June 2014 Poetry Challenge Winner

There were several interesting poems submitted this month. If you haven’t tried the prompt of writing about what you “wish” you were, or writing as if you are something other than the person you are, you might want to give it a try. One writer wishes she were a queen (beware if you don’t treat her right); another would like to be a griffin or a unicorn. The winner, though, says she is the wind.

I am the wind

The weary sailor looks out to sea

A solitary figure

Battered hull

And lifeless sail

Mirrored in the glassy stillness of the water

Raising his rope scarred fist to the sky

He curses and rails

Then pleads and prays

I consider

A dot of red

Dancing against a summer-blue sky

Tethered to the small hand

Of a laughing child

I lift

I pull

I watch the joy of the tiny figure

I could leave; I could steal

Instead, I play

An old woman, some say a crone

Bent with her years

Tends to her roses in the simmering sun

Veined hands pressing a damp hankie to her face

Just one more shrub, maybe two

The white heat beats down

I gather some shaded air; pine tree cool

and blow softly, blow sweetly,

caressing the nape of her neck

I feel her smile

Gale force

Cars tumbled

Roofs gone

Trees uprooted and tossed like playthings

Sobbing folks fold to the ground in rag doll style

Their life’s work gone

A wake of devastation

Then silence

Sometimes my force cannot be contained

and the sailor?

His ocean gray eyes brighten

His body alert

As he senses the smallest stirring of air

His sail flutters

As does his heart

Then fills

As does his heart

He is laughing; he is flying; cutting through the choppy sea

He travels with my blessing

I am the wind

Mary Cohutt

This poem has a series of interesting images, beginning and ending with the sailor. The wind hold control over the fate of the sailor. But between the first and last stanzas, we see other places the wind is at work, and other people who feel its impact.

Mary Cohutt is a Leasing Consultant from Western Massachusetts. She also has her own business, "The Good Daughter," which provides business assistance to older people.  She has two adult children and two grandchildren. She has been a winner in the Poetry Challenge before.

The poems this month were judged by two members of the Poetic Lights group of which I am a member, Marilyn Huntman Giese and Linda Wallin.

© Wilda Morris

Your road to writing success awaits! This is the 66^th year

for the Green Lake Christian Writers Conference.

 

Come and set aside Sunday, August 17, 3 p.m. to Friday, August 22, 10 a.m., 2014.

Writers and artists, this week is for you – our own “Route 66” conference.

The Green Lake Conference Center will nurture your creativity. We’ve met for more than six decades here. You’ll enjoy the 1000 acres of natural beauty by the shores of Wisconsin’s deepest natural lake. With two and a half miles of shoreline, forests, rolling hills and unique historic structures, you’ll find both inspiration and peace.  Green Lake Conference Center (GLCC) is situated in South Central Wisconsin and is easy to reach.

Take a look: visit http://glcc.org/Adult%20Conferences.html for more information, and then pack your bags to journey with other writers and artists.

We offer inspiration, great instruction, varied opportunities to improve your skillset, or you can try something new. We also allow you time to network and to write or work on your art. We’ll enjoy generous and creative meals and comfortable lodging.

You will have personal attention and can make real progress on your projects,

or begin something new.

If you are new to serious writing, you’ll get as much attention as you need.

The leaders are all experienced as writers, presenters and teachers.

Artists, you will have your own room to use as a studio for the length of the conference.

In addition to classes where writers can concentrate on an area of interest, we also offer a choice of seminars covering a wide variety of subjects to broaden your horizon. You may submit a manuscript for review, enter our writers’ contest, spend time with all instructors, enjoy morning devotions and evening vespers, and browse through published books by our instructors and fellow writers.

Please take time to prayerfully consider coming, whether you are new to this conference or have

been here before. Each year, we offer new elements to keep the event fresh.

Each year, people return home refreshed and energized.

Also, please think about others who could come with you – either as attendees wishing to write or paint/draw/photograph or just as vacationers to have some time here to golf, go boating, shop, swim, bike and hike. You may download a packet of information from the www.glcc.org website.

May blessings be yours,

Jan White Moon, Conference Director and Sue Engebrecht, Associate Conference Director

Green Lake Christian Writers Conference at Green Lake Conference Center: W2511 State Rd 23

Green Lake, WI 54941 – (920) 294-3323 for meals and lodging reservations

~ In-depth Instruction in the Workshop of Your Choice ~

Choose a workshop (class) which meets for five sessions, Sunday evening and Tuesday through Thursday. You’ll profit from one-on-one appointments with your instructor in addition to your class time. Both new and experienced writers are welcome in all workshops. Instructors are flexible and helpful to see that you can meet your goals.

            Wilda Morris: Journeys in Poetry

Your life journey, side trips, flights of imagination – whatever is or has been important to you as you have traveled through life – provides possibilities for poems. Participants will listen to and discuss poems by accomplished poets, draft their own work, and provide each other feedback, as well as trying some exercises that will open us up to new ideas. Publication possibilities and a few poetry forms may be discussed, but the questions and issues of participants will be given priority.

            Mary Pierce: Write the Story Only You Can Tell (Inspirational/Memoir)

Using your life’s anecdotes, personal experiences, special events and/or encounters with memorable people, decide what format is best to tell your stories. Develop them into meaningful pieces, long or short, so that you can tell these stories to inspire others and touch readers’ hearts. Bring your own ideas and projects, too.

            Karl Stewart: Fiction: Finding Your Writer's Voice

Ernest Hemingway, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, and C.S. Lewis. What do these authors have in common, other than writing in the English language? Each has a distinct literary voice, instantly recognizable. How did they do it, and how do you find and establish your own voice? Join us as we explore the subject and work to develop our unique voices. All are welcome, and aspiring writers are encouraged to bring samples of their work to share.

            Jan White Moon: Nonfiction – So Much to Say & So Little Time…

We’ll explore the many avenues which nonfiction takes: journalism/columns, letters, short creative nonfiction, magazine articles, interviews, curriculum, devotions and so much more! We’ll experiment and critique. We’ll take a look at published examples and try our hand at some original work. We’ll learn to love editing – really! You are invited to bring your own projects, too. 

Seminars meet on Sunday and Monday, providing a "short track" for writers 

who cannot attend the entire conference.

For more information see the website listed above or email me at wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net.

Green Lake Conference Center is a beautiful location for working on the improvement of your writing skills. I began attending this conference a couple decades ago. The leaders gave me the help and encouragement I needed to become a poet. Now I'm grateful for the opportunity to help other poets in their journeys with poetry.

 ~ Wilda Morris

 

June Poetry Challenge

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a German writer and statesman, first won fame at age 24 for his novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He later received accolades for Faust, a drama based on a legendary figure who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for fulfillment of earthly desires. In addition to novels and plays, Goethe published both scientific papers and poetry.

In 1815, he published a poem in which the narrator talks about wishing to be a fish or a steed, to be gold, or true, or old, etc., etc. His poem happens to be a love poem. Here it is:

Lover in All Shapes

To be like a fish,
Brisk and quick, is my wish;
If thou cam'st with thy line.
Thou wouldst soon make me thine.
To be like a fish,
Brisk and quick, is my wish.

Oh, were I a steed!
Thou wouldst love me indeed.
Oh, were I a car
Fit to bear thee afar!
Oh, were I a steed!
Thou wouldst love me indeed.

I would I were gold
That thy fingers might hold!
If thou boughtest aught then,
I'd return soon again.
I would I were gold
That thy fingers might hold!

I would I were true,
And my sweetheart still new!
To be faithful I'd swear,
And would go away ne'er.
I would I were true,
And my sweetheart still new!

I would I were old,
And wrinkled and cold,
So that if thou said'st No,
I could stand such a blow!
I would I were old,
And wrinkled and cold.

An ape I would be,
Full of mischievous glee;
If aught came to vex thee,
I'd plague and perplex thee.
An ape I would be,
Full of mischievous glee

As a lamb I'd behave,
As a lion be brave,
As a lynx clearly see,
As a fox cunning be.
As a lamb I'd behave,
As a lion be brave.

Whatever I were,
All on thee I'd confer;
With the gifts of a prince
My affection evince.
Whatever I were,
All on thee I'd confer.

As nought diff'rent can make me,
As I am thou must take me!
If I'm not good enough,
Thou must cut thine own stuff.
As nought diff'rent can make me,
As I am thou must take me!

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This poem is in the public domain.

The June Challenge

The challenge for June is to write a poem in which you wish to be an animal or object – something other than what you actually are. NOTE: your poem does not have to be a love poem; it may have an entirely different motivation. Maybe you wish you were a monarch butterfly so you could cross international boundaries without a passport. Maybe you would like to be a mole so you could tunnel under a fence. Your poem can include a variety of wishes, as does Goethe’s poem, or it can develop a variety of reasons for being one animal, object, etc. Instead of wishing or longing to be something, you may prefer to say “I am a. . .” (i.e., I am a cat, scratching. . . .”). You may use one of the starting lines in the box above, or approach your poem in a different way.

Submit only one poem. The deadline is June 15. Poems submitted after the June 15 deadline will not be considered. There is no charge to enter, so there are no monetary rewards; however winners are published on this blog.

Copyright on each poem is retained by the poet.

Poems published in books or on the Internet (including Facebook and other on-line social networks) are not eligible. If you poem has been published in a periodical, you may submit it if you retain copyright, but please include publication data.

How to Submit Your Poem:

Send one poem only to wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for “dot”). Be sure to provide your e-mail address. Include a brief bio which can be printed with your poem, if you are a winner this month.

Submission of a poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog if it is a winner, so be sure that you put your name, exactly as you would like it to appear if you do win, at the end of the poem. Poems may be pasted into an email or sent as an attachment. Please do not indent the poem or center it on the page. It helps if you submit the poem in the format used on the blog (Title and poem left-justified; title in bold, and not all in capital letters; your name at the bottom of the poem). Also, please do not use spaces instead of commas in the middle of lines. I have no problem with poets using that technique; I sometimes do it myself. However I have difficulty getting the blog to accept and maintain extra spaces.

And Remember: The January challenge is still open, and will be until there are a few more submissions. Check the January post for complete rules. The poems that have been submitted since January 15 will be sent to the judges soon. If you have been thinking of entering, send your poem by June 10.

© Wilda Morris