Subject Poetry Contest.

The Hope/Red Button subject contest is closed.

Thanks for all who participated, the winner will be announced shortly.

Thanks for all who participated...FABulous work all!

LMK

Thanks to Pendragon, Sapphire, PoemsEulogy, Alakungfu for your submissions.

The concept for a poem about hope that included the words “red button” came from some lines that popped into my head when considering various subjects and topics for this contest. I have yet to write the poem, but the lines are roughly the following:

“All I have left is hope.
To see the shiny red buttons on her favorite sweater
To feel her gentle touch stroking my hair
To hear her softly whisper that everything’s going to be ok
To hope….”

Pendragon I enjoyed the metaphoric imagery of slimy panic and feathery hope.

Sapphire what a fun structural form!

PoemsEulogy, you nicely captured the essence of a less-is-more moment for me.

Alakunfu, you were able to conjure some great emotional imagery.

Thank you all, it was fun reading and re-read the entries. While all complied with mentioning the the words "red button" and included an element of hope, the piece that included the words and seemed to be about hope (if I am reading it correctly) was Alakunfu’s, “By Order of a Buccaneer.”

Congratulations Alakungfu!

Thank you, LMK. I confess, that was a bit of a surprise.

The next subject is going to be "mixed feelings" and the poem has to include the phrase "tortured soul".

The contest deadline will be October 31

Skinned Alive

You say you want to know me? I suppose you can
try looking into my eyes and if they are not cloudy,
you may see the tortured soul you’re looking for.

You might even engage a mettle detector to count
the ticks but it often races and it sometimes skips.
At best you’ll be listening to a faulty metronome.

If you really want to know me, examine the skin.
This stretched, limed and living parchment with
a thousand nerve endings to the inch.

That’s where you’ll find the indelible fingerprint
of everyone who’s ever touched me. And, yes,
I’ve got a few scars but there is a hell of a story

behind each one. Bruising? Of course. I call that
my black and blue collection. More wrinkles than
I’d like - that’s life. Feel free to add up the laugh

lines I want to multiply by a hundred fold. Those
freckled places the sun seldom sees? I’ve been
told they’re kisses from God. Deviant perhaps -

but who can stop God? Then, after you’ve x-rayed
each subtle essential layer, goosebump, dimple,
dip and irregularity.... you’ll know.

Beautiful poem, Sophia -- introspective but not unnecessarily critical. This contest is off to a good start.

Between Sunrise & Sunset

Upon the crossroads
between shadow and light
a tortured soul
stands half in night
and half in day.

Before his eyes
swings the pendulum
of virtue and vice,
feeling trepidation
stir within his blood.

A road weary traveler
tempted to lie to rest
in the devil's embrace
but in his ear calls a voice
to walk into the rising sun.

Neither sinner nor saint
there comes the moment to choose,
dust upon the brow,
steeped in days long sweat,
the question hovers
to turn east or west.

One lone soul
stranded in the middle
his heart pulled
two different ways.

The path that offers ease
at the end of his labors,
but at what eternal cost,
while the other road
means more work to come
but for what reward?

Mixed Feelings

Do I keep moving along the rugged pathway
Hoping to meet new beginnings at its end—
Do I search for light and brighter days,
Or just contemplate whatever life sends…
I’m just a tortured soul in need of solace
I wonder: do I give up or just give in…
Heartaches unnumbered, so out of place—
Do I continue walking or return to where I began—
Would starting over really be that bad
Even though my race is approaching the line—
Is it worth my while, or will it just make me sad,
To trade the night’s comfort for blessed sunshine…
I have had a close call, near as I can figure:
But sometimes my tortured soul wishes I had pulled that trigger…

Pendragon
© Friday, October 09, 2009

Thank you, Dark Muse, I loved how you paced your poem. And Pendragon, you painted an impressive picture with your poem. Thank you for your submissions. I hope this contest gets a good draw. It will by the look of things.

Mixed Emotions

Long ago one could find
a cut called “Mixed Emotions”
on an album by McKenna.
Which was better – the class
of jazzy notes Dave transcribed,-- or
his own piano style
rich with stride and sass?
Though years later my mind
can still hum it well,
I can't tell.

Filling a page may lighten
life’s ever-plodding load,
as a free spirit shedding care
while strolling up an off-beat road.
Sometimes unsolicited stigmata
from a deep psychic vein may swell.
Which is better,-- or
is neither worth the time and fare?
I can't tell.

On rare occasions the arty scam
pipes up and starts to sing:
“This could be it, maybe the real thing.”
Then again, it might all be a mere sham.
I'm the proverbial tortured soul, –- or
just a comedian, quirky as hell.
I can't tell.

Wow, Aunt Shecky, you really marry the poem to the chosen topic, well done. And nice choice of form, as well.

The doe came stealthily,
from the great lonely,
to the salt lick,
white all around
and she graceful in it.
Morning stirred around her
and she raised her eyes
to peer into mankind,
seeking,
ame torturee pauvre,
something.
Then,
without another glance
at abandoned civilization,
she leaped once more
into the
dragon’s teeth.

Qimissung

Lovely metaphor, qimissung, just like they used to write in days of olde. Dante and Chaucer couldn't have done better. Thank you for your poem.

Beautiful poems so far. And only four days left.

First of all, I must commend you all on your superb poetry. I especially like a poem that thinks itself through and out, answers its own questions so to speak. So, I have selected "Between Sunrise and Sunset" by Dark Muse.

Congratulations, Dark Muse. I kind of like yours because it leaves me with more questions than I started out with!

As you said, alakungfu, everyone did a superb job. Well, it was an interesting subject!