Join the Neopoet online poetry workshop and community to improve as a writer, meet fellow poets, and showcase your work. Sign up, submit your poetry, and get started.

Home

Community News

Autumn Arrival Image Prompt Contest Winner!

 

The Winner of the Autumn Arrival Image Prompt Contest is  scribbler

 

AUTUMN'S CUSP

 

 

Mid October a cool day
with a northern cooling breeze.
All hints of summer gone away.
The few green leaves are just a tease.

Tomorrow will bring the first frost
so this day finds me 'neath the trees
absorbing warmth before its lost
and limbering up titanium knees.

For I'm not what I once was.
Time has seen that I am not,
So I sit on a stump to take a pause
and breathe autumn's scent which I'd forgot.

Then turn my face up to the sky
as cool front winds begin to blow.
I watch the clouds as they race by.
They leave like friends I used to know.

My eyes water from sun's glare
so I drop my head down to my chest
letting my chin settle there
while I count the ways that I am blessed.

I'm blessed with our cabin in the trees
I'm blessed with seeing one more fall.
I'm blessed with grandchildren to tease.
I'm blessed with being here at all.

I watch a squirrel climb to its nest
for now the sun is getting low
so ere' it reaches ridge's crest
I arise then turn and go.

 

                         To leave an additional comment on the contest page click here

Neopoet Weekly 09/8/24 to 09/14/24 Winner!

This Week’s Winner is  Edward nigma

 

 Cage of cards

 

 Chaotically clustered
cage of
cards covering
all
cynically silent
sides of life
plainly plastered
before my
persistently passing
presence of
the present day.
Thoughtlessly thrashing
out the leisurely
overlapping lanes
of possibilities
prancing through
the pressuring palms
of probability.
With a single stern stomp
taking back the cross
mask of control.
There steadily
stumbled down
the obliquely built
walls of ambiguity
freely falling at
my frivolously
fleeting feet.
Vigorously revealing
the vaguely vapid
valley of victorious
vultures who
persistently preys
upon the weak
minded ones
who decisively numb
themselves within naivety .
But still
I walk forth
ahead through
the foreboding facade
of fear
lying before me.

 

To leave an additional comment on the contest page click here

Neopoet Weekly 09/01/24 to 09/07/24

This Week’s Winner is Trail

 

Echoes

 

Once there was a man
Who wrote beautiful music
He wrote the music because he was sad
He was sad because he was all alone

But he was noticed for his music
He ended up being loved for it
And in being loved
He lost his sadness
And his music soon after

 

To leave an additional comment on the contest page click here

 

August 2024 Contest Winners

The Winner of the Peace Versus War is Lavender  with the following poem

To Those Who Walked, Peace Versus War

 

I hope you have a quiet day,
a kissing breeze,
sweet hours at ease
planting flowers, if you please,
and nothing there to rip it all away.
I hope you have that day.

I pray you have a gentle night,
under stars so deep
they soothe and keep
your soft breath flowing as you sleep
beneath the crescent moon and her earthlight.
I pray you have that night.

And may your memories be amended
to blissful skies and green earth, so splendid
that they embrace you when you close your eyes.
May this be the rich life you come to realize.

To those who walked through the blood of yesternight,
I hope for you this day. I pray for you this night.

 

To leave an additional comment on the contest page click here

 

The Winner of the 08/24 Too Good to be True  is Punkyfrewster with the following poem

Too Good to be True

 

In my mind, it was bliss
day in and day out
until the day it ended.

In the rearview mirror,
I saw signs:
far-off gazes to nowhere
as we ate dinner
and stalled conversations
about your day.

All the bliss aside,
our love was just
too good to be true.

 

To leave an additional comment on the contest page click here

 

The Winner of the 08/24 I Lost The Instructions is Candlewitch   with the following poem

 

I Lost The Instructions (to being a woman)

 

I Lost The Instructions
(to being a woman)

You beat "Her" out of me
leaving my soul tattered.
In the beginning you were kind
warm and jovial, it mattered.

Gradually you began to change
taking me away from all I knew,
from Minnesota to the east coast
an easy ride we drove straight through.

I discovered your evil temper
on our trip, it left me in fear,
knocking me down, kicking me
you bellowed, shouting, making it clear.

You were the boss, and me your slave
seeing the cruel glint in your eye
was an omen of what was soon to come
you would test me in ways to make me cry...

Each new day was a promise of terror
you invented head-games to play.
In fear, I trembled trying to hide
tried not to anticipate the rue of the day.

nights were bad too, I cowered under covers
You brutalized me sexually to hear me scream
threatening to blow my head off my shoulders
losing connection with my idea of a woman's dream!

 

To leave an additional comment on the contest page click here

 

The Winner of the 08/24 Broken Air Condition is Kristen H. with the following poem

Broken Air Condition

 

We never had much more than each other
in the summer of 2016

Adventures on Saturday nights
Two wheels
Two helmets
Two hearts

Lazy Sunday mornings
Two cups of coffee
Two cigarettes burned
Two hands together

There wasn’t much to it
Just you and I,
and our broken air conditioner

To leave an additional comment on the contest page click here

 

The Winner of the 08/24 Beach Day is  paleoray with the following poem

 

Shore Watch

 

Splashing, crashing sound the waves
On the surf and then retrieve;
As the foam spreads on the sand,
While the pipers dash and weave.

High above the seagulls glide,
Circling 'round a sea of teal;
Others swooping close to pier,
Looking for an easy meal.

In the distance dolphins dive,
With their synchronizing breaks;
Dorsal fins shine at each peak,
Then they submerge in their wakes.

Sand crabs scurry back and forth,
Seeking food along the shore;
After catching fish with claws,
Quick they vanish as they bore.

Soon the sun sets in the west,
As the moon brings mirrored light;
Ocean tides smooth out the sand,
While the waves gleam through the night.

 

To leave an additional comment on the contest page click here

 

The Winner of the Neopoet Weekly 08/25/24 to 08/31/24 is Twizzle48 with the following poem

 

WINTER COMETH

 

Do you hear winter, I hear it coming
That distant growl, there in the wind
Stronger now, than an autumn breeze
With the merest hint of an early freeze
And with no sweet taste like tamarind
But a biting cold that can be numbing

For some, it is a season for celebration
But its hidden scowl suggests otherwise
Hearing threats under its frozen breath
Of ice and snow, laying so still in death
Pretty snowflakes offering cute disguise
As so much of Nature is in hibernation

At least this is true in Northern climes
Just bleak with not much give and take
And still, some try to understand why
As the end of the calendar year is nigh
But there is hope following in its wake
Anticipating the Spring’s warmer times

To leave an additional comment on the contest page click here

 

 

 

 

 

Neopoet Weekly 08/18/24 to 08/24/24 Winner!

This Week’s Winner is  Sen99

 

Venus Tree

Standing here for decades
On one wooden leg
A native English species,
An old grey oak.
Its naked bark bleached,
Ashen white like alabaster.

A nameless uncarved block
Unyielding and proud,
Exposed to the elements.
Wind and weather beaten
An organic body of life
Its beauty gaunt and raw.

Striking to an admirer’s eye,
Picture perfect from a distance
A resilient stone sculpture,
Its arms cut down to stumps.

Like some replica of a classical statue
From some ancient age,
Nature’s beauty,
A timeless art.

 

 

 

 

To leave an additional comment on the contest page click here

 

The stream (all workshops)

This is the stream - you can see all poems on Neopoet, live, as they are created.

 

Island Of Souls

I yearn for this island,
That is so far away,
Drenched in darkness,
Where foul things play.

A haven for souls,
That have come undone,
Where those of black hearts,
Come to gather as one.

There is a great garden,
Filled with shadows and doom,
And buds of black velvet,
You can relax in the gloom.

It's right place to be,
If you shun the light,
They frolic in evil,
Embracing the night.

daytime

day was a rasher of bacon
sizzling in too hot a skillet

judge said -- thirty days
next case

I was a greasy spot --
a turd on the tarmac

I felt like ashes.

Flight LIne To Nowhere

.
I no longer attempt to jump the moon,
touch the stars,
nor kiss the sky
trying to get beyond
being
a man
earth bound

"out there"
...IS
"in here"

mind
tailored of
Mobius strips
of heart and soul
designed especially
to see
all that need be seen
by man
as man
earthbound
and grounded for life

Shahenda

She stood on top of the crest of the falls,
As sunlight danced within the rushing waters.
Hands spread upwards in meditation,
Speaking to the inner powers to appear.
Her full-length emerald green cloak
Whipping in the wind that burst forth.
As she stood on top of Kaaterskill Falls,
The wind gushed, throwing her hood aside
Letting loose a wave of waist length auburn hair.
Her green eyes flashed as she chanted.
Dazzling rays of prism light
Danced forth from her right hip,
Her powers, being flocked together.

untitled

I wish I were a bird;
could soar above the clouds
and touch the moon

fly faster than the speed of light
and hear the planning
of tomorrow

take wing against the march of time
and listen to the voices
of the past

or simply be;
glide upon currents of air,
observe the beauty of steamy tropic forests,
feel the icy cold of snowy mountain peaks,
perhaps, taste the tang of wild salty seas
and then perch, nonchalantly,
in a favorite tree.

11.28.2010
© Tonya Greenlee

Solemn

You say there is nothing left to say
And that I have crossed the line to many times
So we stand in separate silences
Apart in heart and apart in body
So why won’t you hear, my solemn apology

Yes, I still love you
But what good could it do now?
Yes, I still dream you
But what does it matter now?

So don’t cry, when you’re lonely
This was your idea to part ways
And I know I have made mistakes
But you’ve made them too along the way

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT SONG

* sung to the tune of " Deck the Hall With Boughs of Holly "

'Tis the season to be greedy
falalalala lalalala
Buy for yourself, to hell with the needy
falalalala lalalala
Don we now our tailored clothes
falalalala lalalala
While elevating well bred nose
falalalala lalalala

desert love

love is a
a tree
that flowers in
the desert

if it bears no fruit,
its branches
turn to
inevitable dust--

to be blown on
whispering winds
of sadness and grief
so deep,

even angels weep.

Mild Rebellion

I pay homage to the music of my youth,
To the decade filled with teenage hang ups
and mild rebellion.

To the heaven of 7inch singles and long players,
The Birdie Song and Jive Bunny,
a disgrace.
 
 The first  single ever purchased
Gary Numan's Cars, 
Second Soft Cell's Tainted Love.

I recall a loathing for New Romantics, due to Mr Le bon
I hate Duran Duran  to this day.
Tolerated Spandau Ballet, Tony Hadley had a great voice.
 Loved Adam Ant, a genre all his own..

Their different ways! Only Way

Their different ways! Only Way
Pass,
See,
Observe,
Be candid,
Avoid being rancid,
Pause,
Wave
And
Let all see
The moving of
The train slowly
As the doors shut
The world outside is cut,
The train moves on,
The sojourn is now on
Two trains they caught
One gong East
The other North
The distances widened
Far apart there was nothing then
To be lost,
The sojourn was on
To a lonely resort,
Awaiting there was
Someone’s consort

Pages

(c) Neopoet.com. No copyright is claimed by Neopoet to original member content.