poets, Poets of the Palm Beaches Palm Beach County, FL October 2009

October 2009

First Place:

The Saga of Christopher

by John J Buchholz

The fallen leaves from deciduous trees, forms a colorful quilt, under naked trunks with shivering limbs, then dries in shades of various browns, a shroud to match the fertile ground. Then crystals embroider a frozen lace and weave a shawl of virgin white, for dormant seeds, hibernating till spring thaws, melts drifted snow, a signal for seeds to sprout and grow. A baby green found only in spring, nursing flowers with fragrance, like a soul unseen, hermit truffles deep underground, delicacies found by rooting hogs. Nature's scribes write history books, with rings of growth and carbon dates, on the face of ancient stumps. There was a child that lived less then six days, with a grandfather whose grandfather, lived for ninety-six years, like a treasured morel sheltered in fallen leaves from the branches of deciduous trees, a minor role but an integral part in the saga of a family tree.

Honorable Mention:

The Day My Neighborhood Came Alive

by Janice Fine

To be terse,

when I looked worse

then ever before

I sallied forth once more

to the mailbox on the street.

There was no one around to meet.

My faded worn robe was wrapped 'round me.

My face was well greased with vitamin E

Two curlers stood atop my disheveled hair.

People appeared from nowhere and stopped to stare.

The man down the block tooted as he drove his truck.

Miss critical - fancy neighbor appraised. What darn luck!

Wobbly pups wiggled tongues and wagged weapon-like bushy tails.

Avon and Mary K. tried to hide my face, yet ply their sales.

A thin boy hollered and groaned, shaking like a speckled, blowing leaf.

Quickly I covered my head in my arms amid cries of great relief.

Now to be terse,

when I look worse

then ever before

I sally forth no more.

Sly as a sleek, slinky fox

I let mail pile up in the box.

Special Contest Winner: Ballad

The Ballad of Old Jessy

by John Vincent Palozzi

Old Jessy went to Las Vegas

on a hot September day

determined to hit the tables

and gamble his life savings away

Black Jack, roulette and poker

he loved to throw the dice

he bet all his money on one throw

and he bet not once, but twice

Old Jessy went to Las Vegas