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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.

 

MERMAID"S LESSON

I'm a little mermaid swimming in the sea
my hair is long,my bosom full I'm pretty as can be
anytime a sailor sees me he wants me for his wife
but I just laugh and swim away to live my care-free life

My skin is soft my scales are bright
they shine and glow in bright sun light
perhaps my favorite feature is my fulsome tail
which allows a speedy swim without any fail

Poetry In Motion...

Crippled by the inter-net
It's got a strangle-hold on me
Treated it like a pet
Now it won't set me free

Chained to my desk and chair
My fingers turned to claws
I'm stiff from toes to hair
I can't get up because

I might miss some news
About my favorite site
I want to see their views
So I'm sitting here all night

Oooohh ... I gotta go
Damn it, I can't wait
I'll be back before you know
If my eyes are seeing straight

Acrid

Incessant flow of acrid torment,
gouging a trench into an effulgent pebble.
Dull throbbing that never ceases.

Torrent of hell holding me down,
as I gasp and fight for air ,
and struggle to throw the darkness out.

Chinks of light expand,
seeping across my mind.
The nightmare receding.

Escape from a living hell,
I’m human again.
For now.

Simplicity

.

sweet simplicity
thee, I seek!
holy grail of aspiration
tool of both the wise man,
and the fool

simplicity

space

uncluttered

sparseness begetting clarity
clarity begetting light
light begetting understanding
bearing wisdom's grand delight

oh! sweet simplicity
of thee I sing
and hope, through thee,
to soar high upon enlightened wings

Twilightning

With a series of chants
and a supernatural song,

one can be lifted in "twilight"
and be suddenly, gone !

Be not ambiguous
float your heart, high,

savor each moment
and cherish, each "sigh".

Should gravity lean, "heavy"
and cause one to, sway,

find solace, profound
that one's frame bends, that way;

and as the eve swallows
the day, into night;

respect every law
that governs, "twilight"!

"Sorry For the Days that I made You Cry"

sorry for the days that i made you cry,
and for all the times you're caught in my lie..
i'll never do it again....i'll never try,
i'll never let this story end with goodbye..

sometimes i'd been used to be blind,
sorry for the times i'd never sleep by your side..
while the way of life is what i tried hard to find,
when i lose you, it's hard to say "never mind.."

STONED

Stoned
November 2nd, 2010,

In halls and pebbled passage ways
the whispers come and go
"scandalous", "adulatress"*
each word another stone -
pelted at her inadequacy,
to just leave her lover alone.

Inviting the blows
enured to the pain
she would rather suffer thus -
than to lose him again.

Forgetting absolution,
willing to do time,
knowing that longing is forbidden,
and pursuing love -
a heinous crime.

BB 2 Nov. '10

driving into sunset

road -- taken its toll
and been kind

on my face light
has shone --
dark places seen
where no light shines

shriven wound's woe
joy and love received --
alike

driving into sunset
affords time to question
was something missed?
fanciful thought -- that

manifold pernicious
chattels --
wished different
road changes -- but little

while
fear reigns --

in little pockets
love waits
lives on

time passes
into sunset.

blind optimism

There’s something to this going blind.
Although one doesn’t see so right
light plays a trick and gives a gift
(presumably to compensate for our poor failing sight)
we discover when we gaze at the heavens
and things which illuminate the night.

Such as eyes of a flying jet plane.
When one is compromised in sight
those lights are amazingly bright
they send out rays like a Christmas star
flying through the heights.

SKORVE IS MY ANCHOR

"SKORVE IS MY ANCHOR"
Margaret Ann Waddicor 17th October 2010.

Skorve is my anchor 
where my house caught in the web 
of chequered fields, 
resides.

Its hulk a shoulder to lean on
when feeling grey, 
its ever changing seasons painted,
from the summit to the dale,
the thousand little streams 
that make their misty veils
after the heavy rains;
where rainbows play across the deep,
and forests weep their tears, 
through winters many storms.

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