The July
Poetry Challenge was to take any one word and explore its various meanings in a
poem. The Judge, Tom Roby IV, selected three winning poems from among those
submitted. First place goes to Julia Rice.
Gaming
You ought to keep a list. You are
a tech
who organizes coinage, checks, the
books.
The things that you do well could get
a check.
Your mind’s attracted by a poker deck
that tempts to gamble, catches you on
hooks.
The feelings are the things to keep in
check.
When finished, you and friends can
take a trek
to diner/bar, the place where Julia
cooks.
When you have won, then you can take
the check.
When you’re back home and feeling like
a wreck,
you check the closet and then other
nooks
and then remember that your coat’s in
check.
It’s time to make a list. You
say, oh heck!
Your acts are not as handsome as your
looks.
The things that you accomplish get a
check.
The feelings are the things to keep in
check.
~ Julia
Rice
The judge
said, “‘Gaming’ is clearly the winner. It utilizes the multiple meaning of
"check," while spinning out an accomplished villanelle!
Second place
goes to Deetje J. Wildes.
Final Argument
He: Hey! Let’s just
get to the point.
She: Oh, so you think
I missed the point?
He: Well, in point of
fact . . .
She: You’re always
pointing out my shortcomings!
He: That’s beside the point.
She: A case in point
—
yesterday, in front of my friends,
you pointed your finger at me . . .
He: So, what’s your
point?
She: I was at the
point of crying!
He: Is this a game,
where you’re counting points?
She: You’ve made one
pointed remark after another!
He: I’m just trying
to point the way.
She: Well, I’ve
reached the point of no return.
He: Can’t you stretch
a point?
She: (point-blank) No!
~ Deetje J. Wildes
Michael
Escoubas won third place.
U.S.S. Cleveland, LPD-7
Commissioned as a Landing Platform Dock,
she was part of the Amphibious class of
ships,
comfortable serving at sea or on land.
Viet Nam was no landlocked landform.
Access was easy by sea. Landing craft
emerged from Cleveland’s belly like
locusts
looking to ravage the land of its crops.
The fighting there was hand-to-hand and
hard.
Helicopters landed on Cleveland’s flight
deck,
like monster-mosquitos, props whirring
in Viet Nam’s thick air. They brought back
young men dead or wounded from inland
fire fights. We did not understand the
people
living in this land of strange names, like
Da Nang,
Khe Sanh, and Saigon. Those we killed
loved
their Motherland and fought to keep her.
But as I look back on the landscape of
life,
I can’t help thinking that our enemy might
agree
with a time-worn but noble cliché,
this is the land of the free and the home of the
brave.
~ Michael Escoubas
Note: You can find photos of the USS
Cleveland at http://www.navysite.de/ships/lpd7.htm.
The poets whose work appears here
maintain copyright on their poems. Please do not copy them without permission.
Bios:
Julia Rice likes to play in the
field of poetry. After half a life spent teaching high school English and half
a life practicing law, she picked up her poetry-writing pace. She is a member of Greenleaf Writers
and Urban Ecology poets. She has had work published in Wisconsin
Fellowship of Poets’ Museletters and Calendars, Songs of St.
Francis, Echolocations: Poets Map Madison, Goose River Anthology, Alive
Now, Soundings Review, Stoneboat, The Ariel Anthology, and Blue Heron.
Look for her life summary-poem in the upcoming Unruly Catholic Nuns.
Deetje J. Wildes makes it a point to enter poetry
challenges. She enjoys making music and is an enthusiastic member of Western
Wisconsin Christian Writers Guild. Her work has been published in such places
as Faith Walk and Volume One.
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 on iTunes as a free
download.
All three of this month's winners have been winners of previous challenges.
Thanks to Tom Roby IV for serving as
judge, and to everyone who entered the July Poetry Challenge.
Come back in August for a new challenge.
© Wilda Morris
