A C T C - 2014/10 Entries - Poemhunter Poems Poem by Brian Johnston

A C T C - 2014/10 Entries - Poemhunter Poems

Rating: 5.0


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If you appreciate this contest, please vote 1-10 as you
would for a poem to let PH Staff know that you would
like to see something like this added to their software
as a more easily accessed feature. Thanks!

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OCTOBER'S 'A CHALLENGE TITLE CONTEST'
- - - - - - - - -VOTE HERE! - - - - - - - - - - -



VOTING INSTRUCTIONS
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To vote in our contest is simple. If you are a Poem
Hunter member you are eligible to vote but you may
not vote anonymously for a poem as you can elsewhere
on Poem Hunter which is directly responsible for many
voting abuses and allows Trolls to trash a poem's ratings
given to it by authentic members who are not morally
bankrupt or malicious.

You may only vote one time that will be counted. Please
state clearly in a written comment which poem is your
favorite. Additional comments as to why you chose this
particular poem over the other entries would also be
greatly appreciated. These comments in the past have
been quite entertaining as well and also are potentially
valuable feedback to the competing poets. If you do vote
more than once only your last vote will be counted.

In how many contests do you actually get to see the
judge's thinking that led to you being declared the
winner? You, Poem Hunter Members, are the judges
of this contest. It is a serious responsibility as your
fellow members are putting their art on the line. But
that doesn't mean that you cannot have fun in
expressing your opinion. I, in fact, encourage you to
do so!



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AND THE WINNER IS
'IS IT POETRY'(1)
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‘Is It Poetry' Vote Total = 2
Bri Edwards
Diane Hine

Darlene Walsh Vote Total = 1
Reason A. Poteet

Abekah Emannuel Vote Total = 1
Darlene Walsh


Webmaster's Notes:
Congratulations to 'Is It Poetry' for his emotional entry. Another newcomer rises to the top of the heap! But a note in regard to his entry, it really doesn't seem fair to me to allow anyone to enter a poem that does not follow the rules that all the other poets followed by entering a quality poem granted, but one which does not really honor the challenge presented. I thought that the contributors would object and not vote for the poem for this reason but for what ever reason they did not. I am mystified myself by this response. But in any case, all poets, please be on notice that I will not allow this kind of entry to compete in the future. It is simply not fair to the contestants that play by the rules. This is not a completely open contest but a challenge to write a poem on a topic set before you. If people would like to have a completely open contest however, in which anyone can submit any kind of poem they want, that is certainly something I would be willing to do on occasion. The goal here after all is to have fun and to compete with friends.

Seems that quite a few or us missed the deadline for voting this time, including myself. If getting older was not the only real alternative, I'd want to check out #2. Ha! OK let's all try to do better on November's contest! It would have been hard to vote for Bri though because his opinions are almost always wrong, even though they are very amusing. But as usual the quality of all the entries was quite high. I would personally have liked to see more people voting and commenting however. If anyone has an idea as to how we can get more people to participate, I certainly am open to suggestions. What I would really like to see happen is for Poemhunter to make this a regular feature of their website. It is a fair amount of work for me to make this little event happen each month. Maybe a different poet could host the contest each month? Anyone want to volunteer to be a 'rotating web master? '

(1) My personal apology to 'Is It Poetry' for my original inaccurate vote tally and thanks to Bri Edwards for pointing out the mistake.




OCTOBER POEMS BEGIN HERE!
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Image-Nation: Does One Need A Word? …… [Oct. '14 Challenge Poem; imagination; MEDIUM SHORT]
By Bri Edwards

For an imagination: Does one need a word?
I don't think so. I think that's absurd!
When one dreams, do words abound?
Do words in a sleeper's brain …..go around?
I don't think so.

Of course I'm open to different thoughts on this;
if you disagree, ….your opinion I'll not diss.
I've dreamed in color, and I guess white and black,
but when I dream or imagine, I think 'words' I lack.
I think so.

If I imagine scoops of ice cream piled high,
I don't think I need words; I'll tell you why.
I just ‘feel': 'Yummy! ', perhaps; I KNOW I drool.
Do I need, for a thought/image, ….a word for a tool?
I don't think so!

Did Eve and Adam, that legendary pair,
use words? I don't know. I wasn't there.
But I'd guess they had an image, post apple-eating,
when God, with thunder bolts on them, started beating.

I (ha ha) believe THAT!

(October 15,2014)

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Webmaster's Notes:
Well Bri, always a joy to read your contrarian viewpoints. Hard to imagine anything you and I might agree on except Nature's most perfect food Pizza. I can't believe that pizza was not mentioned in Genesis really as part of the Garden of Eden, can you?

Now when you see a big bowl of ice-cream can you really swear that the word 'yummy' is not in your mind and that feelings are the canvas of your taste buds going off? What about 'cold', 'sweet', 'better than sex', 'smooth', etc., etc. really an explosion of words that come to mind. Aren't they all really there, the constituent atoms really of the difficult to contain fluid that you are calling a feeling? Without words wouldn't feelings to be rather one dimensional?

And finally is it really so surprising that after all those years in the post office that you might not even be aware of what you are thinking. Word's are the heart of thinking, imagination and feeling too! QED! Ha!
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PH: Poetry: Words - The Heart of Imagination?
By James B Johnson

Words are the colors painted on imagination's canvas,
Even the brightest pigments are black and white without them,
Like motion pictures before Technicolor and 3D,
Like a three dimensional landscape made flat by binoculars,
However grand the venue might be,
Be it stellar in its aspect (infinite in scope) , or a single flower,
The miracle of a butterfly's wings unfolding,
Or the crossing of the bridge from potential to plausible life -
The scientist's view of a human egg's fertilization.

Words are the perfumes that dazzle the senses as fingers touch
The multi-textured surface of a woman's flesh,
From the sharpness of teeth, nails, and tongue,
To the softness of her desire to merge with you,
So close that her heart's rhythms impact you like earth's seasons,
The ocean's waves, the moon's tides, and a bird's song,
The keys that strike chords of passion, igniting the heart,
And cause the soul to resonate till you fear it must shatter
Like fine crystal in the face of a symphonic onslaught.

Words are the father's strong voice of praise,
The mother's intimate, watchful lullaby,
Non-verbal words of assurance, warmth of a brother's hand,
The resounding joy of a sister's laugh, the essence of family.
Words too are the promise of the rainbow, (1)
The Christ embraced experience of human death,
'Even so, not My will, but Thine be done! ' (2)
The very covenant of God's Grace itself,
And creation too, simple words adorning God's Imagination.

October 17,2014

Poet's Notes:
(1) Rainbow Promise - God's promise to Noah's decendents to never again destroy all life on earth with water and flood. Only the people and animals on Noah's ark survived God's wrath according to this Biblical Story.
(2) Christ in contemplating his own crucifixion, petitions God to save Him from this fate, and yet still acknowledges His love of God and His willingness to obey.

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Webmaster's Notes:
Well I criticized Bri Edwards last time for commenting his own poem as a way of explaining weaknesses in his own verse, seems I must somehow restrain myself as well from trying to add content to my own poem. Poetic justice I guess!
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Words - the Heart of Imagination
Subtitle: Two Minutes with Peanut
By Reason A. Poteet

Perspeucitous, 'tis a harsh word.
One's thoughts get blurred
and talk turns rude.
Some tend to brood.

Some people are antriphinal -
not short on bull
'Peanut, ' they yell
'Who cracked your shell?

Stretching, I might be four-foot-six
I've learned to fix
the wixumph jokes
of thoughtless blokes.

When perspeucitous meets wixumph,
I can triumph,
remaining cold -
mood quite controlled.

Vursichomy! I call the shots,
connect the dots.
When chaps condemn,
toss words to them.

Drives them to the edge - somatrise,
A little spice
'tworks well enough
to call their bluff.

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Webmaster's Notes:
Welcome to ACTC newcomer Reason A. Poteet, who though not a newcomer to PH, is clearly trying to bring A Little Reason to PoemHunter's sacred halls and some humor too it seems! And at 71 she clearly brings some experience to the table. I find myself willing to wager as well that diminutive or not, peanut or not, this lady would be a tough nut to crack! And I of course mean that in the most perspeucitous way possible!
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CHINESE WHISPERS
By Diane Hine

…Murder! Miss Marple investigating….
…Murder! Miss Marple investigating….
…Sorry, I didn't quite hear….
…Sherman says he's sorry but he didn't hear….
…Surfing stories and bitter beer….
…Surfers in bars? I'd rather play cards…
…Surfers and cards and Ray's impatient…
…Surfers and sharks are playing Patience…
…Smurfs outsmarted St Ignatius…
…Worship the martyr St Ignatius…
…Slippery worms, garden geishas….
…Something about worm casts and carnations…
…Wormy carp invagination….
…Words - the heart of imagination? ...
…Murderous Harpy infestation…
…Murder! Miss Marple investigating….

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Webmaster's Notes:
OK, normally I LOVE Diane's stuff but this one has me nervously humming! How did Miss Marple figure out that a Harpy murdered the Church because Ray asked it too (his lack of Patience must have impacted his poker face) . If Miss Marple is bringing in Sherman and Mr. Peabody though that Harpy's goose is cooked. Just what have those surfer's been putting in your beer Diane? Someone needs to get you off of those shark infested Aussie beaches? I bet Miss Marple did DNA testing of the worm castings in garden geisha's carnations beds. How else would she know where the body is buried? The only remaining point to be clarified is that of course Smurfs outsmarted St. Ignatius, humor always tops religious thinking and it is actually Organized Religion that is buried under the carnation beds, not just St. Ignatius. So I believe I have explained it all now except 'Wormy carp invagination.' I leave this line and the title as a trivial challenges for the reader.: -) In any case Diane, you certainly got my poor imagination going. Ha!

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Words: the heart of imagination!
By Abekah Emmanuel - primary and James B Johnson -adjunct poet.

‘Imagination rules the world.'
Napoleon Bonaparte

Imagination is fascinating,
At the heart of what makes a lie seem real,
A gossamer dream that suggests a truth never before envisaged
Our mind's simplistic purity sacrificed as we
Like Adam & Eve ultimately share the apple,
Making room in our hearts for both the lie and the dream.

Great achievements can arise from misunderstandings,
Beautiful dreams lead to destruction.
What we imagine can become real for us,
For today's reality was someone's imagination yesterday..

But of what value is imagination without words to share it,
Can a series of mental images ever be a poem?
Words define, make shareable, make imagination's music memorable,
Like a poem frames and focuses attention on human feelings
How can the world taste my imagination if I don't cook it with words?
Words then, are not just the heart, but the very soul of imagination.


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Webmaster's Notes:
Believe me i would love to comment Abekah's but since I helped with some of his images I dare not do that. It would be a clear conflict of interest.

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Words - The Heart of Imagination?
By Darlene Walsh

Have you ever seen a unicorn?
I can see one every day
And fairies, giants and dragons
are always getting in the way

There are worlds that can't exist
that I like to visit when I can
And farms with talking pigs
screaming to escape their pen

At the end of a leprechaun's rainbow
a little girl finds golden riches
Heroes with gleaming magic swords
go to battle with evil witches

I can find most anything
even a pauper who would be king
From a ring to rule them all
to a dragon who loves to sing

With the right words chosen
and written in just the right way
There is nothing that can't be real
or a place you can not play

Romance, mystery, and magic
flowing through every word
pumping your heart with adventure
so that spot in your brain is stirred

The precious words of an author
are the heart of imagination
Nutrition for the soul
food for the minds digestion


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Webmaster's Notes:
Darlene's poem is a great example of how words enrich and expand imagination. Final proof in my book about how words are imagination itself. Without the word 'unicorn' how many people's imaginations would ever include this fanciful beast. Great poem Darlene!

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When Lilly Kisses Rose
By ‘Is It Poetry'

When lilly kisses rose
and lilly I did know
and trees I thought
grew very deep
and lived
within the forest.

And green
the hay is sweet
and brown
dry moss cries
why.

And lillies white
remind the sky
blue cotton
clouds they swirl.

There grew the two.
so dear
most thought.

Short breath
two centered
scents.

And how
before
them both
I stood
once near
their hearts
too far.

And when
I know
how
roses grow
and pressed
so hard
was I.

And cups
of milk
I loaned to
them
cinnamon
and spice.

Sugar sweets
they made
from them
and
now to know
both why.

While
lilly bridged
sweet roses
bank as
water rushes
by.


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Webmaster's Notes:
Dear, Is it Poetry, well, not quite sure what to make of your poem as it does not seem to address the Challenge Title or incorporate the challenge title in its body either. So I have decided to just let it stand and let voters make their own decision of what to do with it. I do thank you for your submission though and hope that you will vote on the poem of your choice.
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POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
These are the official submissions for October 2014's Challenge Title Contest
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Bri Edwards 05 November 2014

i'm glad we have more poems than just mine and BJ's to consider. i will read the others later. :)

1 0 Reply
Darlene Walsh 07 November 2014

Many wonderful poems to stir the imagination. Bri LOL I do love Ice Cream :) And I also do dream A wonderful poem. And while I certainly don't need words to imagine, it is easy to receive someone's else's imagination through their words. I love to read. And I love to write words to share my imagination with others. And Webmaster, I love pizza too. If pizza grew on trees long ago, would we still be in Eden? Brian I've watched quite a few of the old B&W films, some of them are pretty good (I love Casablanca) . There is quite a bit of passionate imagination in the second paragraph. And creation is a very big amount of imagination, but He did spend 7 days on his imagination. Does that make us all figments? Reason Words that require full understanding of imagination: Perspeucitous antriphinal wixumph Vursichomy somatrisepower Indisputable proof that the pen (and the words produced by the wielder's imagination) are the mightiest creation we can create. Diane A very imaginative progression of thoughts, going in full circle. I got a little lost in the metazoan for a while, I'm glad Miss Marple's investigation brought me back again. Abekah As always, a wonderful quote to start our imagination. Hmmm.... Imagination = lie Absolutely, because if Imagination = truth life would be so much less entertaining. And while lies frequently lead to misunderstandings and destruction, the proper use of imagination can bring dreams and music, and words to share. Words for the imagination. Is Very pretty imaginative pictures drawn with words. I saw fragrant flowers growing in the forest on the bank of a stream, growing under a blue sky, with fluffy clouds floating by. I'm not really sure how close some of the poems come to fulfilling the topic/title for this challenge, but they were all wonderful, and imaginative poems. My favorite poem for this challenge is the poem by Abekah Emmanuel.

1 0 Reply
Reason A. Poteet 09 November 2014

Lovely pieces one and all investigating the Heart of Imagination. Re: Darlene piece. As a retired teacher of young children, I often wonder what happens to their imaginations over time. There is far too much emphasis on test scores in today's schools - imagination is beyond testing. Love the summary last verse ending her piece with such clarity. My vote goes for The Heart of Imagination by Darlene Walsh. RE: Abekah's piece. I think I would agree with you that words are the anchor which aid memory of our thoughts and imagination. Without memory, where would imagination, communicating our minds with others builds our database in our brain. I think of my 10 month old grandson watching the development of his mind and I am amazed at the complexity of it all. It is truly a miracle of God. Enjoyed your thoughts, Abekah. RE: Bri's piece. Well-done explanation of the question - are words the heart of imagination? I clearly understand your point, words are more the heart of communication. Is that why we forget dreams so quickly because there are no words to record the event in our mind. As for the ice cream, I always start with my mouth but not to talk, that would be a waste of my time and yours. I have wondered how God created words and what language Adam and Eve spoke. Great writing, Bri, many thinks to consider here. RE: Brian's piece. I was most impressed with your last lines, God spoke the world into being, didn't He? But I'm still wondering with Bri about the school he held for teaching Adam and Eve the rudiments of language. Enjoyed your trip through the sights, smells and sounds of the imagination. A worthy piece, indeed. RE: It is Poetry's piece. As with most free verse, I get lost. But perhaps you have proven your point well, Free verse is usually very open-ended and interpretations run wild at times. Kinda reminds me of Ma, Look what they've done to my song. Your piece brings to mind also of testimony of witnesses to a crime scene, sometimes conflicting evidence is given which makes the jury wonder if the parties are describing the same event. RE: Diane's piece, Again I am out in left field playing in the sand. You have given us many examples to consider and to spark our imaginations; and your repetition is mark of good poetry (IMHO) . The most significant part of your piece to me is found in the title: Chinese Whispers, the introduction of that idea that words that are totally foreign do nothing for one's imagination.

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 08 November 2014

next up: DIANE HINE: INTERESTING. but i don't like it when others call my poems interesting. well, it depends on what else they say. and, come to think of it, i'm not sure anyone HAS ever said my poems were interesting! drat! ! either Diane is with me and against BJ, or she is with BJ and against me. i'm not sure which it is. hmmmm? i do agree with BJ that 'invagination is a stumper/(a puzzling question; i just looked it up!) . it, invagination, IS a great rhyme for imagination. this sounds like a dream. or is it Diane's imagination she is giving to us, using words? ? nice enough. glad it wasn't too long. can a poem BE too long? thanks for sharing. for this poem and all the rest of the offerings here i shall send this page to MyPoemList. i may have already done it, but my mentioning it (again?) will make BJ's minute. bri :) speaking of imagination..........i think Diane has demonstrated that deafness is sometimes at the heart of what some people 'believe' other people are saying.

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 08 November 2014

up next: ABEKAH EMMANUEL - primary and Brian Johnston -adjunct poet. [IS THAT a junk poet? ] [i''m going to paste the poem here for reference, but i plan to erase it before submitting my comment] granted that ...today's reality was someone's imagination yesterday.............sometimes! SOMETIMES. BUT i will venture to say that some of today's reality is not due to imagination. some is due to careful scientific investigations, or to accidents! coincidences, observations, etc. can bring things to Mankind's attention and 'fruition' (is that a good usage?) , without imagination having anything to do with it (my opinion of course) . i still believe that a person who does not know words can still invent something or discover something. or imagine something using 'pictures in the mind', without the need for words. if a non-speaking, non-writing, non-word-using person imagined an apple pie and figured out [without words] how to make one, would i not still share the pie if offered to me? i would not need the person to say to me here is an apple pie. i made it with those green/red/yellow balls which i took off of that tall thing with the green things hanging from the limbs. :) bri even if it hadn't been admitted, i might have suspected Brian Johnston's sticky (with apple pie?) fingers in this poem. i would like to read how Abekhah would have written it without Brian's help. it is nice to help another poet; don't get me wrong. i'm always giving my two cents to some poet or another on PH. thanks for sharing. i'm getting closer to making my choice for winner, but i'd better stop for tonight! bri :)

0 0 Reply
Abekah Emmanuel 16 November 2014

To err is human: but to forgive is divine. While I forgive BJ for his late voting, I would personally apologise for the same offence. Haven gone on an intellectual holiday, I had forgotten to pick my ID card to the voting center to cast my vote. But nothing is too late until is late, so please let me have the ballot paper....ok......Darlene Walsh has my vote this election month....... Besutiful and clear to the point. Am late, so cant talk much..thank you all.

0 0 Reply
Brian Johnston 15 November 2014

Realizing that I missed the deadline for voting and so my vote can't be counted, still I vote in support of the fine poem by Abekah Emmanuel which should prove to anyone with half a brain that Bri Edwards is just a funny man with no other prospects.

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 09 November 2014

MY VOTE: i vote for IS IT POETRY aka iip. have a nice day. bri :) i have, however, left a comment, individually, for each poem/poet, except my own. thank you all for participating. good grief! is it almost time to scribble more lines for the next challenge? something about 'gift-giving', something i rarely do, but i'll come up with somethin'. oh, if you read all of my comments you will find these thoughts: 1. words are not the heart of imagination, but imagination is (or may be) the heart of words 2. words are the heart of communication. this was first expressed here by R.A. Poteet (but i was thinking it!) . of course communication comes through many other means than words. - - - - - - - - - - - - - additionally, a unicorn could and once did exist without words. i saw one once before i learned to speak or write or understand words. honest! :)

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 09 November 2014

up next...... IS IT POETRY aka iip: WORDS THE HEART OF IMAGINATION? is the title BJ chose. note, please, BJ's QUESTION MARK at the end of his title. yes, a question mark, indicating an uncertainty. iip leaves the uncertainty, perhaps, to float around among all of us, to ponder, to discuss. of course it is not TO ME as important an uncertainty as where does bri's next meal come from? , especially since my wife is not in a good mood these days! mcdonalds? ? the poem seems to have some rhyming which is not very obvious except for why/by near the end. the flow seems pleasant to me, and some of the images, expressed with his words, are cheerful, comfortable......whatever! though i can't say i understand it completely [and maybe iip doesn't either] i did find that, with careful reading, it did seem to all fit together grammatically (pretty well at least) . and i found no typos. come to think of it, i might not have found typos in any of the poems. BJ couldn't be the one correcting them! i even found myself, by the second or third reading, reading the poem softly aloud to myself. i like it. and i want some of the sweets! ! ! ! OK, i am finding myself irresistibly [had to check that spelling; 'ibly', not 'ably'] drawn to vote for this one. hmmmm? thanks for sharing. bri :)

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 09 November 2014

up next: DARLENE WALSH (ace landscaper/leafscraper) . : ok, Darlene has fallen into BJ's trap. well, she IS young, so she has more of an excuse as to how she could be tricked by the old guy. - - - - - - - - - - - - - my favorite stanza is: Romance, mystery, and magic flowing through every word pumping your heart with adventure so that spot in your brain is stirred ............especially word/stirred - - - - - - - - - - - i say WORDS ARE THE VOICE OF IMAGINATION in most cases, where words are available. YES! spoken and written words are the VOICE of imagination, though imagination may be expressed with music, painting, sculpture, punching someone in the face, etc. honorable mention to Darlene, but not my choice this time. but i am narrowing it down. thanks for sharing. :) bri

0 0 Reply
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