February Winning Poems - Ice

Perhaps because of the severe weather we have had in much of the northern hemisphere, ice was a fairly popular topic for poems this winter. The judge for this month, Susan Engebrecht, selected a haiku by Marjorie Pagel. Susan said she “loved the image, the sound, the emotion.” She also liked the memories that the poem evoked for her. She said, “It tickled my insides!”  

Icicles melting . . .

drip drop drip . . . child’s ice cream cone

with the tip chewed off

~ Marjorie Pagel

Marjorie Pagel lives in Franklin, Wisconsin where icicles hang from many roofs. A retired teacher of writing at Concordia University, she spends much of her time volunteering for various organizations.

The second place poem by Anna Yin took the prompt in a very different direction.

Valentine’s Color

The first time, it is red

the second time…pink

third…blue…

then black…

The same date, 

the similar story.

The convenience store sells all kinds of hearts,

long stem roses and numerous chocolates.

The owner prunes extra leaves.

Why do I still buy one, and think of you?

The color in my vase

is white, white like ice.

We fill the vase

with frozen lies.

~ Anna Yin

The judge thought the poem illustrated the steps of a changing relationship and its joys and sorrows in a creative manner. “The final lines, ‘We fill the vase / with frozen lies’ continued to resonate long after reading them.”

Anna Yin was born in China and immigrated to Canada in 1999. Anna won the 2005 Ted Plantos Memorial Award and the 2010 MARTY Award. Her poems written in English & Chinese, along with ten translations, were published in a Canadian Studies textbook used by Humber College. She has five poetry books including Wings Toward Sunlight (2011) and Inhaling the Silence (2013). Her poem “Still Life” is displayed on 700 buses across Canada for Poetry In Transit project. Anna is Ontario representative for the League of Canadian Poets. She was a finalist for Canada’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrants Awards in 2011 and 2012.She works and lives in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Her website: Annapoetry.com.

The third place poem focused on polar ice:

Polar Ice

The massive bear

scans the horizon,

restless and starving.

Her nursed cubs romp,

oblivious to her growing panic.

Sea ice has not yet thickened.

Vital ice.

Siku--sea ice, life sustaining ice.

Necessary for Inuit and bears

to reach the seals, miles from shore.

Six months

since the bear has eaten.

Two months out of the den.

Still no ice.

Desperate, not sure

her cubs can follow,

she must swim to the seals.

She does not know

why the ice is not forming.

We do.

~ Peggy Trojan

Peggy Trojan, retired from teaching,  lives happily in the north woods of Wisconsin. Published in Naugatuck River Review, Talking Stick, Echoes, Verse Wisconsin, Thunderbird Review, Boston Literary Review, and many other journals and anthologies.

Susan Engebrecht said of this poem, “Polar Ice made an impact on me as I felt the panic, experienced desperation and sadness at how the changes we have inflicted upon our planet have created hardships on others. This poem made me think and spurred me to be more active in finding ways to support changes and build awareness of a growing problem.”

Copyright on these poems is retained by the poets who wrote them.  

About the judge for this month: Susan Engebrecht has written stories and poetry for a variety of magazines, Chicken Soup for the Soul,  and Lighthouse of the Carolinas. She also writes a column for the Wausau Daily Herald in Wausau, Wisconsin. She is the Associate Director for the Green Lake Christian Writers Conference and an award-winning speaker with Toastmasters International. Susan has won the Jade Ring, Florence Linderman Humor, Al P. Nelson Feature Article and Bo Carter contests.

NOTE: The January Challenge is still open.

Watch for the March Challenge, coming soon.

© Wilda Morris

January 2013 Challenge Winners - Shoes

The January challenge gave poets the option of writing about shoes or about siblings or both. Interestingly, more poets chose shoes.

Merle Hazard, final judge for the January poetry challenge, selected two winners, both shoe poems. Concerning “Shoes” by Jackie Langetieg, she says, “The images are crisp and fresh, and the poet uses many senses to create his/her message. . . . it is a warm poem. . . .”

Shoes

My father's shoes--

like twins 

or seeds of popcorn--

developed independently of each other.

A dimple on the left

a round home for a bunion 

on the right,

the top chewed on by the dog.

Shaped by forays through mud
 

dried in a radiator's heat,

their aroma was the woods,

the damp marsh.

With care and caressing ,

they developed a rich inner glow.

Age softened them.

Abandoned now in the closet,

they recall for me his smile

cold red cheeks

and falling asleep in his lap.

~ Jackie Langetieg

Jackie Langetieg, Madison, writes poetry and fiction and has published her work in small journals and anthologies. She served as co-editor for the 2004 Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets’ Calendar. In 2000, a chapbook, White Shoulders, was published by Cross+Roads Press. She received the 1999 Excellence in Poetry award from the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters and the 1999 Jade Ring for poetry. She has received the Joyce C. Webb poetry prize. She has two additional books: Just What in Hell is a Stage of Grief and Confetti in a Night Sky.

Concerning the other winning poem, “Shoes, secret face of an inner life,” Merle says, “I like this poem because I become the shoes.” She likes the “sparse and terse use of the words that tell so much.”

Shoes, secret face of an inner life

shy and quiet,

sitting in the corner,

with mouths open dry―

waiting to be put on,

pacing mile after mile,

wondering who will

spare a glimpse at you,

and demand another pair.

~ Anna Yin

Anna Yin won the 2005 Ted Plantos Memorial Award and 2010 MARTY Award for her poetry. Her poems in English & Chinese and ten translations by her were in a Canadian Studies textbook used by Humber College. She has written three chapbooks. Her book, Wings Toward Sunlight, was published by Mosaic Press in 2011.  You can find her website at annapoetry.com.

Copyright of these poems is retained by the authors.

Merle Hazard, the final judge this month, is author of the “example poem” for January. She lives in Georgia. She is a well-published poet whose work appears regularly in the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Calendars (she lived Wisconsin twice, for a total of 26 years).

© 2013 Wilda Morris