Poetry and Creative Writing for All

The Top 5 Poems of the Month

October 2004

Our winning poet for October is Belinda Abraham.
Read Belinda's biography and more of her poems

A Betrayal of Blood

It rages and roars and tears at my breast,
The monster within cleaves open my chest.

It shreds at my heart, with talons of steel,
Pain indescribable, thought surreal.

To the far corners of my mind it retreats,
Where on sweet memories it feasts.

The blood ties that bind us it severed them too,
Separating me from the Jezebel that is you.

The trusting heart is no more; it’s tattered and torn,
Insignificant the fact, from the same womb we were born.

Wounds once weeping now clotted with crud,
Wounds caused by betrayal - a betrayal of blood.

Belinda Abraham

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

Ghost Bay

Run away deep River Kent, run away.
Wash clean the hopes and dreams
Of a thousand souls who once danced upon your sands
Soar away cormorant and gull.
Give flight to all those spirits
That drowned in slippery slimy gullies of that hidden tide.
Steal away from sadness and despair
Beyond the mud and cockles lying there.
And leave the murderous banks to devour their prey
In the evil vortex of that black bore.
Weep away cold mists, they will not return
But in the utter stillness of a moonlight night
You may hear the piercing shrieks and cries
For loved ones half a world away.
Now tulips and lilies sodden lay
To mark the Ghosts of Morecambe Bay.

Hayes Turner

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Blood Red Wine

The next bottle of red wine
holds her blood, fresh and sweet.
She drinks with the thirst of a vampire
hoping to numb all her inner senses.
High spirits dance across
abused membranes of her brain,
flight would be easy
yet no wings can be found.
Her laughter echoes
even the highest mountain
yet it all seems so shallow.
Another glass falls to the ground
shattered fragments explode on impact
like frozen rain particles
similar to her own mind,
so fragile yet still holding
onto an inner strength.
More wine flows taking her far away,
sexual desire now foremost
everything else seems second best.
Does abuse breed ones own destruction
she now thinks through hazy images
as the wine takes her back to the beginning.
She wants to lay before their feet
letting them feed off her flowing life source
taking her away on clouds of orgasmic ecstasy.
When the sun rises and the wine no longer flows
will she remember last night,
knowing once again
she abused her own mind and body.

Karen Canning

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Accepting

I gathered my troubles and placed them on a tray
I handed it to him, just like you said
I asked him to take it, to give me some peace
This morning I woke and the tension had eased

I’ve struggled and fought for such a long time
To truly understand and to make up my mind
I’m scared of commitment, I’m scared to have faith
I’m scared of disappointment in another strange place

I don’t doubt that God has his eye on me
Recent events make it obvious to see
But what if I expect too much of him?
………….…And he too much of me?

I know deep inside I want God to be near
And I’ve opened my heart so his voice I can hear
But am I being selfish by wanting it to be
A personal relationship with just him and me?

You’re right when you said I’d remember the day
When you pulled me close and asked me to pray
Something feels different, what it is I’m not sure
But I don’t think I’ll feel I can’t cope anymore.

Hilary Brunt

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In The Night

The sun is high not a cloud in sight,
who would believe that the storms in the night; had
caused so much damage; near, far, and wide,
the howling winds, the high rising tides.
The pier, so pretty, now gone to the sea,
no more evening strolls there for you or for me.
Gone is the windmill that turned on the breeze;
the parks all now ruined by uprooted trees, that
have flattened the flowers, the plants, and the shrubs;
the green painted fences reduced to just stubs.
What of the houses? Roofless and battered,
with doors and windows completely shattered.
Cars overturned on roads and in lanes,
showering fountains from burst water mains.
Yachts in the harbour with splintered decks,
once busy fishing boats; now just wrecks.
Who would believe, when the sun is so bright;
what horrors we faced when the storms came last night.

Pauline Hoyle

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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.