Awards “Poets of the Year 2000 “


It is with great pride and pleasure that J. Mark Press presents our
Poetry Most-Voted-For by Readers Awards
           

“Poets of the Year 2000”

FROM GREAT POETS OF OUR TIME 2000
BELOW SEE PAGES 12, 14, 15, 66, 69

 

 

BROKEN TRUST

There was a garden wall
where vines did lovely crawl
with every season thick
in sunlight and in mist.

 

I loved my garden wall
and feared to draw apart,
for it possessed my heart.
I loved it most of all.

I feared that come one day
a chill would blight its flowers
that grew upon the vine
in spring and summertime.

I mantled it with burlap
to shelter it from frost
and feared the hour
when my wall with vines was lost.


But little did I know

there would not come a day
when all that I had loved
would at once slip away.

 

A little at a time
the petals turned to gray,
and brick by brick the wall
surrendered to decay- till finally it fell,
crumbling into dust- all that I had loved
destroyed by broken trust.
LAUREN JEDLAN

Page 12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BREAK OF DAY
This impossible dark place to reach
has been found through broken down walls
Battered and bruised as a punctured peach
deflowering the innocence before night falls.

 

This betrayal cuts deep into the gut
the music plays a morbid tune of torture
it waits for the silent scream to be put
through the test of the butcher.

 

The strings are cut that bind the bond
wake the beast and let it feast…
taste the tears of it’s open wound
and pray that you won’t be the last.

 

These worldly demons have no heart
they penetrate into the minds of young
taking away life’s vision of love and art
babes crying out at night for the break of day.
Delores M Massey
page 69

 

Two dancers
without a song the music fades

Spirits captured in memories pictures –
timeless, priceless carelessly tossed

into our corner world

sealed in a place where no one holds the key

A note lost in time forgotten whisperings
red ribbons of reasons
seasons without you.

AMY J. ANSELMO
page 14

 

 

GRANDPA
I always have you in my thoughts
I always remember what you taught
Not a day goes by that I don’t look to the sky
Not a day goes by that I don’t say hi
You are always with me in my dreams
Even when I fish the streams
There’s not a day that goes by
That I just let you pass me
TINA M. FOOTE
66.

 

WITHOUT YOUR FACE
Half the night on the phone, As I begin again to believe
A love where I feel free from alone.
I used to think my someone was supposed to be near
Situated in a setting, soon enough love would find its way.
But maybe fate filters through as I feel you here.
I look out into the distance each night
Wondering what you might be doing, are you thinking of me.
I find it mysteriously magical how my heart tells me this is right
Certainly not written as regular, anyone could make that case,
But if your words paint pictures of unique happiness
Then I just may be falling into love
even without your face.
RYAN PETRILLI
PAGE 15.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DEEP WITHIN
Allow me to introduce my self, my name is schizophrenia.
Only for a fleeting moment do I smile, and remember
who I once was.
I am entranced by a flurry of my mind’s spinning wheels.
My pain runs deep through the rivers of my heart.

My thoughts are turning like the pages of a book in a windstorm.
I remember as a child my dog dying, while I light my crack-pipe
and guzzle my vodka to stop the voices from getting in.
Tears run down my face in a thunderstorm of hell.

Strange as the delusions are themselves, are the people around me.
You can’t find me because I live behind the mind’s eye, like a
chameleon in the jungle. I hunt through my visions,
like a lion in the bush.
I
seek salvation, but don’t know where to hide.
My incubation period and origin are unknown, and remain an enigma.
Inside my soul I bleed horrific terror trying to get outside of my self,
and escape the hallucinations.
I yearn to see freedom’s face smile down upon me, like warm sunshine
that heals the spirit within.

I remember playing stickball in my neighborhood with my childhood
friends, and I want to go home!
by SEAN H. YOUNG

Sean recently received his masters in Social Work.
We are honored to have had the privilege of publishing Sean’s
book,
“Soul Solutions.” Sean is an artist with words. In this 55 pg.
book,
he painstakingly selected rare thought-provoking art for you
on every
2nd page! The masterpiece cover is by his uncle. You will
love this!
Send either $12.95 and $2 post. for laminated spiral or
$18.95 and $3 post.
Hard cover, 8 1/2 x 7. Young Ventures, Box 198,
Ferrysburg, MI 49409-0198






















Absence makes the heart grow harder
without me there to remind you
that you want me

I can feel a change in the wind
that whispers your song of apology
(for not loving me)

You broke the promise
I neglected to tell you
you made to me before you left

That you sealed with a kiss
That you wrote with your lips
On my skin - they told me
You were mine
AMY J. ANSELMO

page 70

 

 

 

Sitting in the shadows of my
most Wicked Dreams
Thinking. Wondering,
Trying to make
Some sense of it all,
What did it mean
Where I saw you… In danger?
What did it mean
What I saw you
Standing in the shadows
Of my most Wicked Dreams:
H. M.

 

 

WHISPERINGS
It wasn’t there just yesterday among the gold and red.
It wasn’t there amidst the pines when I went to my bed.
It came in silence through the night without a word or
song.
It came ‘midst mornings graying clouds it came, but
won’t last long.
A whispering– the year’s first snow was left upon the
ground
Was left upon majestic hills, a dusting all around.
Hoarfrost left upon the trees, a stillness fresh and new
Shimmering crystals coat each leaf, earth’s pureness
to renew.
Like a moment frozen in time a winter’s scene
entrances
Whispers joy, despite the cold brings rest to
life’s expanses.
But wait, the morning sun breaks forth and shouts,
“Tis still my day!”
And with her warming golden rays melts whisperings
away.
DAVID GOFF

 

ONE HIT WONDERS!
One hit wonder;
A great short story,
Brilliant poem,
“Best sellers list” novel.
Moments cherished,
Time passing too soon,
A hit song on the radio.
All artists,
Respect freedom of thought,
‘Cause’ in life,
One hit wonders,
Will always come and go,
Yet;
The beauty of feeling free,
Might be the best one hit wonder of all!
RICHARD J. RENNA

 

 

PASSION
When passion rages in me
I come alive in full tapestry.
Senses awaken to a new energy,
Intoxicating me intercellularly.
Whatever the magnificence,
Whatever the passion – it makes no difference.
Body and mind are transformed by resplendence
Of desire in burgeoning reverence.
Joy blossoms with swelling intensity,
When heart and soul reach full capacity.
Clarity of mind reveals endless possibility,
Unleashed through creative imagination
and spontaneity.
It’s through love that I make connections,
Unify, enlighten and expand my human dimensions.
But passion is the connecting link of redemption.
To behold life’s splendor is merely a matter of
my own reflection.
CYNTHIA MEYER

page 68

 

MIDNIGHT BLUE
As the day comes to an end and my
thoughts layer the sky in shades
of color that blend the moment
of your good-bye
Waves of blue with hints of red share
the emotional tears in my eyes and
heavy heart bled to the sky
and on for years.
And as time swallows the light and
distant stars shine for few,
emptiness fills one more night
as I fill with midnight blue.
C. THOMAS OWEN

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