

Oh pensive star! Thy heart my wish denies
Come death to beckon twilight's even' haze
Alas! Alone 'neath heaven's velvet skies
Heed not the seasons passing fleeting days

Moonsong gathers round the stone he keeps
Green river rambles onward still he weeps

TITLE: His Life Was A Poem
TOPIC: Friendship, Family
GENRE: Other
CLUB: RTVW

His Life Was A Poem

His life was a poem
An Iris his love
Tears between stanzas
When life was too much

With matchsticks of wood
A heart-box he made
Within a great treasure
The poem he gave

Compassionate laureate
Kindest of friends
Couplets and quatrains
Flowed from his pen

Each word held his passion
Lines blossomed with time
From sunrise to sunset
A perfect life rhyme

Wild things they gathered
For his serenade
His Iris held tight
To the box that he made

Sadly his ballad
Left all wanting more
Concludiong in silence
At line eighty-four

His life was a poem
His love she now waits
To bloom in his verses
When Spring recreates

For Ron and Iris

Awesome poetry :)

TITLE: Already Dead
TOPIC: Depression
GENRE: Sadness, Depression
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Already Dead

That's how I feel at the moment.
Frigid enough for my
veins to freeze together
sending a thick clot
that will cause the insanity
in my head to panic into a stroke.

Morbid isn't it how badly
I hurt for you. This pain
I feel had only occurred in my
most twisted nightmares....
But it's worse now that those images
plague me every time I see your face.

Something inside me has
reached its limits. The great wall
of me has been pierced and everyone
needs to watch out for the rumble.
Everything keeps falling in my lap
creating a hole too dark and too deep
for me to climb out of. I just want you
to see what this does to me. I keep
beating myself up hoping you will
see the bruises you are scarring me with.

But you see what was here long ago,
a girl with a smile made for the stars
of midnight. You don't have eyes
for the black and blue pain that's
stitched across my face. The tears
that soak up the fabric of my
pillow, the screams that hide
inside my laughter. You see
and hear what use to be, what
use to live in this body.

You can't see me anymore
because I'm already dead.

TITLE: Merging Of Two Souls
TOPIC: Grieving, Loss
GENRE: Sadness, depression
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Merging Of Two Souls

When cold wind chills my very soul, you are a gentle, summer night,
On days when all I do is wrong, your love makes them end right.
Each time dark clouds gather in my sky, one kiss sends them away,
But death is creeping toward me; it will not let me stay.

Your mind holds many memories from all those things once shared,
So, in case my words can't come, again, remember how we cared.
Never feel you have been left alone, within your heart lives mine,
Until we can unite, once more, I know you will be fine.

On nights when sleep will not come and your mind turns to me,
Just close those eyes, feel my touch, and my face you'll see.
I love you, precious wife of mine; together we make a whole,
Not even death can undo the merging of two souls.

TITLE: Memories Remain
TOPIC: Family
GENRE: Friendship - Family
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Memories Remain

Standing in front of me
My son reminds me of days
I used to be scared like him
Of exams coming our way

Through his beautiful eyes
My golden days return
They take me back to school
Where everything was fun

Life is not exciting anymore
I long to look in his eyes
To feel that warmth again
Innocence within sweet lies

Running faster than the wind
Pretending to soar like the kites
Reaching high touching the clouds
Disappearing from moms sight

Oh to be that carefree boy
When life was still just a game
Time has soared like the kite
Now only memories remain

TITLE: Adventure of Snake Charmer and the Leprechaun
TOPIC: Fun and Humor
GENRE: Other Poems
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Adventure of Snake Charmer and the Leprechaun

A discontented snake Charmer
Playing an aria on his flute
Behind him crept a leprechaun
Kicked the charmer with his boot

Like a chameleon changing colors
The leprechaun disappeared
Leaving an indelible image behind
On Charmers bum it was clear

The intrepid charmer swore revenge
Hoping to be the lottery winner of the day
He would catch that mischief maker
Take his gold, make him pay

Charmer ran toward the rainbow
Tripped on a rock and hit his head
Suffered severe memory loss
Forgot his mission, ideas now dead

Met a belly dancer preforming
With hairy armpits, a wart on her nose
Leprechaun had the last laugh with his spell
Charmer on his knee purposed with a rose

Charmer had taken her as his wife
She danced for him everyday
He played the aria on his flute
The little leprechaun got his way

A husband for his sister was the plan
It had all been written in stone
Now the leprechaun didn't have to share
The gold he had he could enjoy alone

Poem written from list of ten random words
snake charmer
indelible image
leprechaun
lottery winner
chameleon
memory loss
hairy armpits
aria
intrepid
discontented

Title: The Last Salute
Topic Grieving/Loss
Genre: Sad Poem
Club: None

The Last Salute

The telegram...

It is with deep regret...stop....killed in action stop...honoring his country...stop...died today...died today...died today... (A never-ending echo)

--------------------------

The funeral....

The funeral procession passed
sombre shades of blacks and grays
heads bowed low in last respect
in silence they did pray.

Tears spilled oh so freely
mourners stunned in disbelief
another soldier laid to rest
others left to share the grief.

A country's flag draped upon
mahogany spelling the end
now folded in a young wife's arms
an honor she couldn't comprehend.

A tiny ballerina bright
in her yellow tutu dress
among the grey and black tones
she stood out from the rest.

This little daughter bravely stood
and her mother's hand she held
lisping words of innocence
as tears in all eyes welled.

"Daddy you're not really gone
in my memory you're still there
I know that you'll watch over me
and I know that you still care.

I wore my favorite dress today
so you would remember me
your little dancing buttercup girl
who sat upon your knee.

God's garden in full of flowers
in many different hues
but when we both see yellow ones
think of me and I'll think of you.

So God bless you tonight again
as I prayed the night before
I know that you are always near
so I'll never close my door."

The present...

Twenty years have gone and passed
and this young girl is to wed
she spoke once more to her dad
and this is what she said...

"I wish you were still here dad
to walk me down the aisle today
but I know that I will feel your smile
shining on my buttercup bouquet.

Forever yours,

Buttercup XXXX

TITLE: Delicate Silhouette (Part 1)
TOPIC: Love
GENRE: Sensual love
CLUB: Phoenix Rising

Walking along the desolate shore,
midnight moonlight glints off the water,
as waves gently move and the stars glimmer.

Dancing, the wind stroked her shoulders,
revealing glistening tender skin
as she caressed rose colored hair.

He could see a delicate silhouette
amongst the starlight sandy plush
as he passionately kissed her naked neck.

Sparkling with love, she exchanged a kiss,
arms pressed against his chiseled body,
ecstatic for more, they basked in nudity...

10.
TITLE: Bitter Fruit
TOPIC: Miscellaneous
GENRE: Misc.
CLUB: THE CLUB

then your pupils grazed
across my face
vindictive
malevolence conspiring

and i questioned your
tenacity
to inflict harm
in honor of spite

for a sheer moment's
wounded pride
you would be triggered
into vengeance

as if hurting that
which hurt
could bring satisfaction
or peace of mind

but the pleasure you
might gain
puzzles me to an extent
that i slyly grin

then i lean back
hands behind my head
and wait patiently
for what will come

and it does come
bitter as rotted fruit
delivered to me
on a silver platter

This is now over, no more posts of poems will be allowed. Judging will be done and results posted in a timely manor. Thank you all for participating and good luck to everyone who entered.

When can we expect results?

As soon as I get the results from the judges, it will be posted. As for a time frame, I can't be specific - please remember, there are a lot of poems (40+) they have to read.

Noted.
Cool, thanks Joseph.

Sorry this is taking so long, results shall be up soon...

All good. If they're not up in the next 30 days, I'll start complaining. Til then, we're cool ;)

Thanks for all your hard work Joe :)

It's been 25 days since the contest closed.
5 days until I turn into a mutant ninja.

I'm still waiting for one judge to turn in the results, if it takes any longer, I'll just gather the info I got from the other judges and post the results. Again sorry for the amount of time this is taking...

Not your fault, Joey.

Okay, I promise to get the results posted within the next few days (1 or 2 days). Again sorry for the wait, and best of luck to all that have entered.

Dear poet you are still a winner who has earned the right to whine about the" luck of dedication" [pardon my french] the hope of dedication is only possible by unity, and the key to the lack of unity is lack of tolerance

I've got two strikes against me but I'm not ready to take my balls and go home.

"What we've got here is (a) failure to communicate"

I

Dear poet I was referring to love on a cyber-level .If I did not love the members of this site why would I care whether they judged my determination in a timely manner? Thank you for having the testicular fortitude to point out the problem, but admitting a problem is just the first step.

Can you with your depth, dear poet, try to understand why some members do not feel loved and only tolerated? Would you rather be dedicated to T.L.C .or B.S.?

The safest place in religion, politics, or poetry seems to be moderation if you will tolerate my puns

"

Once there was a priest that said three masses, one on saturday, and two on sunday. Someone in the eleven O clock mass was always writing letters to the bishop trying to get him in trouble, and many of us that attended at eleven O clock would always catch hell. Would it be ironical if the judge that is holding up this contest could have made a timely judgment in a less active contest?

Challenge for Clubs and Non-club members It has been a challenge for me to contribute to this site while I only feel tolerated. To give credit where it is due I don't feel I am moderated when I post poems