Poetry Soup Premiere Contest winner
MOTHER'S DAY poetry contest sponsored by Benjamin Bartley, April 2025
Morning starts early, before it gets light
Opening cupboards, to see what’s in store
Teachable moments, with wrong versus right
Hope grabs the car keys, then heads through the door
Early bird children, are making their way
Ready to take on, another school week
So many hurdles, to climb day-by-day
Destiny journeys, down these terraced streets
Another story, of work’s imbalance
Young hungry children, get so tall, so fast
Confidence takes it's fences and chances
Armed with new shoes but, how long will they last?
Roses or chocolates, say life can be hard
Demanding much more, than words on a card.
Hey! Batter! Hey, hey batter!
Hey! Batter, swing!
There is the wind up. Here comes the pitch.
Fastball, slider, curve, but which is which?
Bases are loaded, it’s up to you…
Swing for the fences! Do what you do!
No one to help you. The ump is blind.
There’s so much pressure. Two runs behind.
You stand alone on the precipice.
Give it your best shot! A swing… a miss…
Hey! Batter! Hey, hey batter!
Hey! Batter, swing!
So many hecklers… the catcher laughs.
It’s just his job to try to distract.
You are all warmed up, ready to go…
Swing for the fences! Do what you know!
The fans are yelling, calling you names.
It’s life or death now, not just a game.
Millions are counting on your strong wrist.
Eye on the ball but… another miss…
Hey! Batter! Hey, hey batter!
Hey! Batter, swing!
Lean in closer, maybe you’ll get hit.
Just some pain from an errant pitch.
Forget that! Focus! Let’s make the news.
Swing for the fences! What will you lose?
You lured the pitcher into your trap.
One more second everyone will clap.
You’re in the zone now, there’s no defense.
Over the plate… Now Over the fence!
Hey! Batter! Hey, hey batter!
Hey! Batter, swing!
There's a reason they were put up in the first place
The hourglass reminds us time like sand
Slides into the past never to come again
This makes us think wonder and plan
If we are wise and want to make amends
In life for those we honestly wronged
With our actions or lack of just as strong
Can not have that feeling of black retracted
Can saying you’re sorry really heal the impacted
We can repent and not repeat offenses
We can offer friendship build new bridges
Put on big boy gloves and work the trenches
Let the lord’s love protect us like fences
Abandoned fence
once protector of my yard
now wood for campfire
They're all talking walls and fences,
words meant to force us apart,
the world has lost all it's senses,
where did this craziness start?
I'm walking up here on the ridge,
already making a start,
building a shiny new bridge,
this flyover straight to your heart.
Wood fences are better neighbors they keep the outside world out when metal fences let you see what you don't want to see
Robert Frost was right
fences make good neighbors agreed
best peaceful living
Fences
This side and
The other side
Inner and outer
Center and edge
Peace and conflict..
These oppositions
Tell the stories
Of lives past and
Present..it is the
Guts of history
And stories that
Seem as identities..
Grand illusions
Which no matter
Are simply Wow...
My senses are over run
You’ve distorted every one
Now my emotions sit on fences
Unsure how to fend offences
How my eyes tend to deceive
Peripheral sightings I believe
You are the corners of my vision
The cause of my internal division
Your taste is everlasting
My reason for desperate fasting
A scent that hits me like a train
Still, I can’t help but inhale again
I hear your laugh in other rooms
And when my still heartbeat resumes
I find them empty in the dark
Wanting your light, just a spark
You always seem just out of reach
I don’t dare of hope to breach
I know you’re not at my fingertips
I swear they feel your fading lips
My senses are forever yours
Gone with why’s and wherefores
Stripped down to my defenses
Fallen off of broken fences
Fences
Are icons
Of separation
Seeming to
Divide what
Cannot be
Divided..
Fences
Write stories
Without which
No story
Can be told..
Fences are
Stories arising
Beautifully
Empty...
Gaps
And fences are
Storied to
Make wholeness
All good and
Perfect..
Overlooking the
Immediacy of
Wholeness as
Not two..
Giving way to
Judgement and
Compassion as
Architects of
Wholeness..
Well..?
Last trails of sunlight splinter
the slats
of the old broken down fence
a reverence reflecting
painstaking perseverance
in less than perfect times
but I remember them perfectly
the excitement of colour
caressing the grains
seeping into the pores
each coat brushed with care
again and then again
not knowing or caring what was in store
wild passion filled nights
under the moon
pressed and in tune
who would have thought
they'd be gone way too soon
storms blew in
and they took their toll
the fence once strong
now full of holes
I stand and stare and wonder so
if I should mend this fence
or up and go
Let’s everyone begin by loving our brother
And let it spread out to embrace our neighbor
Then cross over the borders that divide us
Realizing that God made us all of one blood;
Then, vow to never take up arms against another
For peace is far more important than property
Especially since we hold it only temporarily.
Of utmost importance is embracing differences
Respecting those who do not look like we look,
Who do not follow the same creeds or philosophies,
We must learn to reach out to everyone in need
Regardless of nationality building bridges, not fences.
Peace is foundational to the well-being of everyone,
And, with concerted effort, we can make it happen.
FIRST PLACE WINNER
Written March 25, 2022
For "Your Peace Message to the World" Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Anoucheka Gangabissoon
Where the beauty of clean white snow
fenced in, surrounds, surrenders to
the epitome of your yard
and silence falls with downy flake.
Where trees are frosted — each cranny,
the twigs, lean, long branches, the bough.
Acorns no longer occupy
and Autumn leaves are fallen dust.
Rooftops in reveille snow-peek
over the knotted wooden fence.
Glazed, iced — like a gingerbread house.
Slanted roof of a neighbor’s ‘bode.
Bodes well — Winter’s vanilla shake.
Hope of healing hands in friendship.
Dizzy, warm and cold, full with gifts
not for the taking; forgiving.
12/28/2021
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