Was told
was wolf in
skin of lamb
softness of wool
bleating
sad
deceit
to snatch
dearest
held.
Circling
jaws
to devour
found
shepherd rise
to strength of
Lion
defending
gift
to him
entrusted
to keep
forever lit
with oil
not purchasable
after hour
flame
to guide
where eyes
can't see
key
that in two
split
keyhole
won't fit
light
that half truth
half lie
won't open
gate
of Paradise.
Beyond
furthest star
where all is night
God's splendor
only light
that hurts not
the eyes
where all is love
peace and joy
forever shut
to the unwise
unlit.
First Place Winner: Brian Strand-All Yours-5/2721
Besetting the tempest
Confronting the bad wind which blows
Browbeating in its way everything that grows
Respires tolerance,peace,security long taken for granted
Ousting seeds of faith painstakingly implanted
Mislay untoward weeds of abhorrence,bribery and corruption
Infest human souls and quarry deception
Over the world prevail and hostility nourish
Ooze into demure minds and values ditch
One contrivance and perhaps the only purchasable
If you delve to flourish a life as feasible
Benefit wisely,exploit that wind anew
Refrain from evil and consciousness issue
Shrug off prejudice and your way elbow
The wind possesses several strings to his bow.
If you go anywhere near where the heart lives
& circle it day by day, week after week,
hungry for what can’t be ignored or fed,
you will discover that the obsession allows
no room for anything else, & when you least
expect it, wherever you are - whether it’s on a bus
or ambling along some almost deserted street
or lying in bed next to a lover - there it is,
the recognition that you’ve crossed a line,
passed over some extraordinary boundary
from which there can be no return.
Having delivered yourself to Anxiety’s door,
your fever builds,
feeling more like a sickness than a healing.
And yet, everything you have in you to say -
everything that is eternally new -
lives on the other side of that door, &
when you reach it, don’t look back,
don’t look down - having come this far,
you understand how every ‘truth’
you’ve ever employed to reassure yourself
is useless, & that despite what you've been told,
no life is purchasable for a dance in the street.
This is the undoing phase, without which
there is no true creation.
I vow ALL allegiance to the Monetary Currency of ALL Nations,
Expendable Generations of Fathers, Sons, Mothers and Daughters,
Mother Earth Raped Hourly,
To the Limited Numbers of CRUDE BARRELS,
On Every Street Corner Crooked Politicians,
Profitability EVERLASTINGLY,
The Verdict of Justice Purchasable,
Moreover the Idea of Peace, Laughable,
The Dreams of Hope Categorically Extinct,
God FOREVER Questioned, Occasionally Observed,
Additionally, Every Man Religiously Persecuted,
Illegal Immigrants are our TIMELESS FOUNDATION.
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