After spending an hour chasing a dollar, blowing down the street;?
those without need thought that it was wasted time, perhaps.
But while the rich get immediate results while rocking on their feet,
everyone else is busy just fighting over the scraps.
When luck and fortune flee from my own soul,
and then disaster overwhelms my hope,
and hunger consumes the meal in my bowl,
and poverty and debt hinder my scope,
then I wish myself more rich in spirit,
in wisdom and character more complete,
with God's forgiveness now to inherit,
and grace in place of ruin and defeat.
But I reflect on our time spent together,
that spring we made love under a domed sky
(those happy days seemed to live on forever).
Despair now gone, I sing and let joy fly.
As you now live on in my sonnet's measure,
may all men find in you time's endless treasure.
It keeps on going as according to some plan
Till all the burning questions turn to embers
Days drag on by like endless caravans
I’ve heard my name is on the list of members
I’ve tried some fortune, like the others do
My income couldn’t cover all expenses
Required paperwork got me subdued
So little privacy was left for recompenses
The time I spent was my invisible co-writer
Of what I meant to say, and what I missed
The evening sun just for a moment burns bit brighter
No mystery unfolds, we've seen all this..
"I'm the Carnival's
Cartomancer,
Zoltar the mystic,
foreseeing wise."
"Who immobile waits...
inside this
narrow case--
top four-sided glass
and bottom
Pine-crafted box.
"It's wishing coin's
'ka-ching',
that magically
revives me."
"As true believers
witness--once
my turbaned gaze
mentally reads
what's seeping out
their inquiring eyes."
"Fact is--these
animated hands,
randomly select
from the magnetic deck--
one, out of many, fortune
riddled cards--inked of
buoyant, superb vibes."
"Though blissful, playful,
mind you--all of 'em--
merciful white lies."
"Behold, each
future's scripted
and then sold;"
"To luck--searching,
wishing souls--
on fortune--tellin',
Robot--sellin' cards."
"Whose promised prizes
are a Carney vendor's
paradise."
The stars were perfectly aligned.
She felt all doors had swung open.
Finally the world was hers.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
Zoltar moved in quietly,
carried up the stairs by no one
I remember seeing.
At night, his gears murmured
through the thin apartment wall~
a soft metallic prayer
to whatever listens in the dark.
Occasionally,
I heard his cards shuffle themselves~
paper whispering secrets
it should not know.
Sometimes his lights flickered
under my doorframe,
as if he’s pacing,
as if he’s thinking.
One night,
he slid a fortune under my door:
The visitor arriving tomorrow
died twelve years ago.
Another one follows:
Your shadow will leave you
before the week ends.
At dawn, the hallway smelt
of burnt incense and cold metal.
His lights flickered wildly,
as if he’s arguing with something
I cannot see.
Then a final card appeared~
edges singed, letters warped:
Do not open the door
when you hear your own voice.
prime fortune not rare
when we remain unbarred true
praying mantis lands ~
Fortune telling squirrel was dressed to the sevens
She had things to tell us, that puffed some up to elevens.
She had nothing to say to my cousin that weird day.
We left disappointed, no more reason to stay.
It’s odd she had so much to tell the rest of us I said.
No one likes me said my cousin, she’s always full of dread.
She only lasted one week more, my cousin, Ilene.
Which might be what the all-seeing squirrel had seen.
She lies yonder
A fight to ponder
To value the war
Or let angst gnaw
He waits over here
What does he fear?
Will the ceasefire hold?
Or new fighting unfold
T’is all in the mind
Thoughts pure, kind
Birthing peace at last
Two hearts tied fast
Bankers always win
As we fight in sin
Fortune must unfold
As we leave the cold
Oh fiddle-dee-dee!
Oh fortuity!
Come take a chance with me—
on a slippery-dip slide,
down to serendipity,
where happenstance
shakes the dice,
and takes the chance
to dance with me,
romance with me.
I tripped on a maybe; I slipped on a sigh,
did a dance with chance, as it wandered by.
That flipped the switch—in the blink of an eye—
My fortune lit up, streaking across the sky.
Call it a fluke, call it a break.
Call it pure chance, no hands could fake—
When you riled the give-and-take,
you made luck, drive in its stake.
Let fortuity fling! Let serendipity sing,
Let fortune shuffle its luck through everything.
A stumble, a tumble — then you swoop right in!
to play all your cards—go bold, all-in!
So spin the wheel to clack, clack its spark,
let chance light a match to scatter the dark.
Make merry, and rouse the larrikin lark—
to laugh, sing, dance—a fling in the park.
Oh fiddle-dee-dee!
Oh fortuity!
Come take a chance with me—
on a slippery-dip slide,
down to serendipity,
where happenstance
shakes the dice,
and takes the chance
to dance with me,
romance with me.
Stardom beams, ascends,
thin arms lit in show-time glare—
fame salts fragile skin.
applause hardens inside out
talent burns bright, then burns out.
Replays harken back
success narrows its focus
to reclaim heaped praise.
inspiration in tatters,
worn out by adulation
Tall poppies are cut,
brittle star loses its arms
pulls back, swells its head
drunk on self-adulation—
it's well past its use-by-date.
In my life I may as they say
have accomplished a thing or two
but I've not made the mark
I so dearly wished to do
altho' having trod the boards
where mighty giants once stood
the rug was always pulled out
in many a good neighbourhood
never had it made in the shade
fame and fortune eluded me
a one-man band on parade
anonymity included me
sailing off into the sunset
is not quite the right thing to do
nor is going down with the ship
in the yonder wild blue
and yet if my get up and go
has not got up and gone
I'd like once more to bring it on
before fading away into oblivion
Balloons! Balloons!
Yellow, red, blue and green;
Purple and orange also
There to be seen.
Breaking your thread
They go beyond the sky,
Yellow, green and red
Seem proudly flying high.
Seeing their adventure,
Dream rose within me;
A pilot like character
Ever I wished to be.
Red, green and yellow
seem the classmates of mine;
Others had to follow
With faint colors and shine.
Because of my dark skin
They keep me apart;
And gossip I had been
Neither pretty nor smart.
Is there any black balloon
Kept in by mistake?
Went I to enquire soon
Balloon shop near the lake.
Asking for the black one
Peeped I over his basket,
The vendor picked up a fine
Matching my skin perfect!
Curiously I asked
Whether It could fly,
He made me relaxed
Saying every color goes high.
Filling up more helium
He threw up to the sky,
Beating the other spectrum
The black went much high.
"Son," the vendor said,
"It's not your color
That makes you fly higher;
It's what your inside are
That crown you the greater".
An abode of good fortune
Is the meaning of my name!
On the contrary, I’ve no penny to claim!!
5th place
of undetermined origin were the bones
found in the sewage muck
providing scientists and men in suits
e-gads worth of opportunities
to make names for themselves
captivating fools in media-land
~ unearthing a fortune in the process
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