MM's Represented Poems for 2010, Best of luck! Options

[Cleo_Serapis]

We decided to SKIP over January all...


FEBRUARY SELECTIONS:


A Luring Legacy by Daniah Jamil Lababidi


I searched the depths of my convictions,
walked past rosy petals of perfection,
then faltered as unexpected weeds sprang forth
from this earth; my heart.

At garden's edge, I parted the canopy.
Discovering forbidden land,
I inhaled its lustful scents
then succumbed
to a well of wakened desires.

My only succession
lies in the lingering odor
of untilled soil and arid years,
tainting this decaying garden
... my life.



Winter by Daniel Culleton


On this settled grove, these rows of trees,
The light bright of the morning shows
To each here present now unquestionably
The fellow presence of each shuddering bough.

On this settled evening too,
Winter devises cruel clarity of sight.
False Spring this week had, demonic, doomed,
Scattered stark children among the starlings.

Shadow of child and bird soared
Until night froze them in a dream.
Always the year returns us without fail
To this ancient darkness and this cold:

Bare branches across a black sky,
Each branch hung with distant stars.

[Cleo_Serapis]

JULY SELECTIONS:


Seasons by Lucie Kavanagh

The long evenings helped
to make sense of it in daylight.
Flowers hurt; night-scented
remnants from another life.

Orange and black; candlelight.
The day you walked unaided to the garden gate.
Flowers curled back to ground; we retreated indoors.
Glowing air; hot drinks; camped
around your bed, we talked in firelight.

Harshest since 1963.
The hospital drive through snow, each day, to you.
Frozen trees; branches gnarled in ice and shadow.
That sunlit Monday you stopped traffic,
strangers held my hands at the gate.
Lowered heads, foggy streets and silence.

First snowdrops.
Shadows lengthen.
Pale, intangible sunlight.



Wreathed in Realization by Eira Needham

Vermilion roses rest in ivory
carnations, tenderly entwined with grief.
I place this meagre gift in memory
of you - my stalwart. Stunned with disbelief,
foundations fold. I struggle to compose
internal tremors, close outpouring eyes
and kneel on turf that blankets your repose.
Despair subsides because I realise
you’ve not abandoned me, but still uphold
collapsing structures like a cornerstone.
Your presence tarries, sturdy walls enfold
my emptiness. Although I came alone,
your solace wreathes me, while we walk away
together – leaving only this bouquet.