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| Clouds off the coast of Martha's Vineyard - Photo by Wilda Morris |
“Clouds”
turned out to be a popular subject for poets. I enlisted Linda Wallin,
President of Poets & Patrons of Chicago, and Marilyn Huntman Giese, author
of two books and member of the Illinois State Poetry Society and the Naperville
Writers Group, to read the poems blind and select those they thought best. Four
poems were selected as winners. The judges were surprised when I shared
the bios with them. You may also be surprised, so please read to the end of the page.
The first
poem is written from the perspective of a cloud.
Perception of
Precipitation
A child stares at me
and questions my form.
Sometimes I'm a flower in the eyes of one,
a dog in another.
I am an animation of their imagination,
as my white ruffles transform
against the cobalt blue of the sky.
An adult glares at me
when I turn grey.
Propping their dull umbrellas
and refusting the rain sifted
through my murky body.
The child however,
never fails to splash in my puddles,
even when I am shapeless above.
~ Zoey Ruzic
Shapes in the Sky
Floating swirls high in the sky.
They crawl in the blue,
moving with the wind.
Big ones roam too.
Like friends with arms around each other,
they move in a group.
There are shapes hidden in their fluff.
Lay on the grass and spot them.
Whether they bring rain,
or create shade,
they will come.
– Kiara Korten
Mama, She’s Sitting Right There
I wiggled my toes, letting dirt seep
into
my rosewood sandals and stretched
my
fingers until they grazed above
to
the blue hues I envisioned were leaking
from
my dainty nailbeds.
I
thought of my spindly fingers
as
willowy paintbrushes sketching
an
endless canvas. I imagined
bristles
of air molding from my palms
and
creasing into the air, creating
white
marble sewed into blue satin.
I
let my head unravel
and
turn to my mother who sat
with
narrow legs crossed and fingers
plucking
petals from
white
tulips,
“Mama,
no need to be sad.
I’ve
painted a sky full of clouds
for
grandma to rest on.”
~ Ilana Sabban
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| Lenticular Cloud over Mount Rainier, Compliments of the National Park Service |
Clouds over Mount Rainier
In the yellow glow
of evening light,
I nearly miss this art
by Nature drawn.
Lenticular saucers
aligned more perfectly
than by any artist’s brush.
My eyes fix upon
a wonder seen but once.
In the mountain’s shadow
the Hand of Heaven bids me,
come lose yourself in awe.
~ Michael
Escoubas
Poets whose work appears on this blog
retain copyright of their work. Please do not distribute their poems without
their concent.
Bios:
Michael Escoubas began writing poetry for publication
in August of 2013, after retiring from a 48-year-career in the printing
industry. Early in life his mother said, You have a gift for words; you
should do something with that gift. He writes poetry, in part, because of
his mother’s encouraging words. Michael also writes poetry because he believes
poetry brings people together and that poets are menders of broken things.
Michael has published one chapbook, Light Comes Softly, which is
available as a free download on iTunes.
Kiara Korten is a 6th gader
at Miami Arts Charter School. Her focus is creative writing. She was published
in the Austin International Poetry Festival's 2017 Diverse-City Youth
Anthology.
Zoey Ruzic is a freshman in high school attending Miami Arts Charger, majoring in Creative writing. She has won two silver keys in the Scholastics Competition and first honorable mention from the Poetry Society of Virginia. Her work has been published in Creative Communications and in Balloons Literary Journal. She lives in Miami where she enjoys adventure and making short films. She hopes to go to college in New York after her senior year.
Ilana
Sabban is a pursuing
writer based in Miami, Florida. Currently, she is studying at Miami Arts
Charter School as a ninth grader, where she has won multiple awards for her
poetry and prose. Other than her strive and passion for writing, Ilana also has
a profound infatuation with yoga and would to start working toward her teacher
certification.
© Wilda Morris
