POETRY CONTEST is an Exploration into Decisions made about Life...where they lead...where changes and fates emerge...where the waves of changes take a person...next...then next...then...next....

POETRY CONTEST


Fire On The Water....
without the oil between to soothe and mend
who can walk on such a path?
What broken road led straight to you?
What touch can mend, and weave, and mend?
Gather the fragments
Create new bones
Sing new songs
Tell the Fire this:
Before I came to be
You became before me...
It was all
Fire and Water
and then
The Earth burst through...
Now they walk separate
Because they can
And the print of their billions
Tears to the core
Reminds us
We Are Separate now;
Fire on the Water:
One
No
More

She raised her glass. Winning that contest had been easy. The rest
were no match for her. Poetry Contests were made for creatures like
her, who went for the gold without flinching. Everyone was clapping,
because she was, what? The most obscure genius? The best in the
regionals? The very original Ms Wonder Woman? The up-n-comin Poetess
of the Creative Writing Genies of the North?...walk-away prize
winner...that's who she was. Of a 'region'...she knew there would be
really writers at State level. That made for the hollow sore place in
her throat. There was no going forward here. Now, Now was endgame.
Damn, she took herself and her poems way, way too seriously...when in
hell had she ever been just, really, a kid? A kid who could have some
fun, or relax, or whatever the hell it is kids do...'long ago' didn't
begin to tell it. She had not one 'long ago' memory about play that
didn't end with a chore, a cleaning-up, a homework due, a book to
read, something to do, to do, to do! She was angry. No, that wasn't
right. She was petulant...that was it. pouty. She had the Creative
Writing Pin from her elite little private Catholic Girls School to
prove...nothing...that she could write fantasy - fiction - better than
the other girls? Big Whoop. Didn't get you kisses under the lilacs at
Prom Night...that guy hadn't cared about your pins and awards and As
and all. He just wanted to kiss you, Lady. How electrically scary that
had been! What had she been thinking? O yes, she had been thinking!
That explained it! She was supposed to have been Playing! Singing!
Dancing with Joy! She had thrown in all away for her Mom's
approval...no, no. No use blaming the whole thing on a parent long
gone...No, it was believing that there was something better than what
had been in that guy's eyes...that deeply disturbing deathlessness
that she was never going to find in any other pair of eyes. Where was
the poem that could have told her what his eyes told her...no use
blaming it on 'being young' either...she had known that running away
from home was just another question, not 'the answer' of her
dreams...underneath it all, she had known....She used to be
more...quiet...some time ago. Now it was all spilling out of words,
words, words...words to keep the tears about all the loss at bay...the
losses at bay...to cross-out, no to stamp out all the pain of losing
those eyes that said, so simply, We Are Made For Each other. Winning
was over. The rides were over. The Park was closing...

That night was the last night she ever felt that way again.
Two became One.
It's an old story. Moon and June rhyme...Love songs are all the
same...aren't they?
She could have become a wonderfully cerebral poetess...She could have
taught Creative Writing at the University. But, you know, she tossed
the Gift away for a man...typical of one of those water sign
women...You know, they say he had eyes that were like fire...like fire
on water....