I submitted these poems to the Linda Ogle Russ Writing Contest at the Spring Literary Arts Festival and much to my chagrin, they didn't win. I love them too much to just weep silently, so I'm putting them here on the blog for all to share. The theme for this year's festival was "Inspriation, Imagination, Illumination."
Even Unto the Word
In the firmament of
inspiration
New stars birth themselves
from the
Struggles of a woman, a
man: Rosa
Parks; Harvey Milk; Bob
and Jeannie Graetz.
In the firmament of
inspiration
Resides the path
Even unto the Word.
In a reality that is
More real than real
Art takes shape. From the
Great and fertile void
froths forth an
Inflorescence of the
New.
Even unto the Word.
Into the darkness a flash:
Lightning
Lucidity
Until which everything was
fixed
Mirror reflects
Insight flames
Neon, hums and moans
Even unto the Word.
The Wander Woman
Tootle toot toot, here comes the wander woman
In her denim trousers patched over with blue velvet
And fluttering scarves pinned to her scarlet shirt—
A rainbow of butterflies.
Here comes the wander woman, tootle toot toot,
With her box of smellful powders she always carries by
And her stained glass shards in a satin bag
And her tootle flute held to her mouth,
Scents and colors and sounds.
The wander woman stops
And drops her box and bag upon the ground
And gathers round her the young, the young at heart.
The bag of glass is passed, and the box of smellful powders,
And each chooses with great impulse.
Then the wander woman toots her tootle flute, toot toot,
And the young, the young at heart,
Hold the shards to the sun
And fling the smellful powders,
And dance to the rhythm of the colors
And sing to the smell of the music
And inhale the notes of the song.
The wander woman’s song on her tootle flute
Turns color into sound into scent
Into laughing into breathing into seeing
Into vision into knowing into Now.
And the wander woman smiles and packs up
And wanders on...
Moments Inspire
Sitting in a
tin can
Atop an
explosion
Step out
onto the moon
Neil
Armstrong
Girls can do
anything
Girls are
the future
Let’s work
with the girls
Karen
Freberg
Come out
into the light
I’m here to
recruit you
I am someone
you know
Harvey Milk
“Move or I
calla cops”
“You may do
that”
The world
changed on a bus
Rosa Parks
Sign this
document
Even though you
may hang for it
Redefine
freedom
Thomas
Jefferson
What will my
verse be?
Fighter?
Writer? Agent of change?
I won’t be
around to see.
I am me.
