Poetry and Creative Writing for All

The Top 5 Poems of the Month

March 2007

	Clare Hunter is now a Featured Poet! Read her biography and more of her poems

Letter from Stephen

Monday morning, dark and dreary, heavy clouds and
heavy eyes.
Pull the curtains; bleak and bleary, weekend feeling
swiftly dies.
At the breakfast table, yawning. Cold burnt toast and
scalding tea.
Feel the revelation dawning; youre there sitting next
to me!
Brain feels sluggish; madly early. Strain my eyes for
better view.
Features shadows, outline blurry. Smiling voice
confirms its you.

Fluid English gently flowing, German torrents; rapid,
clear.
Your words embrace me softly showing the ecstasy of
being near.
Precious moments; you and I alone together, separate
sphere.
Fleshy figures sat nearby flicker, fade, then
disappear.
Intense connection pulls up tight surviving moods and
miles and years.
Emotions soaring like a kite, we transcend barriers
and fears.

You pull away. Reluctant pause. I see its time to say,
farewell.
My hand goes out to feel for yours and as it does it
breaks the spell.
Apparition fast dissolving, disintegrates to nothing
much.
One final smile, amused, absolving: I know Im not
allowed to touch.
Fleshy figures here again. Return to world that knows
me better
And realise, with a stabbing pain, Ive reached the
last page of your letter

Clare Hunter

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Here are the other four winning poems for this month.

Hard to Bear

My eyes are bright. They spangle and possess a timid stare

The hair upon my head is wearing thin

My fur, a golden tangle and is fading here and there

My bodice held together with a pin

My legs are now erratic, they creak, it’s often said

My nose is dry; my ears - they face the floor

My days and nights are static, squandered, lying on my bed

I’m rarely kissed or cuddled anymore

The little girl who held me near has blossomed and matured

Her love has found a wider path to tread

The tender voice I longed to hear that kept me reassured

A memory. A whisper in my head

I’ll be eighty four next year, my best has sailed away

Of changing times I’m suddenly aware

I could be shown the door next year. The truth is plain as day

Who really wants an ageing teddy bear?

Chris Sullivan

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You

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Bi-polar Disorder

Yahoo and whoop-de-doo,
Ideas – spinning, spinning, spinning,
Such verve, such octane, such energy,
I’m winning, winning, winning!

Come on, keep up, press on,
Don’t stand, stand, stand,
I’m the Mad Hatter, White Rabbit, Alice,
In Wonder, Wonderland.

What was it I was going to do?
Mustn’t go wrong, wrong, wrong,
Full of thoughts and words and tunes,
Song, song, song…

… Gosh I’m done, really tired,
Room’s spinning, spinning, spinning,
No energy, no life at all,
No winning, winning, winning.

Can’t get up, piss off and leave,
I’m crying, crying, crying,
Pull the duvet over my head,
I’m dying, dying, dying.

Think my battery has run out,
Lithium, lithium, lithium,
Hate this jumping from North to South,

Bi-polar ex-ped-ition.

Joyce Langlands

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Sunrise, Sunset

Arc of dazzling golden light
Bursts over water still as glass,
Columns of flame dance in muted blue,
Detonating briefly in sonorous silence
Explosions in a morning sky.

Fabulous fiesta, unrivalled beauty,
Gilded performance of majesty and power,
Heaven expanding, stretched beyond the boundary
Infiltrates, intoxicates, invigorates,
Just a brief moment in a morning sky.

Keep hold of the picture, store the images,
Leave them locked inside the mind.
Morning sunrise, melodious and mysterious,
Nebulous to sharp in suspended time.
One painted portrait of a morning sky.

Prepare and renew this colourful journey,
Quest ahead when the day is complete.
Regard that sunset from within your window,
Stare with wonder, as clouds work their magic,
Twilight’s cloak ambles across fading sky.

Umber splashed over a celestial canvas,
Vermillion, scarlet, wake up and advance,
Whisper a warning of depth and intensity,
Xerographed once more in a blistering sky.
Your day slips ever closer to night
Zealous colours spike the slowly fading light.

Lindsey Priest

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To submit a poem to the Online Poetry Competition, email inbox@forwardpress.co.uk (Enter Top 5 Poems of the Month in the subject line, including your name and postal address)

Or post your poems to Top 5 Poems of the Month, Forward Press Ltd, Remus House, Coltsfoot Drive, Peterborough PE2 9JX (Write your name and address on each piece of work you send)