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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.

 

SWEET MAGNOLIA PROMISES

"Magnolia you sweet thing
you're driving me wild" *

you shame me with that phase
for i seek you out, but i am made afraid

i understand everything
and yet that changes nothing

for even as I speak
my words remain

hanging lifeless
on a dead frame

my psyche is human
but you have become inhumane

for i am the one
who is in exquisite pain

i am but a copy, a facsimile
of my own unravelled frame...

Bonitaj 11/23/10

*song by JJ Cale about New Orleans

MOMENT OF TRUTH

Prevaricate -
that’s what he called it,
but his mouth choked
on the dust
of so many lies;
not a sod of compassion
to hold a smile in place,
nor a flicker of remorse,
across that handsome face

Menacing clouds of distrust
boiled up in the sky
and rolled like moving mountains,
powerfully, swiftly into the storm’s eye.
When the fine layer of truth fell
it covered everything
like a thin veneer -
draped over a densely woven mat
of deceit and lies.

Mikey...

There once was a computer program
that was meant to rival man's smarts
What the program didn't know about
was the largess of our hearts

The gentleness of the soul of us
the ways we operate
Logic doesn't allow for that
but that's what makes us great

It tried to see where the problem was
why it couldn't grasp the sense
Why does man do the things he does
with no seeming recompense?

Looking out the kitchen window

`

my finger traces
a still barely
visible band
on my 4th finger

our ex-anniversary
is now my memory

a constant companion
to might have beens

yesterday had so much
prospect and promise
today I face a sink
full of dirty dishes

`

Warm Flesh

Warm flesh wrapped in a
State of grace and a white shirt --
Sombre room reflects light in
Her eyes -- rising from perusal of
Her book of dreams

Elegant scent of woman rises
From the open shirt, and
Fills the room with feminine
Mystery

Hair loosely tied -- how effortless
To undo her auburn tresses and let fall
Round her eyes, offering invitation

As the bed waits to be used.

Repellent

Crude, rude and outspoken.
You could say she's a ball breaker.
She takes no prisoners
Repelling all with arrogance and bluff.

Inside turmoil and anxiety
Swinging between certainty ,
And uncertainty.
Raging against society.

Classic means of defence,
is to be on the offensive .
Repelling all with arrogance and bluff.

Vulnerable, frightened creature,
Inside a hard shell..
Raging against society

POPLARS

These poplars stand straight and tall
slim branches bare in early winter
seeds whirly-birding as they fall
confetti for all who choose to enter.

Gray trunks a match to cloudy sky
as their limbs applaud the wind
and maybe me as I pass by
on my way to journey's end.

I've come here often in the spring
as newly minted green leaves sprout
and this copse's love birds sing
while mating squirrels run about.

SHADE TREE MUSINGS

Here's another oldie I dusted off.........

I'm sitting here beneath a tree
that must be thrice as old as me
and as I sit I think about
how this huge tree was once a sprout.

Through all the years that it has grown
how many fields have farmers sown ?
and since it was a mere acorn
how many generations born ?

Beneath its spreading summer shade
what lovers' promises were made
while out upon an evening's lark
and carving names in smooth beech bark?

Don't give me that bullcrap about trying

So, you say you tried.
Don't give me that bullshit
It didn't require
someone who'd try
and you shouldn't get in the habit
of trying anyway
just get it accomplished
display some damned
adaptibility
and some gumption
make it happen
The outcome should be determined
before you even start
and then your effort
produces a finality
and a completion
The result doesn't have to be perfect
or even pretty
what matters is that you
see it through, to

The Journey of Your Song

It's a lonely, truthful journey
finding your voice, with which to sing,
even worse, then there's the journey for your song;

but, we all sing from our essence
to share the truths each heart may bring,
so sing out loud, sing out clear, and sing out strong.

After a while, you may meet someone
who may fancy the same "life tune",
but, their performance of the song does not ring, true:

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