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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.

 

POETRY IS ?

Is poetry a type of math
with measured and oft random flow
which can be charted on a graph
the kind the mathematicians know ?

Or is it some kind of an art
with strokes of pen instead of brush
where visuals are the main part
built in layers with no rush

Maybe it is pure emotion
exhibited for all to see
by anyone who takes a notion
to set their inner feelings free

Some say music's what it is
with all the rhythm and the rhyme
composed by some verbal whiz
intent on beat and keeping time

Simply Three

They Say!
They say times
Are for ever changing
and
All time is never the same
Tis a fact of life
But love is something
That should never change
Ah! Lust
Within the cusps of love
We must for ever retain.

Naturally Natural!
At times I love being
In my natural form
As nature saw me
When I was born,
That naturalness
Makes me love those
Who do always surround
All the year long
This life
and
Time around!

Sister

This piece is a co-write with my good friend Ziggy. This is a poem/song written for Candlewith (Cat). It may not be apparent exactly why we wrote it in this way and the subject matter may not be appreciated by all, that said, I can safely say this is the most important piece I have ever been involved in and I thank Ziggy for helping to create this piece. From both Ziggy and myself...welcome back Sister.

Sister

TWO KINDS OF SILENCE

1) "QUIET MEDICINE"
Margaret Ann Waddicor 7th November 2010.

I love silence,
its potent pregnancy,
its contrast probably because my mind's
so busy creating the sound of words
of music,
of interest in so much,
that it needs this to survive,
without burning itself up in the too much!

we all have our place of living
those tinniest of anmals live fast heart-beat lives
while huge beasts content themselves
with more peaceful pass times.

Mum kept ours in a brightly coloured tin

There weren’t very many photos back then.
Carefully stored and lovingly treasured,
Mum kept ours in a brightly coloured tin
safe on the bookshelf in our father’s den
bound with elastic to hold down the lid.
There weren’t very many photos back then.
All counted not more than fifty and ten
those black and white images remembered.
Mum kept ours in a brightly coloured tin,
hung over us like an old mother hen
when to see them we begged to be allowed.
There weren’t very many photos back then

Monster Munch

I want to eat some children
They’re yummy as can be!
Look! They’re really tasty
I’ll have them for my tea.

I spo’se I’ll have to cook them
No! that’s against the law,
But what else can I do
I cannot eat them raw!

Besides I’m on a diet
And they’re like lumps of ghee
They’ll expand me midriff
beyond capacity.

I’ll snack upon their digits
I know that they’re fat free
Serve them up with salad
Co’s that’s low calorie.

pandering pig’s delight

down around the pigsty
news was heard that wailed

one of us has been chosen
as judge to a cockfight down
the road

get out your fine tuxedo
pandering pig
you it is who will adjudicate
cruelest fight this night
down in holler dark

Aleksander Blok

Arise, and walk along these streets,
breathe and partake of the dregs
of the mighty industrial age;
paint the colours of its appeal -

toxic fumes that light the path
to days only just imagined.

Parted lips bare wisdom,
shatter the silence that shackles;
within parched throat, sealed
sounds peal from the belfry -

tender whispers caress
each unknown orphaned heart.

Lift high the banner brave;
let the bitter winds bite
lash fierce its tattered frame,
light gapes through its holes-

POTATO SOUP

When my love is feeling ill
with fever, sore throat, or a chill
or upset stomach, even croup
she sure loves potato soup

So I peel a spud or three
( depending on the size you see )
I take up a large sharp knife
and cut them up for my sweet wife

Then I set water to boil
and add a touch of cooking oil
drop cubed potatoes into pot
and add black pepper ( quite a lot )

Next I stir in lots of milk
add some oregano or its ilk
put in some salt but not too much
and some butter, just a touch

Shooting Star

What is a star ?
But something dying
Yet is beautiful

Does anyone miss it ?
When no longer there
Leaving a void

Unreachable
Untouchable
Only meant to be gazed upon in awe

Sharing light
Giving guidance
Symbol of hope

Ablaze
Burning bright
While wearing a façade
Of ice

Many gaze upon you
No one can
Draw near

One day you will fade
Still
An image will
Remain

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