Please join me in congratulating the January contest winner for her poem :
ROSES IN BLOOM (Contest: Changed Perspective)
Submitted by April Dawn

I feel myself begin to dream
of all the friends who’ve come and been.
So many of them still alive
within the corners of my shadowed mind.

The relatives crowd in there too
as if the afterlife has nothing much to do.
Many are unknown to me
Just names in our troubled family history.

All surround me with their voices
Reminding me of all my poor choices.
And in my secret darkest heart
I know that their deaths played their part.

A fatality every month
actually began when I was young.
Yes, there was a funeral
But my age belied my ability to go.

The death that mars my way
is the one that marked my ninth birthday.
I was always his favorite
Now that exuberance, no longer lit.

But my best friend of thirty years,
is now Hearts’ Sister. Scars we bear.
I look to her and she to me
We determine our future, our destiny.

I’m one with my Soul Mate now
We’ve been through decades, but don’t know how!
We argue, curse, struggle and fight
but somehow managed to get it right.

My son is grown and loves me true.
I stop to buy Roses.
They’re Always in Bloom.