Poetry competition CLOSED 17th July 2018 3:44am
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Layla
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Re: Envelopes of Air

Pathospassion
c.d.latin
Thought Provoker
United States 8awards
Joined 1st Feb 2014
Forum Posts: 172

Poetry Contest

Respond to the poem presented by the poster before you
Poets Limon and Diaz wrote poems back and forth to each other like letters.  This writing was published in the New Yorker as Envelopes of Air. In that lovely, ambitious lies the basis of this competition. Each poet must write a poem in response to the ideas/ lines/ structure etc etc of the poem presented before them. The first poet should respond to this poem:

cargo

Limón to Diaz

I wish I could write to you from underwater,
the warm bath covering my ears—
one of which has three marks in the exact
shape of a triangle, my own atmosphere’s asterism.
Last night, the fire-engine sirens were so loud
they drowned out even the constant bluster
of the inbound freight trains. Did I tell you,
the R. J. Corman Railroad runs five hundred feet from us?
Before everything shifted and I aged into this body,
my grandparents lived above San Timoteo Canyon,
where the Southern Pacific Railroad roared each scorching
California summer day. I’d watch for the trains,
howling as they came.
Manuel is in Chicago today, and we’ve both admitted
that we’re travelling with our passports now.
Reports of ice raids and both of our bloods
are requiring new medication.

I wish we could go back to the windy dock,
drinking pink wine and talking smack.
Now it’s gray and pitchfork.
The supermarket here is full of grass seed, like spring
might actually come, but I don’t know. And you?
I heard from a friend that you’re still working on saving
words. All I’ve been working on is napping, and maybe
being kinder to others, to myself.
Just this morning, I saw seven cardinals brash and bold
as sin in a leafless tree. I let them be for a long while before
I shook the air and screwed it all up just by being alive, too.

RevolutionAL
Alistair Plint
Dangerous Mind
South Africa 29awards
Joined 24th July 2012
Forum Posts: 1257

Sanctuary Of Replay

       
         
         
         
wrote the book    
never published  -      
held it          
in closet dust    
for seven years        
         
took it out    
       
read it        
         
for seven years        
in closet dust    
held it        
never published -      
wrote the book    
         
read it        
       
took it out
         
         
         
     
         
-x-        
         
         
         
         
         
         
 
Written by RevolutionAL (Alistair Plint)
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ReggiePoet
Reggie
Fire of Insight
28awards
Joined 13th May 2018
Forum Posts: 363

Related submission no longer exists.

Layla
Fire of Insight
7awards
Joined 3rd May 2018
Forum Posts: 1216

***

eswaller
Dangerous Mind
United States 31awards
Joined 22nd Dec 2015
Forum Posts: 762

Love for a Stranger

You want to make love to something,  
So you say. Make love to the words.  
Make love to them beneath the stars  
So you feel something other than
Empty. If you love, you will have a ring  
On your finger. Every time the birds  
Fly you think of the book that is ours.  
Maybe in your mind I am the man  
Of your dreams, but I am just like you  
Because I want to feel. I want to feel  
This earth come alive. I want to know  
What it is like to see the sky reveal  
Its true colors. I want to see the glow  
Of your skin and to know what is it  
Like when you look at me with that  
Magical smile. I know you are trying  
To justify life’s logic, but nothing fits
Or sticks perfectly that way. The bat  
You adjust within your grip is prying  
Itself away from you because all  
That you know versus what you think
You need to know are two completely  
Different things. So get behind a wall  
To get a reality check, but do not sink  
To the bottom of despair. Concretely  
Get the answers you seek because  
The world needs more than just  
Questions and no answers. Pause  
To take it all in because yes, I love  
You, a stranger that I have to adjust  
To and let in, but is someone of  
This world I feel like I have known  
My whole life. You are the backbone.
Written by eswaller
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RevolutionAL
Alistair Plint
Dangerous Mind
South Africa 29awards
Joined 24th July 2012
Forum Posts: 1257

Thinking In Poetry

                      
                    
                     
Morning awakes           
with personification                      
of weeping birds                     
and rays of              
sunshine ballerinas on barre.                      
Traffic that roars                      
-lights that giggle.                      
Whilst pointsmen                      
at intersections                      
conduct                      
traffic orchestras                      
in perfected unison.                      
                     
Lunch: a metaphore                      
of marble tiered                      
bagels                      
covered in      
the thick blood                      
of tomatoes, flowing over                      
meat                    
- beaten to mince                      
rolled and smoothed                      
before a grilling  
in basted, sticky sauce.                      
                     
Sun-dials rotate                  
into long shadows                
bringing                  
a lake of dandelion                      
tea, sprinkled in                      
rivers of dreams                    
ducks waddle through                      
flicking tadpoles                      
from webbed feet                      
in the dusky mist                      
ending the days                      
warmth.            
Seeping through                      
unkempt clouds                      
covering a    
crisp-blue-sky.                      
                     
And you!                    
                   
A conjured figure                      
resting                    
in my mind                      
since day-break, like stone.                      
Holding leather bound                      
covers                      
of a life story                      
we'll only remember when                
the cleaning                
and clearing                
of the never written                  
-read everyday                
in a simple walk                      
through          
green grass, in a park.                      
                     
A quiet seat                      
under a                       
larger than life        
statue;        
armed with                      
a journal                      
and fond                      
memory                      
surrounded                      
in a sea                      
of carnations...                 
                     
whispering ballads                      
in the drafty                      
winter-winds.                      
                     
And I fall asleep, in the imagery of dreams spoken in free verse.                      
                     
Pen between teeth.
                     
                     
                     
-x-                      
   
Written by RevolutionAL (Alistair Plint)
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Layla
Fire of Insight
7awards
Joined 3rd May 2018
Forum Posts: 1216

***

RevolutionAL
Alistair Plint
Dangerous Mind
South Africa 29awards
Joined 24th July 2012
Forum Posts: 1257

When Rose Petals Awake

                            
                           
i)                            
Dried rose petals                              
fascinate me                              
The delicate death                              
of blooming                            
colour and scent      
has an unsurpassed beauty  
   
Similarly, empty streets                              
sharing architectural                              
wonderlands                              
in the direction stones fell  
grasping historical stories  
that walked over surfaces  
for decades;  
a raconteur  
I've dreamed of studying  
for silenced days                            
(and years between them)                  
                   
Sometimes, poetry is intercepted;        words splashing about                              
like sugar cubes                          
causing tidal waves                              
and ripples                            
drowning                            
in a cup of tea                            
brewed                      
-left in the pot                            
longer than an expiry date                            
                           
ii)                            
Had moment to picnic                              
this morning under      
a large oak tree                              
speaking wisdom      
from it's trunk      
like dying leaves      
in autumnal mist                              
                             
One leaf fell                              
like crumpled paper                              
wearing unused words;    
knowing                            
in the reading                              
someone surrendered early                            
                             
Branches left shadows                              
accross the ground                              
in a web                              
of indifference                              
                             
Sat there                              
staring at nothing                              
reading each word                              
dropped through tea                              
and roses                              
-hoping to find                            
living, in the beauty of it                          
                           
iii)                          
Found acorns;                              
jolting memory verses                              
in hats of kind phrases                              
brought to the forefront of my
mental theatre's
screen and Dolby system                            
                             
Took them for a walk                              
-in my pocket                
through Tuscan streets                          
to the confectionary                
                 
Sipping at coffee                              
with a smily face      
whirled in the froth;          
leaving those acorns on the table    
felt apt -    
next to the salt and pepper  
facing the window                              
gazing towards a                          
quiet unobtrusive lake;                            
                         
                             
where, under the table lay                    
a lonely, dried, pressed rose petal.
                         
                             
                             
-x-                              
                             
                             
                             
                             
                             
                             
                             
                             
                             
                             
                             
 
Written by RevolutionAL (Alistair Plint)
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Layla
Fire of Insight
7awards
Joined 3rd May 2018
Forum Posts: 1216

***

RevolutionAL
Alistair Plint
Dangerous Mind
South Africa 29awards
Joined 24th July 2012
Forum Posts: 1257

No Title Needed.

      
     
     
Nearing my fourty fifth      
birthday;      
     
     
Arthritic joints      
worn skin      
and a spine that      
shrinks in water      
leaves rusted body panels      
under bed covers      
an extra hour;      
when the birds      
wake the sun      
during chimes      
of Grandfathers      
and Coo-coos      
     
Limbs lay warming      
in the winter breath      
-dehyrated bone      
     
Did you know one third      
of a living bone      
is water?      
     
The heart      
takes longest      
to propel, with      
engine starter cranks      
on a Model T      
It splutters      
vibrates      
stalls      
falls      
and clanks off      
-on the morning's      
incline      
     
I wonder how much      
slow starts    
are age      
versus      
miles driven      
on African  
pothole ridden      
dirt roads?      
   
I'd imagine if      
a lamp worth rubbing      
was found      
wishes would be      
as abstract      
as our virginity      
or cracks in bones      
filled and recoated      
in the reincarnation      
of personalities      
powered on WD-40      
     
If honesty      
splashed across      
poetic paper      
Prayers      
would light      
thornless      
stems      
     
holding buds of colour      
upright      
and confident      
as bodies ache      
in the blood spins      
of the half century      
marathon      
     
     
To me poetry that wears "heart" and "soul" without the nausea, in a single write...
is Citalopram
     
     
     
     
     
 
Written by RevolutionAL (Alistair Plint)
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Layla
Fire of Insight
7awards
Joined 3rd May 2018
Forum Posts: 1216

***

RevolutionAL
Alistair Plint
Dangerous Mind
South Africa 29awards
Joined 24th July 2012
Forum Posts: 1257

In Thinking And Reading .

      
     
     
     
I read a poem;      
magnificent      
literature, in which      
a woman      
reckless in her writing      
wrote of her own      
persona,      
wild and fiery      
then calm as a lake;      
it reminded me      
of our rose stems      
     
Filling my heart      
with a love      
for her unique mind      
and attitude      
     
I'm certain      
that poem      
coupled with your      
previous letter      
has brought    
un-ending masculinity    
      
     
Do you think      
men are born  
with a natural      
feminine side?      
     
     
     
     
     
-x-
Written by RevolutionAL (Alistair Plint)
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Layla
Fire of Insight
7awards
Joined 3rd May 2018
Forum Posts: 1216

***

anna_grin
ANNAN
Dangerous Mind
15awards
Joined 24th Mar 2013
Forum Posts: 3367

Dear Poet

   i confess to not know what in the fuck you are on about.
i confess that i do not intend to try very hard
to unravel your meanings,
 to respond in in a conscientious and well thought out manner but rather to take your springboard
fuck your springboard

today i thought about something i'd seen
the other day:
four magpies stealing cherries
it reminded me of something i'd noticed the day before:
this tree that has leaves that blacken as you reach the edge of the branches
a wind powered flock of dark birds

that never fly

such a false threat but it looked sinister to me
and i suppose we all
we evolve to protect ourselves in some way
don't we;

i wouldn't let you know the crows on my fingers weren't real
even if you already knew





Jade-Pandora
jade tiger
Tyrant of Words
United States 154awards
Joined 9th Nov 2015
Forum Posts: 5134

*resubmitted below*

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