A million leaves adorned that mighty oak,
Clustered together all the summer long.
They’d chat away and sometimes tell a joke
And, in the breeze, would rustle up a song.
But, always on the fringe, one lonely leaf
Was excluded from the conversation.
Painfully shy and lacking self-belief,
Accepted life as the poor relation.
And then one day, a lady leaf nearby,
Asked hopefully if he would be her friend.
And suddenly he felt that he could fly.
They vowed they’d stay together till the end.
Until, the day that Autumn came around,
Entwined, they floated gently to the ground
Pleiads move in quiet harmony, pearls of cosmic light.
Protostars blaze in clustered, blue-white heat.
Plasma streams sculpt halos of electric light.
Parallax reveals their distance across widening sky.
Photons scatter in dust creating mist-blue sheen.
Pleiads burn as massive, hot, B-type stars,
Presence of planetary birth lingers when the Seven arise.
ACOUSTIC STRUCTURES
sobering
patterned
casualties
so
fascinatingly
aesthetical
in
manifold
shapes
stimulate
speculative
applications
identically
conceived
with
multiple
meanings
convincingly
clustered
subjectively
thus
enlarging
spirals
Tomatoes, watermelons, and grapes—
Do they seem to you merely as sustenance?
Within the tomato, flesh is shyly concealed,
Yet as it opens wide before you,
It imparts to you the truths of mathematics.
The watermelon blossoms into your laughter;
Within it, a synthesis of earth and plant—
A microcosm is born.
Never devour it at once!
Pay your reverence!
Only savor the entire universe within.
A shelter hotter than midsummer itself!
Grapes?
Clustered like tiny, dangling bells,
Do not pluck and consume them thoughtlessly,
Lest it be you who is consumed in the end.
This is a divine, sensuous intoxication
bestowed by God.
Ah, to dust
To seek the nooks and crannies
Of mysteriously clustered history
To pursue the fleeing dust kittens
Cleanse the demon ‘neath the bed
Run a finger over the door jam
To peek into the silent corners
Of a creaky home’s history
Uncover faded initials
On jack knife carved hearts
And wonder
Ah, to dust
Knowing you will leave your trail
Atop a now too high to reach bookcase
Behind that always crooked picture frame
On the cover of a never finished book
Upon a phone that has forgotten how to ring
Ah, to dust
To wonder
Where it came from
Where it will go
And why it always returns…
easy
easygoing
easy mark
easy peasy
easy rider
easy street
easy here
easy there
easy peasy everywhere
easy going, not a bit flustered
easy mark, few fools clustered
easy rider, a sycophant
easy street, a treasure hunt
easy going, easy mark
I ride my easy in the park
— Dedicated to the nights in Finsbury Park
In the dark of night,
Watching the houses clustered together outside,
Hearing the faint echoes of toasts ringing from somewhere—
I always thought I was alone.
The cold wind outside,
Threatening to extinguish the lamp in my room—
I always thought I was alone.
Watching the stars and the moon sharing their light,
I always thought I was alone.
Walking home by myself,
Seeing lovers holding hands as they pass—
I always thought I was alone.
But now, I am not.
Because you are here,
Reading these words of mine.
BEAUTY REDISCOVERED
iniatatory
implications
of
dynamic
collective chaos
in
modest
conscious
measures
of
rhythmic
precision
so explicit
in
timeless
designs
clustered
grace
still
appeal
BEYOND CONSCIOUSNESS
a clustered
dlsplay
simultaneously
longstanding
theme
partially
subjective
anatomy
embellished
resplendent
in
purity
flamboyant
meticulous
appealing
pastime
in
an
ostentatious
interplay
exemplified
illuminated
& irresistible
solated
offset
patterned
cryptic
ouevres
evoking
exhilaration
relaxing
seemingly
constructive
a talisman
replica
with
peculiarities
progressive
enigmatic
astonishingly
amassed
wielding
glimmering
in
a true
conversation
piece
Flirt with my demons, hold them to your heart
In spite of my clustered mind, I'll hold up my part
Hold my hand close to the beats in your chest
A promise of foreverness, though we'll never be "the best"
What the songs get correct, but the media thinks is dead
Two intertwined lovers, our image is stuck in my head
Mockery and pungent words won't end our rumba
They'll be laughing when the skies are painted red, ha!
Pathetic lies try to separate us, but they sound like sharp notes
In a music book, where the songs are pleasing and don't sound faux
They ask me, "Dear Bonnie, where has your Clyde gone?"
O darling lover, but we both have heard this song
Shallow and crumbly, their arguments go for too long
Their voices belt across galaxies, yet they know their wrongs
But one thing that I know is your rhetoric is divine
When I glance up on the horizon, Nature says it's a sign
So, we starve their remarks, like fires with no oxygen
Because little do they know, we'll never bow down to them
Mutant metronome’s
stygian riddle
inscrutable fixation
spuming
clustered clairvoyance
honing snoopy
quest querulous
quicquidlibet
tamper connived
sinewy stratagem
plimsoll plot
“sneaker” of
wily webfooted
nefarious nudge
at
tenebrific toll
maple smoke
screen screed
clandestine
cobwebs cohere
mohair marinated
muddle
subdued thespian
herringbone hoodwink
skewed camouflage
perused pearl
inveigling
skulduggery rife
underscored cadence
persuasive
percussive rattle
ubiquitous underbelly
prop to
dodgy dialogue
muted ritardando
silhouette streak
dangling magnet
mired in
gauche guesswork
subterfuge sciophobia
inkpot
amorphous machination
fiction wizards
emblazon
indices incipient
embryo empiricism
mouldering
cabinet coterie
spookish svengali
minatorial
repercussions
incurvate
sniffer dog
detective
poirrot’s prognosis
clouseau contingency
that
rivetting mystery
Here
I stand
by myself,
growing inside
the tiny crack of
the sidewalk in which I
took root; countless feet I spy
strolling past me, but I escape
being tread on, for I stand close by
a wall of stone, so sad and so alone.
I can see others, yellow like myself
clustered together like happy friends
until they get cursed as weeds and
yanked up! We are just as loved
by bees as those garden
blooms are. At what cost
have I remained
here - lonely
though still
safe?
Against the back drop of green leaf copses, dulcet bird chirp, and bubbling pavement fountains,
that dawning from the azure blue sky a silken whisper,
to follow street signs on my route to work with ample gusto and much verve,
each metal
pointer to destination a micro mirror on its surround,
stoic indicator of direction, that upright unique urban compass,
clustered by behemoth scenic grandeur at its mint spring zenith,
and surging throngs who sashay in brisk step patterns so diverse yet firmly focussed,
as I am whilst counting on that reference point, that fixed point usher,
that deep-dyed friend at each crossroad safe in the knowledge of arrival,
and in tandem with a spotless day’s heroic toil in bright prospect,
how symbolic are these pathway guide rails to one who warms to flagship growth,
in its august transit on foot slog pitfall strewn road of expertism,
pole mounted emblems, silent sentry solid, detail for me on daily passage.
Gloom blooms as more bombs boom;
Even saints are tainted by crimson stains.
Fears tear through cradle-cries,
And withered blood floods the clustered gutters.
A prowl of projectiles surrounds their bounds;
Wounds whine on a round ground.
Pleas fail to heal the skin’s impetigo—
As silence stains the lens.
Then violence dons another garment,
While silence lies dormant;
Cries from festered wounds pry the dry, wry air,
As echoes crawl along.
All goes to soothe egos,
They boast with coats of loathes in floated boats,
In self-conceit concerts,
They celebrate nothing, noting no woe.
Wicked wicks don’t wink weak,
They sow discord and spit splintered discourse,
They supplant hate as baits,
And their words plunge the world to more dangers.
Peace peeks through a bombed hole at round tables,
Yet war speaks through their mouths;
Those who would quell the spell still sow their guile,
While skies scold, souls lie cold.
the sun set on the peaceful meadow
where clustered colours yawned
feigning a sleepy drowsy state
for bees and butterflies to take their leave
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
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