Poetry Gardens of Fame

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Welcome to Garden 604 in
ARTELLA'S POETRY GARDENS OF FAME!

Click the links below to read the winning poems for the week of June 4, 2004.

Poetry Gardens of Fame Index

First Place
Second Place
Third Place
Fourth Place

FIRST PLACE WINNER

Ann McGovern

ANIMAL LOVER: A True Story

Valeria, temptress ex-circus girl,
was in high demand in the sixties.
Years of riding elephants
turned her thighs to iron,
a tantalizing trap men paid plenty for.

She said goodbye forever to straw, to thick hides,
and the sweet gag of sugar candy
to ease those thighs between silken sheets.
At seventeen, she danced naked at the best parties.
Desserts were always topped with enough whipped cream to go around.

When aunts and uncles asked
what I wanted to be when I grew up,
I smiled and said, "I want to run away and join the circus,"
Shivers stirring untested thighs.

SECOND PLACE WINNER

Naomi Sandweiss

Motherhood, in Living Color
(A poem of "found" words and phrases)

A painted paradise,
Yellow, sparkling with luster
Where there are harps and lutes.

Red, burning explosions
Pinches, pokes and cries of, "Mine!"

Green, dewy grass, Zoo-day, today
Promise of newly planted sunflower seeds.

A huge spinning wheel,
Spluttering out a million shades.
Each day, their hues enter me.

Red shards, smooth yellow nectar, green blades.
Some heartbreakingly sweet and soothing.
Others bitter and indigestible.

Mothering the two young.
In Living Color.

THIRD PLACE WINNER

Sallianne Norelli

I am Not

I am not a black man
Belly big, sweating
Talking to myself
in the street,
arms outstretched

I am not a blind walker
tipping my red cane
to a beat
that paces me
and guides me on
seeing
what noone else sees

I do not cross streets
with strollers
dangling children
with different fathers
or none
to buy cigarettes
with the last of my cash

I carry
a red leather Coach bag
with too much inside
and live
in my own silence
afraid of
what one day
I might become

FOURTH PLACE WINNER

Carole Trickett

Bedtime

Her fur an explosion
of gray and apricot down,
my cat purrs and hums
as she leaps to her
chosen spot on my bed.

Feline almond eyes
invite my caresses.
My hand is soothed
by her warm soft fur.

Suddenly, to my ears
a decided angry hiss.
Porcelain razor teeth
pierce my skin.

A gray flash of cat
hops to the floor,
her magnificent tail
a peacock's plume.