Poetry and Creative Writing for All

The Top 5 Poems of the Month

September 2004

Our winning poet for September is Jackie Johnson.
Read Jackie's biography and more of her poems

Change for Tea

"Can you spare some change, Guv? - to buy a cup of tea"
The crowds pass by pretending, not to hear and not to see
- the figure sitting all hunched up with a cap beside their feet
A less than human being - who's eyes we cannot meet

We look with irritation at this obstacle in our path
In our heads a fleeting thought, why don't they have a bath?
Sprawled into the gutter, perhaps the worse for drink
Another lazy good-for-nowt is all we ever think

No-one stops to wonder what caused this soul to be
A helpless, homeless beggar in need of charity
Was there some dark secret that caused torment as a child?
The only escape was to run away after a spell of running wild

Were they produced from a broken home with nowhere else to go?
Lost their job and family and have nothing left to show?
Perhaps a nervous breakdown, voices shouting in their head
Made them turn to drink and drugs and wish that they were dead

Surely there is someone who can help these people win
To stop the downward spiral that forever sucks them in
Give them back their self respect and help them to their feet
And make them feel like humans who's eyes we all will meet

We should take time to wonder, how they got into this state
For I'm sure that inside each of us, is a part that can relate
I know that but for the grace of God, that figure could be me
And all I can do is offer, some change for a cup of tea

Jackie Johnson

Top

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

Please Take My Heart . . . It’s Yours

You see this dripping, bloody mess I hold?
It is my heart. Please take it now it’s yours.
I might as well save time, it’s getting cold,
So keep it warm, repent for all its flaws.

I know that you don’t want my heart for keeps,
It doesn’t mean the same to you as I.
The blood that slowly runs and from it seeps
Are like the tears for you I’ll one day cry.
But wrenching out my heart I hoped would show
That I am not complete without you there.
And so this grant of love I now bestow,
I hoped you’d look more pleased. Do you not care?

What’s that, you wanted fun and nothing more?
You didn’t mean for things to take this turn?
Next time I really hope you think before
You break and take a heart without concern.

Simon R Jones

Top

Untitled

Let me use my eyes dear Lord
that I may always see
The many glorious blessings
You have bestowed on me

Let me use my ears dear Lord
That Still small voice to hear
That I may speak to others
to quell their doubts and fear

Let me use my voice dear Lord
To praise you loud and clear
Let me tell them of the joy
of knowing You are near

Let me use my hands dear Lord
To serve in some small way
To ease somebody's burden
as I travel on life's way

Let me use my feet dear Lord
To walk along your road
in company with others
and share their heavy load

Let me use my conscience Lord
To be the best I can
To serve you as I ought dear Lord
and love my fellow man

Ian Russell

Top

Hidden Truths

A blue sky
A yellow cove
An indecent thought
As eye ponders flesh
You look startled
As if by a forgotten memory
And withdraw inwards
Into your light; my darkness
Hidden truths surface
Their meaning obscured by lack of words
The trace too short to catch them
They linger as a feeling
Of something intangible
A sense of something lost
A physical yearning
Not quite pain but overwhelming
You smile with distant eyes
That seem to look through and beyond me
Then slowly you slip away
And are gone…
Were you really there at all?

Karen Dennison

Top

Ghosts

Ectoplasmic echoes of life,
From history's archives, from yesteryear,
Memories captured on the film of the mind,
Replaying over and over again.
Between two worlds.
In night's black veil, beneath the silver moonlight,
They stalk silently around, as cold as their graves,
On their own astral plane,
In the vast cosmos, the mighty void,
Lost souls searching perpetually for home,
For lost loves or unachieved missions,
Guardian angels trying to warn against danger,
Or evil spirits, malevolently haunting.
Spectral apparitions in denial of death,
Yet no longer part of physical life.
Look over your shoulder when alone in the dark.
You may not be alone after all...

Julie Wealleans

Top

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.