Best Summer Poems
hello hello
butterfly flutterby
epitome of symmetry
graceful & elegant
modest & innocent
whispering
hues & color
spreading loving cheer
a breath sweet kiss
a bit of bliss
Published in my 24-page photo/anthology book ~HELLO BUTTERFLY~ 2020
AP: 2nd place 2022, 2nd place 2020, 3rd place 2020
POTD October 2, 2019
Submitted on October 1, 2019 for contest Writing Challenge, October - Butterfly sponsored by DEAR HEART- WIISHKOBE ODE - RANKED 1ST
Once Upon a Purple Sunrise
Pretty as a Periwinkle,
in your frilly summer frock,
the one with purple polka dots
that matched the cool of early dawn.
Haloed in hazy lavender hue,
I'll always remember you;
running barefoot through
the cornfields still wet
with translucent drops
of fragrant morning dew.
The scent of damp, fresh grass
lingering on your waist-length,
ebony braids, that wrestled free
of their crimson satin ribbons,
floating away in the pale blaze
of a new day, riding on a gentle breeze.
Your childish giggles drifted
through rows of raspberries bushes,
a look of total wonder reflected
in your bright smiling hazel eyes,
innocent as the wispy grey clouds,
that awake with the surprise
of a transient glowing sunrise.
Where did you come from,
Little Sprite, with your
mischievous deep dimples,
cherry-stained cheeks and lips?
Even gazelles would be jealous
of your long, lithe brown legs,
graceful as a swan's,
gliding in casual slow motion.
Carefree as a hummingbird,
hovering in suspended animation,
you were lost in the beauty
of your own song.
Did you forget me,
waiting for you with
finger sandwiches and sweet tea?
But that was okay –
it was your time to wander
in an ocean of wild yellow daisies
that needed to sprout
in your youthful heart…
take root and grow
in your memory forever.
02-17-2018
Best New Poem - 2/20/18
Poem of the Week 2/25/18
Sponsor: Silent One
Contest: Sunrise and Sunset
Placement: 1st
The shadows fall like summer lace
Through palm trees fluttered in the sun
The soft caress of dawning breeze
Invites my senses to be spun
With every step in wonderland
The crystal blues of morning sky
Intend to lift my feet, as they
Await for me to learn to fly
As day begins a brand new page
On which to write another verse
My mind, as one with nature’s love
Takes off, creation to traverse
For what, with song of daybreak’s dove
Could keep a soul to tethered rein
When ecstasy of rainbow’s hue
Can heal the most defining pain
As shadows fall like summer lace
To bless my path in fauna’s art
I’m open to a whole new world
With thoughts of love to fill my heart
In my little garden, balmy blooms are on display.
My purple Zinnia wears the crown in August sun
attracting tiny Hummingbirds and butterflies.
Ripe golden mangos blush with scarlet hues
so lush and juicy sweet…a favorite fruity treat.
Cooling ocean waves lure swimmers to the shore.
School begins, a sigh, it’s just August once more.
8-7-22
~First Place~
JUST AUGUST Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Andrea Dietrich
After the end of a long hot day
At the end of my rope with nerves all frayed
I sat on the porch to rest a spell
As the sun slipped slowly behind the hill
Calmed by the lingering after glow
I watched the summer night unfold
Crimson streaks...on a sky of blue
Melted in a thousand different hues
Got lost in the dark without the light
Leaving just their shadows in the night
And in fields of clover across the way
The crickets began their serenade
As fireflies danced with sheer delight
Glowing…in love with this summer night
And there ahead...at the end of the road
Above the bridge where the river flows
It rose like magic before my eyes
An orange moon so big it filled the sky
The steadily falling cold August rains
Continue to pour upon Cheshires lanes;
Over flattening fields of soddened wheat,
Soaking the grass, splashing the feet.
Stands the Combine in the shed;
The unripened apples hanging rosy red.
Stands the caped heron all alone -
His glinting eye as cold as stone.
And in amongst the many puddles
We step around like our troubles:
So lurch ahead with our retreat
Like drunken fools in the street.
And through this months darkly frowns
The cleansing downpours wash the towns;
Scrubs the spire from ingrained time -
Absolves the guilt from the crime!
In primrose twilight, summer is still near.
She whispers in my ear; I hear her in
the one lone owl that hoots to only me.
I wake to find her shining through the clouds -
though breathing not so warmly on my cheek.
I glimpse her waning smile as in a field
I dance to soundless music in her sun.
My mind goes wandering, and in the breeze
I hear her sigh, for she is lingering
within the scent of asters that I pluck.
I’m hanging on to that one glint I see
of her before me in gold glitter dusk.
But in the cries of geese across the sky,
she calls goodbye, and sweet is her demise.
Dec. 2, 2016
for the Blank Verse Poetry Contest of Janice Canerdy
I
when the world had no headsets
the sunbathing crowd
fell asleep to the sounds of
transistors played loud
while the deckchairs and windbreaks
kites, beach balls and more
formed the stripes, lines and circles
that painted the shore
and the longer I walked
on the sand to that sea
the more the sea seemed
to get further from me
and the crunch in my mouth
was that one grain of sand
in the sandwich I ate
with my sand covered hand
while the lemons and melons
and plums I'd watch spin
would stop short of a cherry
one click from a win
and the postcards we sent
from the end of the pier
had us writing such half truths
as "wish you were here."
II
from the end of the pier
through the stiff breeze
and spindrift
I can still hear the tunes
of the promenade bands
and I can still see the stripes
of the deckchairs and windbreaks
and the box kites
and beach balls
that painted the shore
and I can still taste
the butter
- warm like the canned ham
and the crunch of that sand
in the sandwich I had
and I can still hear the djs
laughing and talking
spinning hits of the sixties
from transistors
played loud
and I can still smell the onions
frying wild in the fairground
to the sound of the claxons
and the lemon. click. orange. click. melon.
click. click.
and I can still breathe the deep smoke
swirling in sand dunes
from the benson and hedges
and
player's no.6
and I can still see those grown ups
staring at mirrors
- their bodies distorted
like the dreams
they once had
today on the pier
the rain that's now falling
falls from a same sky
on a same sand
and same sea
and a same me
- yet this air
this air
is not the same air
as that air I
once
breathed.
Midsummer Breeze
How may I extol a midsummer breeze?
As soft as rose petals in cooling wind
That flutters leaves upon the verdant trees,
And endeavors to make the blossoms blend
From blooming boughs whose wistful petals drift
In a mélange of hues that blankets grounds
In vivid masterpiece of summer's gift,
Sharing red rose’s splendor that abounds.
Ten summers have passed since we said good-bye.
The son you never knew still causes tears
As evening shadows fill this twilight sky,
Through him I've loved you more all of these years.
Soon all is hushed in shadow's silhouette
When moonrise turns blue skies to violet
7-29-18
Not Just Any Old Rose Poetry Contest. ~Poem of the Day Jul 31, 2018~
Sponsor: Mark Massey ~7th placement premier contest~
The moon shimmied up her pole in the sky
Winking at me with her crescent eye
The stars danced in time to a silent tune
As the season ended that started in June
O, one long last look at summer's constellations
Before they surrender to Fall's deportations
And the heavens assign them to regions distant
As brisk winds whisk them away in an instant
September 22, 2020
Completely Your Choice (#15) Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Brian Strand
A hot and humid day floats merrily on the seas
As tiny bikinis amble in sandy footprints
And frolic in the motives of soft ocean breeze
Building sand-castle dreams with playful hints
Hazy hues occupy the environs of a blue sky
As pouring rains flood the tapestry on the arc
When hurriedly blue herons lift-up and fly
Escaping before the flash of a thunderous spark
In a floral garden tempt lavender intimations
Where nearing their beehives honeybees swarm
Skipping the ambiance of fiery red carnations
Subdued by sudden outburst of a fleeting storm
Above the horizon now rainbow colors sprout
Glorifying the moodiness of this season's reign--
Gloominess takes its place when sun opts out
As sunshine comes and goes, and so does the rain
The long day cedes to evening, buzzing in the park
And there by the sidewalks pink rose-blooms sway
Charmed by the bird songs in mating calls of lark
As sunset paints ruby tinges upon a golden display
May 12, 2019
HM: Your choice contest by Brian Strand
Yet My Mind Holds Invincible Summer Hues
Bitter cold, ice ravages red-cliffs in my veins
Yet my mind holds invincible summer hues
O' Darkness thy black-hand my spirit restrains
Tho' thy power rages from thy dark Lord's pews
Flee thee far back into thy dark Lord's abode
Plead thy master, at Byrnhilda's rock for aid
Summer's warmth, my fiery embers sent explode
My Viking blood, proves I am iron made
With such power I banish thee with one breath
Tho' thy great wealth of evil is fierce and strong
Birthright, I draw residues from Odin's death
Epic strength and power from Valkyries's song
Bitter cold, ice ravages red-cliffs in my veins
Yet my mind holds invincible summer hues
O' Darkness thy black-hand my spirit restrains
Tho' thy power rages from thy dark Lord's pews
Carry thy dark master this warning I send
With shields of truth, and armored Nordic powers
And with soul's all, and all my strength I defend
Against stones thrown from Dark Lord's brimstone towers
When Valhalla's halls open for my passing
And Odin sits with mighty Thor at his side
Few will have entered in this pledge surpassing
Held firm, courage, loyalty and Viking pride
Bitter cold, ice ravages red-cliffs in my veins
Yet my mind holds invincible summer hues
O' Darkness thy black-hand my spirit restrains
Tho' thy power rages from thy dark Lord's pews
Robert J. Lindley, 8-19-2016
Syllables Per Line:
11 11 11 11 0 11 11 11 11 0 11 11 11 11 0 11 11 11 11
0 11 11 11 11 0 11 11 11 11 0 11 11 11 11
Total # Syllables: 308
Total # Words: 221
Note: I was bored this afternoon, decided to finish last 12 verses to this poem.
Begun as a tribute to my Viking heritage..
Hope you may enjoy it my friends..
Our summer love began in Gemini
with sultry eves of wooing escapades,
and as the moon did swoon as it drew nigh
my lust you stirred with strumming serenades.
Romance as rich as black queen tulip skies
adorned with precious gems of bijou light,
before they’d lose their lustre to sunrise
you’d shower me with diamonds of the night.
Impassioned kisses filled my sails with love,
a rhumba full of rapture neath the stars
with rhythmic teasing, undulations of
unbridled flame of Venus and my Mars.
The time of Libra brings a cool to days ~
still, autumn love sets aging leaves ablaze.
Susan Ashley
May 15, 2018
~ First Place ~
Contest: Summer Love Sonnet
Sponsor: John Hamilton
*(Black) Queen of Night Tulip: a velvety deep maroon-black tulip*
She drifts in radiance
waking nightfall with palette's hues,
tresses of amber flames drip of vibrant
sensation… and so, in the glide
of July nestling on grass and bouquets,
she waltzes through moon’s notes
with a luster of desire, bursting
into sheer madness on my glossed skin…
Oh how she flickers more dauntless
than a blend of passion and ease , flitting
like a gypsy whose spirit enters inside my pores...
And Maiden of Summer thrusts her
tanned arms fluid, raw, loving: then, to explode
into an awakened prance which enhances
love's sizzle through her open light
gently reeling with my bold adventures;
only to fade quickly in luscious splendour.
Screwed XV by Rob Carmack
Uploaded 10.16.2016
SUMMER’S END *
Down her meadow’s sweetness
By name of Summer’s End
This smallish thatch work cottage
With it’s proper artful sign
Hung at eaves with slightest tilt
By portal in decline
Should some young and searching pair
Choose certain bend of woods
And come upon the scene by chance
Imagine now their fond surprise
That first adoring glance
She’s not so much sad longing
As a fixed point of warmth
Her leaves but yellowed barely
Far distant hills all purplish glaze
It’s Summer’s End for keeping
Till a good life’s end of days
Dave Austin
* Correction - thatch work cottage. Thanks to Keith Logan for the correction