Three thousand chairs are crammed across the field,
A sea of cheap black gowns and melting ice.
We’re sitting trapped without a sunlit shield,
While sweat drips down my neck to mock me twice.
The principal yells names at breakneck pace,
A steady roar from "Aaron" down to "Zane."
I’m stuck somewhere around the middle space,
My rear is numb, my brain feels like pure pain.
By letter M, the afternoon turns harsh,
Lost in a sea of gowns forevermore.
Are we graduating or trapped in a marsh?
The kid beside me starts to nod and snore.
Three thousand names read off without a pause—
I only stayed because my mom said I had to!
Season of death
Told to fear
Before bitter cold
Making everyone scream
For some warmth
And loving touch
Stay in touch
After the death
With some warmth
And no fear
Morbid many scream
Awaiting the cold
Decide embrace cold
With forceful touch
Hear the scream
Proclaiming the death
Eyes express fear
Needing some warmth
Getting the warmth
Fighting the cold
And the fear
With caring touch
Defeating ugly death
That creates a scream
Why a scream?
All filled warmth
Body shell death
Purple silver cold
Ghosts need touch
Soothe the Fear
Dispense the fear
Memories laughing scream
Everyone seems touch
Words igniting warmth
Melting the cold
Celebrating the death
Conquering fear death
Instead scream warmth
When touch cold
Seven days of a newborn creation
Hymns to bless the man and soon-to-be wife
Heaven and earth cheer with acclamation
Witnessed by holy Uthras and Great Life
Witnessed by Mandaean kin without strife
Two pearls crowned with myrtle wreaths from the height
Graced with a scarlet-stone ring on the right
Graced with a green-stone ring on the left hand
Grapes, dates, walnuts and almonds to delight
Bride and bridegroom warmly kiss as Life planned
she held her head high
moved with elegance and grace
nurtured calm in her heart
her specialty ~ the tea ceremony
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
ancestors hugged strength
extracts penetrated veins
woody breast o p e n e d
incense smoke twirls truth
plans beaming across green boughs
resin rooted s.w.e.a.t.s
prayers and blessings
protect tree of life steady
energies v i b r a t e
ceremonies sound
strong deep drums beating time bold
air fire water
eyes fraternal l a u g h
circling tree smiling joyous
I dance smelling e_a_r_t_h
____________________________
Placed 7th : Premier Contest
Sponsor: Brian Strand
Feb. 26
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTICEABLE CEREMONY-:-
panoramic
reserved
spheres
disproportionately
impressed
with
ENCODED IN LANGUAGE
paradise
encounters
peace
enflaming
measures
of
EMBODIMENTS OF LOVE
crossing
boundaries
symbolised
encoded
subsumed6
My darling bride,
You are so beautiful,
You are so sweet,
Your beauty is not
Merely skin deep,
You look so graceful,
So poised, so neat,
With you by my side,
I feel so complete.
September sunday break of dawn
A pious flock of pigeons circle gracefully
They’re gathered for high mass
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
When someone first dies and leaves us,
It’s hard to lift that sense of gloom,
When their body is no longer with us,
But their presence still fills the room.
But within our treasured memories,
We can recollect their smiling face,
For in our heart-of-hearts we know,
They are now in a much better place.
Plaque on his teeth
Plaque on the wall
No plaque in the cow barn
~ or horse’s stall
i invite the freshness
of the mountain air
to fill my lungs
inhale replenish
and clear my thoughts
as i quietly await
the ceremonial rising
of the majestic sun
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
a tender voice recites, muse’s lyrics flow
non-believers have poisoned Earth Mother's waterways
She unleashes winds blown hotter and dryer
perennial white blossoms swoon midst zephyrs
dangle from sterling chaste trees
twisted maple bark echo braids sacred hair unscathed
gold filters branches
thousand-year rooted Algonquin memories
elders and granddaughters amble amongst crackling twigs
streams pristine align to augur a promising path
within a bison pelt tepee awaits the knowledge keepers embrace
fire and smoke dense and opaque
evoking a bittersweet melancholy
broadleaves tremble breathe and sway
hymn chants of traditional wisdom expel
severed is the braid as is the child from the woman
her nascent efflorescence
transition is significant as we are wedded
and bound to nature’s perennial sentient
let the path before us grow wider and brighter for future generations
Dear mask of alabaster,
Is writ a song, disaster?
I walk about the place,
Where I face,
Whatever happens after;
Arrive, my compass guide,
As a star to Northern sky:
Be sunrise, or twilight,
Let God's palm,
Keep calming mine;
Grave, enshroud me,
Rock of earth,
Should I carry,
No more worth –
There is a sombre silence,
as mist veils morning air.
A plethora of feathers
float among dew drops.
A ceremony of birds,
heads slumping,
soundless and homeless,
perch upon rooftops,
observing fallen nests,
cracked eggs and
lifeless nestlings.
Arrival of their fate
is like paper in a storm.
But birds don't ask why,
they just spread their wings and fly.
As she took a flute and sang a bavira song saying,"
where a needle passes & thread passes there on.
when a king dies and a crown prince come on."
royal peacocks danced proudly, some folks screaming
to motivate those who were dancing for the new king.
October 23/2023
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