Header Note
Sponsor: sotto Poet
Poetry Contest Theme : Issa Kobayashi Inspired Poetry Contest
Haiku about a small drop of water creating a big change
Date of Submission: July,10 ,2026
CHERRY PETAL FALLS
Cherry petal falls
One drop catches morning light
Tears turn into joy
Like a budding rose
Shedding it’s petals
Our love will continue to grow
Like a seed sowed in the earth
It will continue to give birth
To new foundations and beginnings
Through the harshness of winter
Through the season’s rain
We will endure the elements
Until the spring blooms again
Flourished by the sweet kiss
Of nature’s bliss
Our love will mature
For like a rose that has drunk too much water
Or has never seen the sun’s glow
It shall wither away and die
Nourished by equal amounts of care and understanding
Our love will continue to grow
Friends would come
And friends would go
Melody of hope,
Telling me how to cope
Friends remind me why
I feel this quiet sigh,
Revealing my soul’s grief
Oh, where can I find relief?
Friends are not around
And I can’t hear a sound
Saying how this shy tear
Tells me I should not fear
Friends, who are not there
Tell my heart to still care
Despite the darkest pain
There is so much to gain
Friends, never to be found
In the solitary story, a sound
Who pierces this heart of stone
A herb who’s leaf will groan
I was scared, I was lost,
Abandonment turned my soul to frost.
I was hardened, life felt rough,
Yet I found a best friend in that anxious chuff.
I was healing, learning to settle,
But my overloving heart crushed that petal.
Immature care, unclear and deep,
Now I fake my laugh, alone I weep.
I miss it still, that friend is still on top of my hill,
I'm trying to start over the friendship drill
I hope i accomplish my friendship craft
Until then i have to walk the anxious path.
If it returns, I’ll guard it safe
Like my own grave.
liquid diamonds were fairy’s tears
an amber elf gathering them as dew
her sniffles she sadly drank slating thirst
he handed her a petal
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the gentle fall of a single tear, Quiet emotions begin to unfold. You stand beside me, steady and close, Sharing a silence filled with meaning.
We pull at love, petal by petal,
Without hesitation, without thought, Yet in that simplicity we begin to build A meaningful foundation of shared existence.
Perhaps we do not always understand,
As we move through passing moments,
Not fully grasping their depth, Only witnessing the passage of time.
Still, together we create a masterpiece—
A perfect arrangement of emotion, Each moment a brushstroke upon the heart, Forming the portrait of our shared journey.
Before they droop, a petal falls,
Soon followed by some more
And that’s the signal that it’s time
To head back to the store.
My husband buys the flowers
So the vase is always filled
With whatever seems to catch his eye;
At choosing, he’s quite skilled.
We don’t need an occasion
Or a fancy schmancy bunch,
For he picks them just as much for him
As me; that’s just a hunch.
The local markets always stock
Bouquets at little cost,
So when the petals start to drop,
The old bunch will be tossed.
* .............. *
/|\ It was fresh and lively . . . /|\
** a yellow petal so bloomy . . .
But . . .
*** for only that morning...
/|\ it wilted and fell off . . . /|\
** brown and so brittle . . .
And . . .
*** the lily plant was dull...
**
Each petal cuts me in my sleep—
you call it soft,
but I bleed every time I touch it.
The mirror doesn’t cry with me anymore.
Only the fog stays.
It hums like a swallowed scream.
Within the silence
a petal falls from still light ~
not just the flower,
but all that it once carried
lands softly inside my heart.
Contest Title: BiteSize Contest no115 Poetry Contest
Sponsor's Name: Line Gauthier
Date Judged: 6/19/2025 10:56:00 AM
Honorable Mention
A lone petal unfurls
not a bloom,
not a flower,
no use to bees,
as one decrepit.
It's on its knees
trying to please
all alone.
It's an echo of a question,
yet to be asked.
It's a pose, unpoised, unprompted.
It's one eye, nose, or ear,
in defaced mask.
It's a one-handed clap,
an air-kiss from poked puckered lips
It's a hand-shake request
never returned.
a promise never spoken
a swing never swung
a trip never begun
a tear shed in solitude
a wave goodbye, never returned,
It's a mantra or
a musical note recited only once.
All these are clones of
of singularities,
koan and kin.
Tall grass above
a sleeping dream
Hiding what
His promise deems
Embedded deep
within the blades
New whispers seed
as life conclaves
The sun to mirror
God’s new day
Each ray He grants
new hope in play
That rises softly
through night’s travail
An open petal
— as Grace prevails
(1st Book Of Prayers: May, 2025)
The petal of a rose once fell
then drifted slowly through the trees.
Upon the wind it tumbled long
until it drifted up to me.
At first, I saw no value there
in just one petal all alone.
But then I stooped and picked it up
and found that it was still a rose.
I felt its velvet touch my skin,
as its aroma filled the air.
I breathed to take the fragrance in,
and suddenly I was aware
of every moment it had lived.
I felt the roots from which it came.
I seemed to speak without a word -
that all of nature is the same.
How blind we are within this shell,
we ride along so ignorantly.
We waste our time with buy and sell
and miss what otherwise would be.
It’s hard, I know, to just let go
and not be drowned with day-to-day.
But take an invite from the rose…
and smell the flowers along the way.
As the last petal falls ~ another flower will bloom.
Last week I cut a bouquet of flowers
from my garden and now they’re withering.
It fills me with melancholy memories
about a time when my love was new
and gently flowed within my heart.
Time between bud to bloom and death
of the once velvet petals has come too soon.
I've watched their bright colors fade
and frowned when some fell away.
It's as if their drooping faces
means their heartbeat is slowing down.
I sighed when in twilight's lavender embrace,
another petal fluttered to the floor.
I'm reminded of the childhood daisy game
and think, Will the last petal fall
as I whisper, "He loves me not?"
I hope it gently descends without grief,
but no relief will I find in its departing.
How I will mourn when at last, it dies,
leaving me with the sense of another loss.
I've held on as long as a bloom to its stem.
In the mayhem of life, I've had reason to sigh.
Memories linger inside my heart,
although my love and I have grown apart.
I am recalling each beautiful year
of the love we once had and then lost.
A tear for each one, I sorrowfully cried.
In despair, I will softly whisper goodbye
and weep as the last wilted petal falls.
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