Best Collum Poems
with youthful passion
she quivered under his touch
they soared together
in old age
he longs for her response
chords of chiaroscuro
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Visual 1 (piano)
A Collum Lune Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Nette Onclaud
Placed 1st
© 11th May 2020
in the corner
the old piano stands silent
its keys broken
~
granddads musical fingers
always played at family gatherings
now only memories
Written 10th May 2020
Flow with the collum lune poetry contest.
Sponsor Nette Onclaud
Visual 1.
brilliantly illuminating sunrise
reveals creek's rise seemingly draped....
crepe myrtle's blossoms
Collum Lune 3/5/3 words
Crystal beads embellish
foliage until delicate zephyr winds
cast them adrift.
Lune 1 - Collum form lune 3,5,3,words
Contest – One Pretty Little Lune
Sponsor Andrea Dietrich
08~02~15
it often feels
as though life gathers stones
upon puerile sand
rising toward hubris
ever further from the source
…fragile as innocence
11 May 2020
Contest: Flow With The Collum Lune
Sponsor: Nette Onclaud
Visual: 2
(Note: This poem was written shortly after the 2022 Olympics and after Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos rode their rockets in a new space race for billionaires.)
Races
By Mark D. Stucky
Our country had a Space race
to beat Russians to the moon.
Decades ago, we left lunar footprints
and brought back rocks and selfies.
Rival billionaires build rockets now
for suborbital joyrides above.
We periodically join Olympic races
to go fractionally faster than others
for prestige and multi-metal medals.
Hosting countries spend billions
to applaud athletic bodies.
But for all that cash and hype,
we get no cure-for-cancer hope,
but viral spread and doping.
Our world needs better races
toward things that truly matter.
We require a Race race
to travel much faster
toward equity and healing
than ever gone before.
While we wish for a quick sprint,
a marathon is what we’re running.
Ending slavery long ago,
this race’s qualifying heat,
was just one stride
beyond the starting line.
Jim Crow still taints the track.
Systems still are prejudicial.
Supremacists still conspire.
Voting rights still are suppressed.
Vigilantes still chase and shoot.
Police still harm the unarmed.
This crucial marathon
has many miles to go,
but if we struggle to the end,
contenders might all be winners.
(Originally published in Small Town Anthology VIII: Entries from the Eighth Annual Tournament of Writers, Vicksburg Cultural Arts Center, 2022. See also my poems "Closed Community Prejudice (an Alphabetized Memoir)," "Weapons of Wonder," and "Hate Vacuuming?")
(Image by Braden Collum on Unsplash.com.)
exculpate thee phantom
altissimo thy moonlight opus score
seduce her song
§
tarnished skeleton keys
enthrall the scared little Lottie’s
ebon rose duet
5/11/2020
FLOW WITH THE COLLUM LUNE Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Nette Onclaud
Visual 1
*In a poem, Christine Daaé is referred to
as Little Lottie in The Phantom of the Opera
St Pattys Day Limerick L. Milton Hankins
Twas in his cups, drinking bitter ale.
His name McGonahill, first name Kale.
Irish girl gave him wink
He sputtered came up pink
A big plotter, Miss Katie O’Dale.
She would make him a respectable sort.
His friend Collum laughed, gave a little snort.
She gave him the eye too
Super good Irish shrew
On Patty’s Day they all three now cavort.
There’s a set of twins that now hang with them.
Names Paddy and Leprechaun Shawn McFinn.
We watch but do not stare
Drink green beer without a care
In McGongill’s Boar Tavern, oh, so grim.
Contest: St Pattys Day Limerick
Sponsor: L. Milton Hankins
Written 2/28/2021
(Note: In this abecedarian poem, I redacted the name of the particular denomination to protect the innocent and to universalize the context. Fill in your own favorite groups! Prejudice against those perceived to be “other” than “us” infiltrates human hearts no matter the identity or extent of the difference.)
Closed Community Prejudice (an Alphabetized Memoir)
By Mark D. Stucky
Almost everyone in my home community
belonged to _________ churches.
Churches not _________ (like Methodist and Lutheran)
didn’t seem “right” somehow, although nobody whispered it.
Every other group was less homogenous than us,
fated to be born “different” from us.
Good people maybe.
However,
inferior to us surely.
Just not quite like us.
Knew them only superficially.
Looked like us on the outside.
Maybe not that different after all?
No, they weren’t the same ethnicity as us.
Otherness lurked inside them.
…
Perhaps prejudices in all people,
quietly
rise
slowly
toward
unholy
vantage points.
What if
xenophobes, like
you and me, could
zero out all our distortions?
(Originally published as "Closed Community Memoir (Alphabetized)" in Reflecting on Race Through Poetry, a collection of participant poems from a class at First United Methodist Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1 Nov. 2000. See also my poems "Races," "Weapons of Wonder," and "Hate Vacuuming?")
(Original image by Braden Collum on Pexels.com.)
difficult it be
to reason with hardened men
proud as stone
layer upon layer
I chisel those rough facades
until heads bow
11 May 2020
Flow With the Collum Lune
nette onclaud's Contest
Visual 2
gnarled arthritic fingers
no longer can dance across
ebony and ivory
her active mind
recalls notes she once played
musical memories linger
Visual 1 Selected
FLOW WITH THE COLLUM LUNE Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Nette Onclaud
05/11/20
The “Piano Man”
Has abandoned and I say
“Let it be”
“someone like you”
“imagine” will rescue me again
“Don’t stop believing”!
Visual 1
Contest :nette onclaud's
Flow With The Collum Lune Poetry Contest
Written 12/May/2020
too much work
piled up like flat stones
on hot sand
sun beats down
I cannot afford to add
one more stone
May 11, 2020 (visual number 2)
for nette onclaud's Flow With The Collum Lune Poetry Contest
old damaged piano
once caressed by skilled fingers
now silenced forever
what masterly hands
unlocked pure magical music via
your ivory keys
May 12, 2020
~5th Place~
Contest: Flow With The Collum Lune - Visual 1
Sponsor: Nette Onclaud
Judged: 05/13/2020
A modern Haiku 3-5-3 words invented by Collum and is called a Lune..
iridescent crow walks
fence between flower and vegetables....
mockingbird bravely chases