Poetry and Creative Writing for All

The Top 5 Poems of the Month

August 2003

Our winning poet for August is M.M Graham.
Read M.M Graham's biography and more of her poems

Summer Shade

In the shaded shallows,
where cool water flows,
the pebbles lie in slumber;
smoothly sleeping.

On the riverbank,
virile young shoots,
point with fertile fingers
at drifting, dreaming clouds;
held aloft on gossamer threads,
lacing the summer sky.

Standing nearby, rustling trees
remember a verse
from a warm, simple song
they heard on the breeze.
The birds enjoy the melody
and start to proudly preen;
displaying natural talent
as they watch rainbows form
with butterfly beauty.

In the shaded shallows,
sleepy, smooth pebbles,
dream of gently caressing summer;
sighing in their slumber
as the day drifts lazily by.

M.M Graham

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Here are the other four poems chosen by our imprint editors as winning poems for August. All other poems submitted for the Top 5 Poems of the Month for August are being considered for various anthologies.

Waterfall

Falling, dropping, cascading from a great height

Millions of water droplets cohesively joined

Flowing, racing and tumbling,

Out of control yet deftly guided;

Energy and power encapsulated

In the surging, swirling, gyrating movement

Of their very being.

A continuous, constant and unremitting flow,

Innumerable molecules of H²O

Eroding, erasing and channelling,

Smoothly shaping rock formed millenniums before,

Penetrating through fissures, cracks and pores

Pushing and powering on relentlessly,

Deluge after deluge of life-sustaining fluid,

Rushing both to a journey's end

And to a new beginning.

Liam Heaney

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The Joyous Swirl

A hundred years,

Of trying and lying,

And concentration.

A thousand thoughts of nothing,

Of tomorrow and yesterday and today,

You’re forgotten.

A lifetime of trying,

And days of breathing,

You’re nothing.

A lingering frown,

A soulless glare,

You’re forgotten, nothing, forgotten.

Matthew Richards

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Pounding Drums

Lustful eyes cast a glance

Upon a beautiful creation

Drums begin to pound away

Calling the senses to attention

The onslaught has begun

Daylight vanishes in the tide

Emotions pour through the gates

Compassion swept quickly aside

No mercy resides in my quest

Honour rests uneasy on my word

Territories must be marked

Before foreign drums are heard

Shatter that beautiful vision

Into a thousand useless parts

Let no man lay claim to that

Which I destined to my heart

As the battlefield lies asleep

The daylight quietly seeps through

As I stagger defeated…

I hear pounding drums anew

Palvinder Kaur

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That Legendary Divorce

Summer in America

the land of milk and

honey not tonight

I have a headache

and I hate you

and I can’t put it into words

but one small push

like kids on a swing

thinking they could touch

the sky and I

might kill you

for making me forget

what love is

or is supposed to be

or that I even want it

Joe Quinn

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To submit a poem to the online competition email
inbox@forwardpress.co.uk
Please include Top 5 Poems in the subject line of your email.