Poetry competition CLOSED 5th January 2013 9:27pm
WINNER
violet (Vi)
violet (Vi)
RUNNERS-UP:
Whitewand6
and MaggieG
DESCRIBE A RELATIVE ( or family members)
Anonymous
Poetry Contest Description
WRITE A POEM ABOUT A RELATIVE / singular or plural
Describe, in a poem, a family member who inspires you because they are good, bad, quirky, horrible, saintly, obnoxious, pretty, ugly, courteous, uncouth..........whatever.
The description of family is different in different cultures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family
Kinship is a term with various meanings depending upon the context. This article reflects the long-standing use of the term in anthropology, which is usually considered to refer to the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of most humans in most societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinship
- 3 poems maximum
- old or new poems are ok
- any genre of poetry
- any length
- humour can be used
- NOTE that family and kinship are defined differently
in different cultures....
Thank you for participating!
The description of family is different in different cultures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family
Kinship is a term with various meanings depending upon the context. This article reflects the long-standing use of the term in anthropology, which is usually considered to refer to the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of most humans in most societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinship
- 3 poems maximum
- old or new poems are ok
- any genre of poetry
- any length
- humour can be used
- NOTE that family and kinship are defined differently
in different cultures....
Thank you for participating!
The trouble with knowing...
I wonder what she's thinking
whilst she pretends to watch T.V
She's sat on that same spot
on the same sofa for more years
than I care to remember
Gradually not caring about
the seven long hairs that grow
from her chin or the stains
all over her clothing from
last weeks dinner
She sips her cider
I watch
She sips
I ask: "where is he?"
"He's in bed." She answers,
not removing her eyes from
the commercials.
"Pour me another, will you?
and open the window"
She is almost robotic.
I can see past the piss stained
mess that has become her
well enough to know she
is scared as hell.
I open the window
The breeze bounces past my cheeks
"He can't open the windows
anymore" she whispered-
"He can't do anything"
I wonder what she's thinking
whilst she pretends to watch T.V
She's sat on that same spot
on the same sofa for more years
than I care to remember
Gradually not caring about
the seven long hairs that grow
from her chin or the stains
all over her clothing from
last weeks dinner
She sips her cider
I watch
She sips
I ask: "where is he?"
"He's in bed." She answers,
not removing her eyes from
the commercials.
"Pour me another, will you?
and open the window"
She is almost robotic.
I can see past the piss stained
mess that has become her
well enough to know she
is scared as hell.
I open the window
The breeze bounces past my cheeks
"He can't open the windows
anymore" she whispered-
"He can't do anything"
An Equation with James
The doctor said to me
around this table of "We"
"He will never see himself
as connected to this World.
He will only see the World
as connected to him."
"Are you ready to fill out your papers
for Kindergarten Bub?"
"Why Mama?"
he asks
directing his question
to a direction
I can not follow.
"Because Bub
it's one of those necessities
Life trains us to do."
"Ok Mama, if you want to."
"What's your name?"
(closer baby, closer)
He passes over my silly attempt
to pin him down
to grasp
some new version
of algebraic solving
that leaves me feeling dense.
"James, Mama"
"How old are you ?"
I ask
as I run my fingers
through his trigged up hair
quickly...
Because I know that's all
I can reach for at the moment.
(closer baby closer )
"I will be five soon Mama
in exactly one month, two weeks, four days."
I know the minutes too."
he says less scientifically
smacking my back
his tabled three times
with a pudgy baby hand
because he believes I understand
his mathematical approach.
(closer baby closer)
"I know you do Son."
"What Race are you James ?"
"What a illogical question Mama!"
He finally looks into my eyes
a finger purposely pointed
(closer baby closer)
before dashing away again.
"I'm human.
I'm the human race."
"Yes Darlin."
I whisper to myself.
"Sometimes I wish you were."
To imagine fair, and fine
where neither bruise, nor abrasion
shall cede these words " I can."
When in this soul of mine
I rise to the equation
of simply being, human.
The doctor said to me
around this table of "We"
"He will never see himself
as connected to this World.
He will only see the World
as connected to him."
"Are you ready to fill out your papers
for Kindergarten Bub?"
"Why Mama?"
he asks
directing his question
to a direction
I can not follow.
"Because Bub
it's one of those necessities
Life trains us to do."
"Ok Mama, if you want to."
"What's your name?"
(closer baby, closer)
He passes over my silly attempt
to pin him down
to grasp
some new version
of algebraic solving
that leaves me feeling dense.
"James, Mama"
"How old are you ?"
I ask
as I run my fingers
through his trigged up hair
quickly...
Because I know that's all
I can reach for at the moment.
(closer baby closer )
"I will be five soon Mama
in exactly one month, two weeks, four days."
I know the minutes too."
he says less scientifically
smacking my back
his tabled three times
with a pudgy baby hand
because he believes I understand
his mathematical approach.
(closer baby closer)
"I know you do Son."
"What Race are you James ?"
"What a illogical question Mama!"
He finally looks into my eyes
a finger purposely pointed
(closer baby closer)
before dashing away again.
"I'm human.
I'm the human race."
"Yes Darlin."
I whisper to myself.
"Sometimes I wish you were."
To imagine fair, and fine
where neither bruise, nor abrasion
shall cede these words " I can."
When in this soul of mine
I rise to the equation
of simply being, human.
Family Get Together
I remember when we would put up the big tents
Bring out the tables Buss out the grines
Gas lanterns hanging from tent bungies
Surrounded by family and friends
"Hui unko"
"Eh boy come come, go eat, inu" papa would say
Hear the nalu crash against the a'a rocks
Feel the spray of the ehukai The sway of the coconut trees
Bells ring Rachet
Watch as head lights scramble for the catch
Ulua on the line Clean um Sashimi
Inu flows free
We're having a good time Relaxing
Buss out the instruments
Uke, guitar, pakini bass, spoons
Kanikapila till the sun comes up
Surrounded by safety and love
Listening to the music and laughter Conversation mixing with the clink of bottles
I drift away to dream land
Tomorrow we'll wake up and start again.
I remember when we would put up the big tents
Bring out the tables Buss out the grines
Gas lanterns hanging from tent bungies
Surrounded by family and friends
"Hui unko"
"Eh boy come come, go eat, inu" papa would say
Hear the nalu crash against the a'a rocks
Feel the spray of the ehukai The sway of the coconut trees
Bells ring Rachet
Watch as head lights scramble for the catch
Ulua on the line Clean um Sashimi
Inu flows free
We're having a good time Relaxing
Buss out the instruments
Uke, guitar, pakini bass, spoons
Kanikapila till the sun comes up
Surrounded by safety and love
Listening to the music and laughter Conversation mixing with the clink of bottles
I drift away to dream land
Tomorrow we'll wake up and start again.
Sadly, tonight I am at odds with a family member so I must refrain from writing anything about family or relatives at present. Since, as they say, if one has nothing good to say about someone it is sometimes best not to say anything at all. Suffice it to say, it is hard dealing with someone who is prejudiced against you, yet who lives under the same roof as you on a daily basis. Yet I am dealing with such prejudice directed against me all the time! Sad, but true. Family can either be very pleasant and good, or straight from the pits of whatever godawful abyss true evil can emerge from.
I mean, wow, this person even fought with me on Christmas Eve!
How low can you get?
I mean, wow, this person even fought with me on Christmas Eve!
How low can you get?
Sister
My confidant
Keeper of secrets
True friend
Sister from a different miss and mister
First cousin
My Jenna-Rose
You who knows me better than both my parents put together
You who are so much younger than myself
Yet still
So easy to divulge all to
What darkness and light do you keep hidden in the recesses of your
Beautiful mind
What stories and memories of mine do you have of which
I have long since
Forgotten
Thousands of miles apart
And still
You are one of the
First
And one of the
Few
Who know basically everything...
Does it ever burden you
To know what you do of my
Life
Do you ever feel the need to confide my secrets in
Another
Or
Will you guard them always?
My confidant
Keeper of secrets
True friend
Sister from a different miss and mister
First cousin
My Jenna-Rose
You who knows me better than both my parents put together
You who are so much younger than myself
Yet still
So easy to divulge all to
What darkness and light do you keep hidden in the recesses of your
Beautiful mind
What stories and memories of mine do you have of which
I have long since
Forgotten
Thousands of miles apart
And still
You are one of the
First
And one of the
Few
Who know basically everything...
Does it ever burden you
To know what you do of my
Life
Do you ever feel the need to confide my secrets in
Another
Or
Will you guard them always?
my old man
lost his other son a couple of years back
did not see that coming not even on the previous evening
'course was never a fighter rather always was the softie
the lone child who gets intimidated and goes into
hiding inside himself bumping into people
dropping and forgetting things muttering
it altered him from inside outside
his face lost its colour his neck showed more by the day
popped pills all day blue white orange cap pop gulp changed sides
watched the telly switching channels drugged dour bearing his loss
on his chest like a dead cat he had killed in the dense wild
his misery grew like wildfire stuck to him grabbed him and
he let it
submission is the easier route i know they say
sleepwalked overate underate
looked gaunt uncouth forgot his meds
and worse his clothes walking butt naked a few times mostly at night talking to himself
i did not watch him for more than the entire time loved that drama loved him in those moments
we were quite alike brilliant it was i found yes i was a fucking copy of him just a rotten version
one who won't show or give in to anything
an ugly fucker unlike him
did it change anything
yes most definitely it did change it all the whole thing cos' post the realization
the hatred grew and got the very better of me until eventually there were a few wars of words
charged towards him a few times when he said things any man can't or wont take
he saw the rage and backed off grew limp sad distant weak until the moment
i took one glance and wanted to kill either one of us
that night i emptied his entire bottle into an empty stomach and shut the door
waiting for whatever was in store for me breathing fire sweating oceans
for hours rode the high a crazy beautiful scary high saw stuff
survived a twenty feet fall woke up walked back home
got dressed packed my bags and left
knowing that he was good in a way
exactly in a place where he should have been
a man's gotta give after all
man's got to be sad and feel alone and flash it to the world
that's his right straight from the moment he gets yanked out wailing
aint that what all of us do every fucking day of our lives
so i let him be cos' misery's a pricey private affair
so long pops to each his own
Anonymous
Loud cackling laughs heard from miles away,
Here enters the witch,
With the love of sarcasm,
We all sit at the table,
As she's screaming at her daughter,
To show us how well she can play piano,
Her daughter, 21, is almost in tears,
I think her mother had way too much wine...
Here enters the witch,
With the love of sarcasm,
We all sit at the table,
As she's screaming at her daughter,
To show us how well she can play piano,
Her daughter, 21, is almost in tears,
I think her mother had way too much wine...
well my
parents
they were
pious righteous
expected the best
the day i was born
there was gold and silver
and a couple thousand guests
jupiter and mercury were equidistant
from sun and there was also something else
probably rare planetary symmetry in two sections
it was the best surgeon in town who had performed
the caesarean in one of the better hospitals in there
there was a bit of fireworks loads of sweets and gifts
about a few hundred had flocked in towards ward B then
for a mere glimpse of the newborn and none of them in
anyway were disappointed or so i heard later in my life
some said jiddu's reborn as rest gasped at the luminescence
white as star thus i was named the divine light in stoic
accordance to the several astrologers priests seers
only to be called different as folks did not want
too much unwanted attention for their firstborn
though unconsciously paving the way otherwise
at every step everyday in my life and so it
happened much to their surprise adding to
the overall drama of our mundane lives
now a little over two decades later
all of them try hard to gnaw out of
the self induced collective darkness
having popped their pills and done
their drills half naked miserable
so that they can get blinded
by the white light of reality
once they crawl out of old
newspapers photographs
dogeared books whatnot
but they wont do that
cause i await them
at the very start
of the tunnel
how hard it
could be
afterall
to even
admit
that
you
are
wr
on
g
.
Anonymous
Kou_Indigo said:Sadly, tonight I am at odds with a family member so I must refrain from writing anything about family or relatives at present. Since, as they say, if one has nothing good to say about someone it is sometimes best not to say anything at all. Suffice it to say, it is hard dealing with someone who is prejudiced against you, yet who lives under the same roof as you on a daily basis. Yet I am dealing with such prejudice directed against me all the time! Sad, but true. Family can either be very pleasant and good, or straight from the pits of whatever godawful abyss true evil can emerge from.
I mean, wow, this person even fought with me on Christmas Eve!
How low can you get?
YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
Dysfunctional families exist everywhere.....
As to how low can you go..........very.....
even from people who consider themselves "religious"
You think they would know TOLERANCE....
They DON'T
Dec 25 will go away....
and then pick on someone else's relatives
if you cannot do your own...........
Kitty
been there, done that
I mean, wow, this person even fought with me on Christmas Eve!
How low can you get?
YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
Dysfunctional families exist everywhere.....
As to how low can you go..........very.....
even from people who consider themselves "religious"
You think they would know TOLERANCE....
They DON'T
Dec 25 will go away....
and then pick on someone else's relatives
if you cannot do your own...........
Kitty
been there, done that
oh brother- you might not remember
or choose to recall
when i stopped you jumping out the window.
i stopped you with logic.
i pointed out that the garage would break your fall.
oh brother
you threw a knife at my neck
but your aim has always been
oh brother.
you buy sweets with your money
and have no job.
soon you will be twenty
my little brother two years plus mine as old as me.
secretly, you are amazing.
so hiddenly you are beautiful and better
than any of us others.
the day you become unafraid of everything
the sun will burst
and it will not knock you down.
or choose to recall
when i stopped you jumping out the window.
i stopped you with logic.
i pointed out that the garage would break your fall.
oh brother
you threw a knife at my neck
but your aim has always been
oh brother.
you buy sweets with your money
and have no job.
soon you will be twenty
my little brother two years plus mine as old as me.
secretly, you are amazing.
so hiddenly you are beautiful and better
than any of us others.
the day you become unafraid of everything
the sun will burst
and it will not knock you down.
Stuck in your own little world,
There is nothing outside.
Studies, money and love,
Have captured your heart.
Got the blinders on,
In order to thrive.
Got the blinders on,
In order to survive.
And I hope someday you’ll work it through,
And I hope someday you’ll find the real you,
Instead of all this fighting,
Fighting to get to where you want to be.
And I admire what you are doing,
Even if I don’t agree.
And I know I wouldn’t be able,
To keep up with the way you are growing.
So I’ll give you the time you need,
Because I love you.
But I wish you could give me the same grace,
Because where you are now is not where you will be forever.
There is nothing outside.
Studies, money and love,
Have captured your heart.
Got the blinders on,
In order to thrive.
Got the blinders on,
In order to survive.
And I hope someday you’ll work it through,
And I hope someday you’ll find the real you,
Instead of all this fighting,
Fighting to get to where you want to be.
And I admire what you are doing,
Even if I don’t agree.
And I know I wouldn’t be able,
To keep up with the way you are growing.
So I’ll give you the time you need,
Because I love you.
But I wish you could give me the same grace,
Because where you are now is not where you will be forever.
How many good bits of advice have I turned a deaf ear to,
Because I was too hung up on trivial things?
Mr. Haughlahan was wise, it seems,
Looking back.
Kind too.
He'd rake the leaves
In front of our apartment and his small house.
All of them, though most came from the trees in front of the tower.
He'd chastise us for our bubblegum cigarettes,
Got pretty upset when I shot up his shed with a BB gun.
Not too much so, though.
He really was an asset,
But, a scrawny man with unsightly nose hair.
I guess most people's words have passed over my head,
I was just too distracted at the time.
-DyMc
Because I was too hung up on trivial things?
Mr. Haughlahan was wise, it seems,
Looking back.
Kind too.
He'd rake the leaves
In front of our apartment and his small house.
All of them, though most came from the trees in front of the tower.
He'd chastise us for our bubblegum cigarettes,
Got pretty upset when I shot up his shed with a BB gun.
Not too much so, though.
He really was an asset,
But, a scrawny man with unsightly nose hair.
I guess most people's words have passed over my head,
I was just too distracted at the time.
-DyMc
[b]Sister dearest
[/b]
Behind the moon in the twilight sky
Hiding the bright ray of early dawn
Glows of ember in her dear heart stay
Sniping hopes off before they are born
The sarcasm drips
To fill by gallons
Before the day says it’s dead and gone
Eyes that taunt yet they do haunt
The hearts of men be they young or old
Lost many hearts to her lovelorn
so-called heart rending poems
used them all and left them too
my love was trapped in her web
one day here tomorrow gone
Fade her beauty, not her wiles
Fade her allure, not her wit
To rub up or rub on
As long as they belong to others
The thrill to see the hurts
The pleasure to see the falling tears
She thrives on sorrow
Love her hate her
It does not matter
She forgot her passions
Somewhere long ago
When a man she loved
Went for another
Prettier than her
She lives on still
Bathed in bitterness
As she steals
What belongs to others
[/b]
Behind the moon in the twilight sky
Hiding the bright ray of early dawn
Glows of ember in her dear heart stay
Sniping hopes off before they are born
The sarcasm drips
To fill by gallons
Before the day says it’s dead and gone
Eyes that taunt yet they do haunt
The hearts of men be they young or old
Lost many hearts to her lovelorn
so-called heart rending poems
used them all and left them too
my love was trapped in her web
one day here tomorrow gone
Fade her beauty, not her wiles
Fade her allure, not her wit
To rub up or rub on
As long as they belong to others
The thrill to see the hurts
The pleasure to see the falling tears
She thrives on sorrow
Love her hate her
It does not matter
She forgot her passions
Somewhere long ago
When a man she loved
Went for another
Prettier than her
She lives on still
Bathed in bitterness
As she steals
What belongs to others
misscellany said:oh brother- you might not remember
or choose to recall
when i stopped you jumping out the window.
i stopped you with logic.
i pointed out that the garage would break your fall.
oh brother
you threw a knife at my neck
but your aim has always been
oh brother.
you buy sweets with your money
and have no job.
soon you will be twenty
my little brother two years plus mine as old as me.
secretly, you are amazing.
so hiddenly you are beautiful and better
than any of us others.
the day you become unafraid of everything
the sun will burst
and it will not knock you down.
wow that's fn awesome.....is there a way i can transfer that to my reading list from this thread? anyone?
or choose to recall
when i stopped you jumping out the window.
i stopped you with logic.
i pointed out that the garage would break your fall.
oh brother
you threw a knife at my neck
but your aim has always been
oh brother.
you buy sweets with your money
and have no job.
soon you will be twenty
my little brother two years plus mine as old as me.
secretly, you are amazing.
so hiddenly you are beautiful and better
than any of us others.
the day you become unafraid of everything
the sun will burst
and it will not knock you down.
wow that's fn awesome.....is there a way i can transfer that to my reading list from this thread? anyone?
