Poetry and Creative Writing for All

The Top 5 Poems of the Month

March 2008

	Domenico Barra is now a Featured Poet! Read his biography and more of his poems

The Course of life in the City Paranoia

Wonderful and tragic the course of life.
Caged in a circle, prisoner of time.
There is a way to escape it written on a knife.
Fear is the punishment; thinking is the crime.

Spying with one sick eye, often going too far,
Memories leave in the weightless mind a massive scar.
Blindness drags the idle soul towards the coast.
Appears above the broken horizon, a screaming ghost.

Hearing that dreadful voice lower its tone,
Whispering in the bleeding eyes pictures of darkness.
Pitch black and cold the solitary inner zone.
Whatever had a sense; now it's meaningless.

Holding a troubled world with a piece of string,
One hand nailed on the last standing wall,
That rotten place once had a king,
Now there is little left and that's all.

Hiding behind a thick cloud.
Sharp blades between each of the bones.
"Is there anyway to be proud?".
The king is in terrible pain and he stands alone.

Tasting lemons and honey every morning,
The sweet and sour flavour of the riding.
The ghost reappears to reveal another sign.
Quick, wake up! This is just another tale of the mind!

Trying to think quiet with rationality,
To avoid to kill the unstable truth with illogicality.
These miserable moments never last for long.
An ill belief is never that strong.

Run away from the sea paranoia!
Run away from the crossover routine!
Before the body turns into a destroyer.
Before existence starts to stink like a latrine.

Too late, the ghost shows his face once again.
The voice tells what will be and when.
The sentence is spoken, nothing to deny.
Plastic burns into the hopeless eyes.

Wonderful and tragic the course of life.
Caged in a circle, prisoner of time.
There is a way to escape it written on a knife.
Fear is the punishment; thinking is the crime..

Domenico Barra

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Here are the other four winning poems for this month.

One Bottle, One Tear, One Trigger

As I take the first sip it tingles in my mouth
I know that each drink I have is slowly destroying my health
When I look at the bottle before me i feel content and safe
It helps me forget but most of all gives me some faith

When I am intoxicated I feel happy and serene
The shakes and sickness I hide, they will not be seen
The toxin in my body makes me feel so alive
The confident, extrovert person I become, is what makes me thrive

It helps me forget the problems etched in my head
But the time when it will take hold is the path that I dread
I am not in control of what and how much I drink
And the time will come when I ask myself will I swim or sink?

I'll take the bottle to my head and pull that tempting trigger
It started as one tear, one problem but drink has made it bigger
Do I have the strength to battle the war against this addiction
I am an alcoholic and one day I'll beat it with conviction!

Daisy Wells

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Flirting

We all flirt to sacrifice, what we don’t really mind.
Our bodies and our dirty words, so we can mate and bind.

When times are tough for boys and girls, we mean to say, "they’re not".
But truthfully we hide our guilt, with one phrase,
"Oh they’re hot".
Don’t lie to mum and daddy
You aint been kissing boys
You sure? They say, with great despair.

Then what was all the noise?
Our bodies aren’t a toy now.
Don’t give it away without thought.
A bit of flirting is worthless.
But further moves our sort.

Us girls cant live without good words.
Us lads cant live without bad.
Just speak your mind and be careful,
Cos underage sex is just sad

Lauren Green

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''The Day I almost Died''

I've woke up in the strangest dream, I'm sure I see a light, it shines as if it's far away, it's welcoming and bright.

I don't know what has happened, but suddenly I see, I've came across an opening, right in front of me.

I feel I have to enter, but something's saying no, I've a feeling that I wont come back if I decide to go.

I'm trying to remember, what brought me to this place, something's trying to warn me, I may have to fight my case.

One minute I was fighting, the terrorists in Iraq, we were dodging mortar bombs and trying to avoid the flak.

I heard a loud explosion and as I turned round to see, the only one left standing, happened to be me.

I really can't explain it, but no one else was there, all my mates had gone ,but I couldn't tell you where.

The strangest thing of all was, I could not hear a thing, what was this eerie silence, what was it to bring.

I looked around my body to see if I'd been hurt, I could not find a mark on me, not even any dirt.

Why was I left standing, had all my mates been killed, I couldn't see dead bodies, nor could I see blood spilled.

I felt a warm glow inside, a need to shed a tear, yet whatever I was going through, there was no hint of fear.

I never felt endangered, yet I was aware, that as I moved towards the light, I sensed a heavenly stare.

I asked myself, ''where am I, I've not been here before'', just then a voice cried out to me, ''please enter through my door''.

As I entered I could see, people from my past, they had died years ago, I suddenly felt miscast.

I also seen passed family, they all seemed so alive, at this point I felt scared, I wanted to survive.

There were animals of every kind, people of all races, all were mingling, having fun, they all had smiling faces.

I saw the oceans green and blue, they were full of life, the sea was calm the air was pure, there were no signs of strife.

What was this place I was in, things were so serene, the sky was blue, the flowers grew, the grass just looked so green.

A voice then said, ''come join us, there's no more need for fear'', he said , '' eternal life's now yours, you are welcome here''.

At this point I asked myself, ''have I just been killed, is this really heaven, is this what God has willed''.

I then plucked up the courage and asked if I could leave, I said, ''I want to live again, not watch my family grieve''.

I said I wasn't ready and asked him for the chance, to try my life back on earth, I had to make a stance.

He said, ''give me good reason, to let you try again'', I then replied, ''I haven't died, I can now feel pain'.

''I also have a wife and kids, who need me more than you, please let me have another go, I promise I'll be true''.

I never heard another word, he gave me no reply, I thought oh well this is it, I must be doomed to die.

Next thing I felt light headed, I was moving very fast, the next thing I remember was, the sounding of a blast.

As I awoke I seen my mates, they were all okay, they all said in unison, ''we hope your here to stay''.

Just then I heard another voice, amid chaos all around, I could hear a woman say,'' thank God you have been found''.

''Thank God indeed'' I said to her, I remembered then I cried, this would always be for me, ''The Day I Almost Died''=

Brian Markey

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Journey in the Pizza Palace

I wait in line:
Monday pizza oozes its melt.
That melt
squeezed from mozzarella. . .
in an oven’s holy silvered place.
The heat makes it special.
The same heat I bask in, 
waiting watching TV.

Melts the shallow hypocrites,
ousting a Dictator.
While thick smoke floats
over the debris of Baghdad, 
bombed out Iraq.
They still live on in
voyeuristic TV bulletins. 

White smokes crowd my senses,
mouth-dust, mote of eye.
They rest, on the salivating edge
of precipice.
That threw those into the ether
Aga’s glare like volcano
incandescence. 

It is a throb
this calamity of life.
A glittering prize the world will squander.
At last! The cardboard box arrives.
‘Can I have
jalapenos on that to go?’

Stephanie Spiers

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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)