*Image of The Farmhouse by UNS.
Hint of Autumn
Sunstar wakes, Aurora reacts,
As light skews her southernmost sky,
A roost rouses, a rooster crows,
Henhouse's wood handle lifts up.
A replete farm inclined to rouse,
Sunstar wakes, Aurora reacts,
Four-year-old farmhand gets busy,
Baskets of fresh eggs walked with care.
A kitchen's stove burners light up,
A toaster plugged, and cooked bread sliced,
Sunstar wakes, Aurora reacts,
Pasteurized cow's milk fills glasses.
Patterned shirts and blue-jean jumpsuits,
Waits for the bus, two school returnees,
A leaf falls, "Guess afterschool rake?"
Sunstar wakes Aurora reacts.
2022 August 12
*5th Place*
Hint of Autumn
~~Regina McIntosh: Judged 2022 September 03
*HMS; 8 syllables per 16 lines
*Image of Kaihalulu Red Beach by Pinterest.
The Painted Islands
The beaches brushing Hawaii's sea blues,
in and of itself are impressive track,
perceptive picturesque color-filled views.
Like some isles, Punalu'u beach is black.
Elsewhere here, famed Kahena, sandy scene
aloft cliff's vista that aligns its back.
Punalu'u nears southernmost, you've been
in the whole USA, there lies a spread
called *Papakolea ... fanned sands of green.
Though, appropriate they're olivine, said
by officials. On Maui isle, clashed sights
of gorgeous Kaihalulu bursting red.
Truly tourist ere and now, best grade cites
isles to isles, and A-Plus our sandy whites.
2022 July 21
FIVE STANZA TERZA RIMA
~~L MILTON HANKINS
*HMS 9/10 - Spelled Papakolea is pronounced with an emphasis on ending "a" (Papakole'a).
10 syllables per 14 lines = 140
The vast white yet to be fully discovered,
was all we could see.
Hand in hand, in the remote wilderness,
and the untouched peaks amidst the icy mist,
stood beautifully.
She asked, "Why are we here baby?"
To which I replied, planting a kiss on her forehead, "to romance delicate in a fragile habitat."
The curves of her lips that drew me closer,
Her touch made me almost cold.
The way she smiled at me,
made me fall for her once more.
The wandering albatross and petrel encircling the water,
where the wildlife was unaffected by human interference,
and one could see diving, the enormous blue whales.
After witnessing the icy pancakes, I stared at the most beautiful sight for the second time.
The place served with minimum sunlight,
and more with cascades of ice.
I fantasized about our numerous kisses, bringing back the smile,
and brighter the weather got when we embraced each other on an isolated continent full of stars at night.
Her captivating beauty, and beautiful eyes,
we initiated our first kiss in the midriff of the southernmost continent.
Terra Dal Fuego
Ushuaia the southernmost town in Argentine when I dreamt
of going there, we got around about on sturdy horses
herding sheep with Portuguese immigrants, islands protect
Terra Del Fuego from worst of the oceans meet, and it is
called the roaring forties. Now it is a modern town no horse
manure in the road the smell of wet wool has gone too
yachts moored in the harbour they sail the Magellan Strait
thus avoiding the duel where two giant oceans meet
Ushuaia was the end of the world no one came here except
weird people and no temperature difference between
the seasons, yet no it is bustling with would be sailors with
rolling gait suited for a heaving deck, but they can wait for
calmer weather; the amateur sailors wore a captain’s cap
and blue blazers with shiny buttons on
almost a sonnet
See the Victorian style homes of an earlier day.
There are plenty of them around Cape May.
The sea birds seem to laugh as they fly.
Ubiquitously, they fill the summer sky.
Frolic in the sand and the surf by the sea.
This is the southernmost tip of New Jersey.
Walk along the boardwalks and taste the salt water taffy.
This vacation spot is a place for the whole family.
It is horrible news for any business entity
if an outfit is forced into a bankruptcy.
There is no immunity even in the casino industry.
Another one bites the dust here in Atlantic City.
After the thirteenth day of the month of January,
the southernmost place on the boardwalk will be history.
Due to the economic climate and increased competition,
any enterprise can fall into a precarious situation.
Apparently unable to meet its current obligations,
a hotel has been told to cease its operations.
We will be saying goodbye after over thirty years.
Apparently, only hotel employees will be shedding tears.
This is a beautiful place that is dry and sunny.
It’s an historical region dating back to antiquity.
We are on the Mediterranean island of Sicily.
It is the very southernmost tip of Italy.
Two men who wanted to see my father dead,
met their own demise with shots in the head.
Each body lay in a restaurant devoid of a soul.
I was the one who played the murderer’s role.
As a war ended here, another began back home.
Clandestinely, I was brought here to roam.
My father’s enemies would like to see me dead.
Because of this, there is a large bounty on my head.
I am hiding near a small village called Corleone.
This is the birthplace of my ancestral family.
My bodyguards and I walk through the country.
As far as their loyalty, there is room for doubt.
For a high enough price, they can sell me out.
The sight of a beauty started a fire burning.
For this maiden, there is now a strong yearning.
This chance encounter has begun a new game.
I want her now that I know Apollonia is her name.
Based on the novel "The Godfather" by the late Mario Puzo
THAW AT CROWSNEST PASS
Huge mountains massed and cliffs sheer. It’s March
And endless blue sky cold is held back by the Chinook arch,
Snowy prairies rolling into their thousand-mile realm -
The landscape is gigantic, majestic, orchestrated to overwhelm.
But I stand and watch the lake-ice thaw,
Surprised by the tiny delicate music -
Descant ice - jingling, jangling, tinkling
In delicate accompaniment to the giant symphony.
Ice chunks tangled in slow waves with the wind
Tiny tintinnabulation before total ablation.
There is silence and harmony around the sound,
The small melody of the ice breaking into spring’s chorus.
Note: Crowsnest Pass is the southernmost way through the Rocky Mountains in Canada