Sunlight shines brightly,
Soaring skyward,
Soft, silken shadows shift,
Scattering sweet solar rays.
Bold blue beams,
Brilliant sky bakes,
Broad, beautiful boundless blue
Brings bright bliss below.
Cumulus clouds drift,
Cotton-white crests,
Curving calmly,
Creating cool, casual shapes.
Sunbeams steep soft soil,
Scorching subtle sands,
Spreading summer's strong spark
Surrounding silent spaces.
Flounder float far,
Facing deep dark depths,
Finding fine fishing
For this prime, perfectly sunny day.
Warm weather warms world,
Waking wild woods,
Whispering wind waves
With welcome warmth.
Clear clouds float far,
Fluffy forms flickering
From forgotten frontier fields
Forever forward.
Beaming brilliance bakes beach,
Brightly blazing,
Bestowing boundless warmth
Before big broad skies.
Stately sun stands still,
Shining strong rays
Silently, safely,
Soaking soft scenery.
For some reason, the distant scenes have drawn nearer,
whilst the foreground has begun to drift into view in fragments
of even larger images
Appearing and disappearing
Perspectives rush past
At arm’s length
I cross horizons like a zebra crossing
On the streets I see my reflection
In the windows of houses that stand
Three thousand miles from where I am
I can hear Bartók’s First Violin Concerto
Which the last time I listened last summer
I’ve no explanations of what’s happening
A vast world
Is showering me with a flood of unanswered requests
I stand beneath an invisible avalanche
Requests, requests, requests, and each one
Has a ‘return to sender’ stamp
My sense of perspective is gradually returning
I see a row of houses, somehow familiar to me
Rows of green recycling bins
Standing in the bright sunshine, on that street
Where I never quite managed to take a walk.
Our love must never have a sunset,
Become cold as the sun in this sea.
Thus, hold tender vows without regret.
Dearly contemplating word and deed,
Heading along the bridal marquee.
Cadre of witnesses stands agreed.
Borrowed scarf erases mirthful sobs.
My elder's poor brooch fastened loosely.
Blue garter buckles, groom later lobs.
Launching fresh bouquets of baby's breath,
Superstition ignites fantasy.
Unbridled guests wrestle unto death.
Their hearts strive from unsettled desire.
When seeking love's prize, wisely tarry,
Arm steady flames, diffuse reckless fire.
Unrolling red carpet
In swoop of precipice
The euphoric circuit
Underline emphasis
Fame gets the life and wife
Glittering…beautiful
Soon come the cracks and strife
Stardom delusional
We see the performance
Our hearts lit up like stars
Those twinklers like lightning
A storm raging with scars
Behind scenes frightening
Her song pumping iron
With fate’s path steamrolling
Tires over gravel her turn
Praise steepness controlling
Cameras follow her
Every move zigzag
Her former life a blur
A soul caught on a snag
We see the performance
Our hearts lit up like stars
Those twinklers like lightning
A storm raging with scars
Behind scenes frightening
As humans we are social beings…to connect with one another,
to cooperate and interact is how we’re orchestrated…
This is not by accident…it’s how and why we were created.
In fact each year as the Earth completes another revolution
our ability to socialize is essential to our physical health, our mental well-being
and to our successful evolution
It is in our destiny that any success we have obtained
has not been acquired on our own…
We are created to work together…not to stand alone.
Which means no matter how smart we are..
how strong and resilient are our genes…
We are all somewhat dependent on the people behind the scenes.
Those people who support and encourage us…who help us to succeed
by providing us, from behind the scene, everything we need.
What makes this relationship so wonderful…
is how those we help succeed..
when it’s our turn to succeed
are now the ones behind the scene
providing us…everything we need.
So a shout out to everyone who has worked diligently
behind the scenes…to help another person reach the stars…
and in case we do not say it often enough…
Thank you…and we know who you are.
Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree – Emily Brontë
Blow wind blow
blow through rustic leaves
a few fall
a carpet
as maple, sweet gum, and oaks
cover the woods path.
The sweet hush
we traverse the path
take my hand
icy way
idyllic panorama
cottages galore.
Smoke swirled up
the smell of coffee
outside leaves
twirled in red
our eyes found fine ecstasy
Fall increase our love.
Placed 1
Autumn gathers art supplies she chooses colors carefully
Yellow, gold, red, and brown then black and white for trunks of trees
She starts to draw a meadow to sketch a perfect scene
and when she lifts her brush to paint, she sighs ...
"Oh My!"
I have no green.
The red barn stood out across the white blanket of snow
Skies were blue and trees showed their strength, holding the snow on branches
- I love winter scenes -
They are so clear, bright, beautiful!
A fresh perspective reaches me every day
A new chance to learn something clear
A new highlight to shine in my life,
in ways maybe only I can understand
I drove by quiet farm land, hills and mountains
My favorite landscape surrounded me
I was safe with borders of strength,
granted insights to guide me all the way
It is ok that I am alone with new discoveries
Because each discovery, is another piece
to the puzzle of my complete purpose
and this purpose will conclude just as bright
Heidi Sands
2/22/26
(C)opyright
Christmastime
is a season sublime
that starts long before that holy day.
We must shop, decorate, and cook. If we delay
too long, plans could go awry. We take time to pray
we won’t lose sight of what CHRISTmas means.
We love reds, golds, and greens—
Yuletide scenes.
Ditching high-tech toys,
I connect and commune with
Earth’s natural scenes.
just a feeling
while it seemed all the words in the world
could not appease her fears
and yet a single look of tenderness
was all it took to make her whole again
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
a degree and he knows it all
summarizes me in a nanosecond
has me all figured out
simplified into a likely story
for someone else perhaps
but no sir, not for me
casually randomizing
careless comments tossed
into a common salad
the maestro takes words
and plays them back askew
creating his own new melody
with all his pomp and arrogance
he is the type that gives
the profession a bad name
AP: 2nd place 2026, 3rd place 2025, Honorable Mention 2025
a source
of
inspiration
the
visible
artistic
voice
natural
sensitivities
of
familiar
landscapes
representations
evoking
the
ambiguous
in
elegant
imagery
with
dramatic
visions
enhanced
in realism
serene
&
constrained
OPEN FORM in lowercase without grammatical symbols ,uses spaces&breaks relying upon 'the one breath limitation' & as a 'happening' requires the 'reader' (reciter) to input &respond in a two way interplay & interpretatIon unique to the moment& changing according to mood & thus is inherently variable.
The withered leaf, the shiny, wet concrete where many footsteps have traveled, and left their mark, and set a new path forward, where many can view the beauty of the worn bridge and multi-colired trees in the midst if autumn. A rare bird lands on a tree branch, vocalizing its perfectly unique voice. The bird sings and frolics, and washes its wings in a nearby puddle. How beautiful, the scenes of autumn!
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