All entries get their POEM shown on this website. AND, for a small fee, you can submit your poem to be made into a poetry reading and/or a movie that will be played at festivals.
GET YOUR POETRY SEEN. This network averages over 95,000 visitors a day to read your poems. SUBMIT ANYTIME.
Mainly what this contest does is give exposure to the writer.
NOTE: The writer will always own 100% rights to their poem. The only thing we do is help the writer gain exposure by having their story showcased at our festival and on this website.
You’re not looking at me
your eyes – bright – scan my brow
a miner’s lamp
in my underground
Me, I never look
into anyone’s eyes
your logo-less hoodie your jeans
no scrubs for you today
you’re for blending in
your clothes are clean
Persil fresh
telling me nothing and everything
Me, I smell of daily corrosion
your stethoscope dangles loose
your sterile gloves
purple for power
or sorrow or for the time
when I had colours to claim
My first time here
the community health van
for the unhoused the junkies
the drifters who got lost
the teenage girls the teenage boys
bought for dimes
you check my breath
I’m still breathing
your deodorant a jasmine in bloom
Me, with rotting pits for underarms
you check the tracks silently
the pain doesn’t ooze out
you say masks are optional
tug yours down to smile
I stand to leave for the streets
you pull off the latex gloves
the barrier’s lifted
you touch my hands I’d forgotten
who I was till then
It’s over in an instant
but my hands purple from cold
hold yours too
Verse One
Polluted skies, the future is unclear
Vote for clean air, changing hearts are so near
The planet cries, see and listen for pain
Everyone care, a great change will remain
Chorus
Love human kind, open the door
Let’s come together, Rise Up Young Mind
Leave hates behind, make room for more
Let’s come together, Rise Up Young Mind
Verse Two
New ro-ta-tion, the power of gen Z
Watch and wonder, how we can all agree
Best in- ten-tion, not ignoring the truth
Rolling thunder, the new voices of youth
Bridge
Black brown yellow red white, set in motion
Ring of hands holding growing devotion
Keeping land green and blue seas and oceans
Together we curl all around the world
Chorus
Love human kind, open the door
Let’s come together, Rise Up Young Mind
Leave hates behind, make room for more
Let’s come together, Rise Up Young Mind
Verse Three
Learn from the past, we’re saving tomorrow
Plant hope and trees, and let the rivers flow
Change comes at last, keep reaching everyday
More people please, there’s no time to delay
Bridge
Black brown yellow red white, set in motion
Ring of hands holding the growing devotion
Keeping land green and blue seas and oceans
Together we curl all around the world
Chorus
Love human kind, open the door
Let’s come together, Rise Up Young Mind
Leave hates behind, make room for more
Let’s come together, Rise Up Young Mind
Dimmed
For So long,
No one could see what is so special inside.
With a flick of a switch, the light came through and created a world of colour.
Shining bright and radiating like a rainbow.
“He doesn’t look like a champion, barely.”
When you’re blind, and times seem darkest,
grimly, you see clearly; steer from fear, near me.
Take your best shot, a bandana blindfold, dimly.
A swing and a miss, fourfold.
“He doesn’t look like a champion, barely.”
Speak for yourself; heal ye, will he.
The most dangerous weapon; a focused mind.
Shouting obscenities loses meaning; hear he, believe me.
A river runs bombs on a rock in the river, standstill, fiercely.
Like the heart of a warrior amid liquid thrills.
“He doesn’t look like a champion, barely.”
The rock in the river, standstill, in theory.
Kingly, I’ll show you how it’s done; here be, grizzly.
Grimly, you see clearly; steer from fear, near me.
You’ll ‘come a champion, like ye.
You’ll be better, until he, year we.
“He looks like a champion,” feared he.
Grimly, you see clearly; steer from fear, near me.
Mysterious caws of crows at starlight,
A chorus of dawn’s robins sing in delight,
an alarm warning for their worm.
Fearless blue jays chirp atop cedar pine trees,
Red cardinals tweet heavenly spirits amid a breeze.
Waterfalls from a fountain before a thunderstorm.
Pink Poinsettias blossom the tea garden,
evergreen conifers planted and hardened.
A bolt of lightning flashes as white as a unicorn.
Whooshing bells, whistles, horns of a train,
shriek and cry to warn and inform:
a Skyfall of sprinkles, and hard rain.
Mourning doves of morning murmuring coos in a swarm.
Lilacs and daffodils bloom at Watergate.
But alive perhaps misunderstood?
Born as a Gorgon or a mortal with wings
Confusion reigns as to her creation
But, the consensus remains on
That her gaze is so strong and
Chilling to the bone
It pierces into you and
Turns you into stone
With venomous snakes
In place of her hair
She was dreaded, scorned
And feared by most
Considered a monster
Was she once perhaps
A beautiful maiden?
Tempting enough to lure men,
Was she the victim or a sinner?
Resulting in the curse
That changed her
And it took treachery to subdue her
Dear Robin
How are you? Is everything going ok?
Are using your jokes now? How is Jonathan Winters doing? We miss him too..I hope you’re ok now..you were a cultural
present
from a dark
place..
lots of laughs come from
there..
as it seems…you were
channeling craziness
that forge
laughter for us…
