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I’m happy that the winning poems in the May Poetry Challenge did
not focus on aging in quarantine. We all need a few smiles!
Thank you to Bruce
Dethfleson for judging the May contest. He selected “Breakfast at Midnight,” as
first place, declaring it “delightful work,
lyrical, with wonderful concrete images.”
Breakfast at Midnight
We are hungry
after we kissed
all night in our
driveway, and later
at an IHOP, the
host splits our order
—two large
pancakes & eggs—
places them in
black styrofoam boxes.
We eat our
midnight snack in the car
still running
because we had to jump
the battery; it
completely discharged
because we left
the tailgate open
to let the cool
honeysuckle breeze in
and hear the swish
of pines where
spring’s first
fireflies flashed together
with the cool
gauzy light of stars—
green
scintillations sparking the haze
of a hot mayapple
moon.
I lean across the
console, whisper
something holy,
then caress her
face. We kiss.
That salt-sweet savor
—bacon & maple
syrupping our lips—
lingers
even after fifty years.
~ John C. Mannone
This poem was first published in Poetry South (2017).
The second place poem, “Applause,” is “just
a good, fun poem that skillfully captures a pleasant memory,” according to the
judge.
Applause
I told some women
in my exercise class
that it was my birthday.
They spread the word
and soon everyone was singing
“Happy birthday to you”.
Then someone,
not being shy,
asked how old I was.
Without speaking
I stood there,
holding up ten fingers.
Then, ten more.
Friends began counting
out loud:
thirty,
forty,
fifty.
Others joined in:
sixty,
seventy.
After they shouted “eighty”
I waved my hands to stop them.
The applause that followed
made me grin.
~ Deetje J. Wildes
The third place poem, according to Dethlefsen,
is “original and smart.”
He also commended the poet for the twist at the end.
The Cardinal's Mirror
As I climbed my steps
I saw a puff of red feathers
on the porch,
surrounded by swarming ants
feasting on the once-living cardinal
carcass,
once a pretty bird.
now reduced to insect food.
I reflected. Probable cause of the bird's
demise?
He must have seen himself,
mirrored in our door's storm glass,
seen himself as a sleek, crested rival
flying toward him.
Enraged, he flew against it in attack. He
lost.
I sighed. I understood.
When I approach that wicked glass,
an older, heavy woman often
steps out toward me.
She holds my purse and packages
in her arms.
I admit I've considered attacking her.
Now, seeing the bird's result,
my aggression dims. I'll
make peace with the crone.
After all, she has to clean the porch.
~ Joan Leotta
This poem was first Published in the
anthology Poeming Pigeons,
Spring 2015.
Poets whose work is published in this blog
own copyright on their own poems.
Bios:
Bruce Dethlefsen served as poet laureate of Wisconsin for
2011-2012. He is the author of five poetry collections and is a popular
workshop leader. Two of his poems have been featured on Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac. Bruce is also a
musician, and has played with several bands. He sings and plays both bass and
percussion. You can read more about him and find out how to order his books at https://www.brucedethlefsen.com/.
Joan
Leotta is an aging writer
and story performer who now lives in North Carolina. She had taken measures to
keep birds from bumping into the door--and don’t worry, the actual inspiration
for “The Cardinal’s Window” flew away, a bit dazed but ok. You can download a mini-chapbook of her poems at
John C. Mannone has poems accepted in North Dakota Quarterly, the 2020
Antarctic Poetry Exhibition, Foreign
Literary Review, Le Menteur, Blue Fifth Review, Poetry South, Baltimore
Review, and others. He won the Impressions of Appalachia Creative Arts
Contest in poetry (2020) and the Carol Oen Memorial Fiction Prize (2020). He
was awarded a Jean Ritchie Fellowship (2017) in Appalachian literature and
served as celebrity judge for the National Federation of State Poetry Societies
(2018). His latest collection, Flux
Lines: The Intersection of Science, Love, and Poetry, is forthcoming from Linnet’s Wings Press (2020). He edits poetry
for Abyss & Apex and other
journals. A retired physics professor, John lives near Knoxville, Tennessee. http://jcmannone.wordpress.com.
In addition to writing poetry, Deetje J. Wildes enjoys making music
and experimenting with visual arts. She is an enthusiastic member of
Western Wisconsin Christian Writers Guild, and a regular contributor to Faith Walk magazine (Eau Claire,
Wisconsin Leader — Telegram).
© Wilda Morris
