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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

 

Autumn Arrival Image Prompt Contest

 

 

 

Read the finalists for the Autumn Arrival Image Prompt Contest and vote for your favorite poem. Voting will end September 19th, 2024. Best of luck to our finalists

 

Image Link

 

 

Autumn Rain

By Punkyfrewster

Drops pelt the
fallen leaves
bringing to mind
tears falling
over beauty
and lost love.

Rain bounces
off the
confetti on the
ground like
the damaged end
of a party.

 

 

Autumn's Cusp

By scribbler

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.

 

                                                                                               Vote 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

 

 

 

 

 

The stream (all workshops)

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

 

Puppy Love

Little puppy yummy
With a pink pop bellied tummy
Oh so tiny! button nose, moist and shiny.

Round and round she wheels
Roly-poly head over heels
Briskly dashing, rough and tumble speed crashing.

Greeting those she misses
With excited icky kisses
Wanting cuddles, sometimes piddling puddles.

A soft bundle of fur
Belying a mouth full of grr
Sharp playful bites, tearing a hole in my tights.

The Old Wing Chair

In the corner,
Arms curved out to hold,
Wooden hands protruding,
Stretching and resting,
From its sea green damask clothes,
Its legs slightly bending,
Clawed to the rug below,
Awaiting, making room,
For two if one was small,
To be there snuggled in a lap,
When happy or when sad,
Now worn in spots,
With traces in its threads,
Of all the times it held them,
A father and a son,
Who now grown gazes down upon it,
And imagines he’s still little,
Standing looking up,

A Boy with a Hissing Heart

Stair-step stacks
of hardbacks, paperbacks
and journals silhouette
against cloudy gray light
seeping from outside.

Numerous mentors
say read poems,
journals, and novels
learn to form beautiful poetry.

He labors through
anthologies of sonnets,
sestinas and free verse.

Collins, Levine, Kooser,
Nash and Oliver call him to lessons.
He is not a schoolboy.
He has a hissing heart,
writing is entrancing,
pulling forth a storehouse
of secreted pains, passions, and fears.

Misunderstanding ( a co-write with Hooded Stranger)

We had a misunderstanding .
How can men and women
Feel the same and yet be so different
She said

We lacked the comprehension
To understand how women and men can
Blame each other when they're really both the same
He said

We walked into the room with fire-arms pointing
And took our places on the battle ground
You in your corner and I in mine
She said

We marched in the room with fingers on triggers
We stood our ground on the battle field
Not giving an inch on either side
He said

Toxic

Foul stench of self importance,
The air so thick , It coats the back of the throat
choking you on the rancid hatred and derision.

Gasping, fighting for breath amongst the putrid smell ,
of ego, ambition,
and dead hope.

Festering skank riding an odorous wave
of arrogant dross,
bilious heap of filth.

Open the sluices and flush
It all out.
Expunge the stain.

Profanity

Profanity

You scream out your blackened lungs at me
Spitting toxic saliva across the room
Your voice amplifies as utter rage takes a hold
You wait for a reaction, but my facade is stone cold

Why you so angry and out of control?
Have my actions finally taken their toll?
I stand firm against your abuse
Your outburst has no excuse

Your use of profanity
Tries to break my sanity
But I am stronger than you think
Your evil words will not bring me to the brink

Not yet

I try to be original, candid, funny and honest
Knowing if I can not trust, I can not be trusted
My biggest obstacle to connecting being myself
Knowing this is only half my battle I fight each day
Each careful line breathing meaningless impotence
Still unwilling to share what used to be second nature
I lost it amongst the Dragon’s, Elves and fairy folk
A feeling of insignificance buried in the tall grass’s
Disenchanted with the chains of old familiarity
What’s to be expected when I can not disconnect?

Crossroads

We walk down the dark roads,
The dark halls that lead
A path to where I hoped it will
Definitely lift my being:
Into the arms of your nourishment
And redeeming.

We climb the steepest hills,
The valleys that echo our voices
Where I yelled a thousand names, which
Only one name answers back
My calls of grief, woe
And misgiving.

Our Hill at Night

Under the stars of night
we sit, with wind blowing,
and the moon gleaming bright.
That was its way of showing
that everything here was just right.

The music comes out and out
just as you strum about.
It all flows as if it were water,
like love of mother and daughter...
Smooth, without any doubt.

Your name is Kayla, so light.
It floats off the tongue, just right.
You play the guitar all the time,
And I write lyrics with a rhyme,
So we sit and sing in the thyme.

"VALENTINE"

"VALENTINE"
Margaret Ann Waddicor
14th February 2011.

Valentine oh my Valentine,
you tear my heart out
tend it like a precious jewel,
yet you dare not say to me
you love me true,
what shades of fancy now detain
your boldness, youth,
your face is young and just begun to change,
into the knight.

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