A Showcase For Ph Poets: April 2015: Section 'A'.... [sharing Poems; Not A Contest; Monthly On Bri Edwards' Ph Site] Poem by Bri Edwards

I’ve started a 'showcase' on my PoemHunter site,
which is NOT a contest; it’s no arena for a fight,
but instead a place where once a month I shall post..
a poem from you, a PH member, which you’d like read most.

NO title, topic, nor length** do I plan to require.
Just send in a poem to set the PH members on fire.
Send to 'A Showcase For (PH) Poets', care of me.
Let's show off our stuff, and this also is free!

I was intending this to showcase poems by you, the member,
BUT, heck, send someone else's *** if you'd like, BUT remember....
to NOT get me involved in copyright disputes, please.
Of course if I were sued, there is NO money from me to squeeze!

(February 28,2015)

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So, now for some information about my March SHOWCASE for PH poets:

In anticipation of a great response for my first showcase [I sent notices to about 75 members from my inbox and my list of PH friends], I have added to my poem's title: “section ‘A’ ”, but there may never be a “section ‘B’ “.

I plan to submit one of my own short (24 lines or less) poems, and one of my LONG ones (which may go on for a couple of pages) . Therefore, and since I will allow other members to also submit two poems per month [if one is 24 lines or less], I may well add a second, third,4th, etc. 'section' so readers will not have to scroll up and down too much to refer to poems and the comments area below the poems. Understand? I hope so. This first 'section' is 'A' and I shall follow the English alphabet: A, B, C, etc. IF I FEEL A NEED TO DO SO.
**For all members, you may submit two poems as long as the shorter one is 24 LINES OR LESS; I will use my own discretion if, for instance, your shorter poem is 26 lines long.

I also plan to have a LIST OF POETS [whose poem(s) are included in a section] above the posted poems.
***I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE ALL POEMS BE WRITTEN BY PH MEMBERS, and be submitted by the authors. If you choose to submit a poem by another PH member I will try to verify that the member agrees. Poems attributed to non-members I may want to ask about also.

Starting off will be the first poem submitted to section 'A' of April's showcase.
[PLEASE READ THE POET'S NOTE ALSO FOR MY 'A SHOWCASE FOR PH POETS'.]

I WILL ALWAYS GIVE THE AUTHOR’S NAME WITH THE POEM POSTED.

My first showcase was in February 2015, and I consider it to be a success, with almost 20 poems to view, from almost as many poets. My thanks go to all contributors! ! This is meant to expose poems and poets to readers and to provide some entertainment and/or enlightenment and/or knowledge to PH members [and I guess non-members who, I think, can also view the poems but not comment].
Some of the poems may not be on the authors’ PH sites. But if you are enthused about a poem, I hope you will visit the poet’s site and read more and leave comments.

Did I forget anything? ?

[[some ages of poets' may be age+1.
AND i use PH for the names and countries and gender as well.]]

[AND I TRY TO keep typos etc. out of the poems, but if i miss some, OR if the poets wants their poems added as they've given them to me, then i'm not going to edit the poem! ]

HERE WE GO!
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1. DARLENE WALSH: (United States; Female; 21)

Villa Diodati in 1816

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2. BRIAN WHITAKER: (United States; Male; 67) (1st poem)

Wishes For My Future.......[Short; Personal]

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3. BEACH GIRL: (United States; Female; 45)

Distractions

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4. DOUGLAS SCOTNEY (Australia; Male; 62)

Gratitude Not

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5. AKHTAR JAWAD (Pakistan; Male; 70)

A Love Child

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6. HEATHER WILKINS (United States; Female; 58) (1st poem)

BLOWING IN THE WIND

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7. HEATHER WILKINS (United States; Female; 58) (2nd poem)

LIFE'S WILDERNESS

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8. IS IT POETRY (United States; Male; '100')

A Florida Lizard

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9. AKHTAR JAWAD (Pakistan; Male; 70) (2nd poem)

First Experience of Sex
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10. XELAM KAN (Pakistan; Male; '96')

Celtic island
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11. VALSA GEORGE (India; Female; 61) (1st poem)


Drops of Rain?
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12. VALSA GEORGE (India; Female; 61) (2nd poem)


Glimpses of Simplicity and Innocence
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13. DARLENE WALSH (United States; Female; 21) (2nd poem)


Life's Flower
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14. BRI EDWARDS (United States; Male; 67) (2nd poem)


Accidental Hacking
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15. BEACH GIRL (United States; Female; 45) (2nd poem)


I'd Search For You
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16. STEPHEN KATONA (United Kingdom; Male; 45)


Spider In My Pencil Case
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17. STEPHEN KATONA (United Kingdom; Male; 45)

A Quokka And Quail Quiz Night
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18. ?



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1. by Darlene Walsh:


Villa Diodati in 1816


In a night of storms and darkness
in the summer that never was
a Lord set in motion a horror
which lives in us forevermore

Byron read a poem of fright
and his French was quite a delight
as he finished the scary night
did the listeners words have might

Tell us a story most singular, Lord said
perhaps about a creature that was dead
did it's breath come out like lead
with what was this monster fed

The months of that summer passed
in the summer that never was
the words of that summer are history
and will live with us forevermore

The summer was filled with debauchery
smothered in love, lust and treachery
From Lord and Clare was a child begot
On paper two others conceived a plot

Shelly gave rise to a monstrous assembly
featured in uncounted stories as deadly
Polidori thought of an aristocrat that was dead
progenitor to Dracula and other modern undead

From that night of storms and darkness
in the summer that never was
two pillars of horror were born
to scare and thrill us forevermore

Submitted: Sunday, November 02,2014
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2. by Bri Edwards:


Wishes For My Future.......[Short; Personal]


To bring my marriage to a pleasant, successful end…
To be, for a few, a true and tolerable friend…
To help someone every day of my life…
To see a world (fat chance! !) without any strife…

To not live too long and not live too poorly…
To eat a healthy diet but have some sweets, surely…
To have health care 'as needed', but not too often…
To have those who oppose me, to me their hearts soften…

To 'see' my only child, Shannon, enjoy life and succeed…
To hear of more people sharing, and fewer with greed…
To grow a few veggies and see lots of birds…
To amuse myself and others as I make poems from words

(Nov.2010)
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3. by Beach Girl:


Distractions


With coffee in my right hand and papers in my left
I didn't even spill a drop, who knew I was so deft

I strolled into the garden and sat upon my bench
Happy as a lark I felt that this would be a cinch

I spread my work before me upon the cold, stone table
And thought how peaceful this would be, but then my plans unraveled

As I began to pay my bills I soon grew quite distracted
A blue jay on the old grey fence was raising quite a racket

He claimed there was a problem, with finding worms that day
I blew a kiss, said goodbye and then he flew away

Horrified I witnessed a knock down drag out fight
Between two squirrels up in a tree, oh it was quite a sight!

Ants crawled up my coffee cup and down into the pool
They swam around a little while but found it wasn't cool

Upon that cold, stone table the wind began to blow
My pencil rolled onto the ground and papers flew like snow

I ran to catch my Visa bill and also my Discover
But then I threw my hands in air and said to self, 'Why bother? '


Submitted: Thursday, May 09,2013
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4. by Douglas Scotney:


Gratitude Not


You say to the police
you've done something
that's made you a bull's-eye for who
have no compunction
in bringing down others
while trying to bring down you,

and they say, thanks very much,
now, instead of you taking it all,
when you and others are shot,
we'll cop some of the blame
for having done nothing
or enough not.


Submitted: Friday, March 27,2015
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5. by Akhtar Jawad:


A Love Child

The welfare trust has many stories,
I can tell you one that shattered my heart,
A boy of twenty grown up in the trust,
Never knew his parents but was keen to know,
He became a friend of a clerk of the trust,
Obliged the clerk in so many ways,
And one day with tears in his thirsty eyes,
He asked the clerk, can you help me my friend,
I want to know whose child I am,
Who brought me here and left me alone,
You can find it out by checking the records,
You are custodian of the files that are secret for others,
The obliged clerk could not say no and started the fatigue,
Going through the records in the dusty stores,
After a painful survey of registers so old,
He found out the name of the woman,
Who brought this child in a night to the trust,
He gave to the boy her name and address.
The hungry thirsty helpless boy,
Who was never loved and never saw the breast,
Remained deprived of lullaby of his mother,
Whenever fell sick none combed his hairs,
With the soothing fingers to make him sleepy,
Unaware he grew what a caress is meant,
No parents or grandparents no sisters no brothers,
No lovely aunts that look like mothers,
A child, whose birthday was never celebrated,
He was grown up as a living robot,
But the instincts did not spare the poor child,
He knew what love is and he wanted to love,
He knew how to make someone a friend.

The boy took the address and with lot of hopes,
He reached at a slum and questioned many,
She was not there and nobody knew,
Where she has gone and what happened to her,
Meanwhile an old man when heard of him,
Came to the boy and caressed him,
I knew your mother her husband was my friend,
He was a taxi driver and died in accident,
His beautiful wife while carrying you,
Was gang raped and after that,
She was never seen but after few months,
Her dead body was found that was lying on the beach,
The boy burst into tears then suddenly smiled,
Thanks God I am not, not a dirty love child!


Submitted: Sunday, November 16,2014
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6. by Heather Wilkins:


BLOWING IN THE WIND


Standing with arms
outstretched toward
heaven

leaves catch the sun
casting reflections

silver images dance
on their surface

branches hover together
creating an umbrella
of protection

listening to secrets
borrowed from the wind

whisper in my ear

share with me the magic
blowing in the wind.


submitted Sept.2014
copyright heather burns USA
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7. by Heather Wilkins:


LIFE'S WILDERNESS


Traveling
through
life's
wilderness

Many
thorns
along
the
journey

Leaving
behind
a veil
of tears

Tangled
after
thoughts
of you

Leaves
cover
the
pathway

Causing
me to
lose
my way.


submitted Aug.2012
copyright by heather burns USA
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8. By Is It Poetry:


A Florida Lizard


is it not exotic
what I'm
writing
here to you

That when
and
if you stop it


I will
have to say
it's blue

And
if they hear
you cry

I
will have
to say
it's true

And
they may
never
let me

Write to
you again

But
if I let you
stay

And you
are looking
out
my window

Can you see
that
lizard over there

On that tree
and what
it's
doing?


Submitted: Sunday, March 29,2015
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9. by Akhtar Jawad:


First Experience of Sex

Amoeba when beautified at vertex,
Excited, twisted her body, enjoyed the apex,
Was broken in two, the pleasure of sex!


Submitted: Saturday, June 28,2014
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10. by Xelam Kan:

Celtic island

i am naïve
to this part of the world
but my fancies often here
roam and love her mysteries sore.
Like a blue vase of white roses
dripped in the morning mist
i see an Irish ghost
dancing in the breeze.
Here the darkness steals
the light's charm and icy winds
hum the Celtic tunes, and bring
the golden fairies down, to play
hide and seek in the misty woods
and kiss the snowy lakes and
laugh and sing.
Such is the charm, that's loosed
upon this enchanting land
and surely lulls my frantic fears
stiffened by nightmares,
and fill my days
full of praise...


Submitted: Sunday, March 29,2015
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11. by Valsa George:


Drops of Rain


Into the horrid heat of my summer
You fall as drops of rain
The broken bangles I treasure
Fall down and crack into still smaller bits

In this Ravenous night
As I sit outside, all alone
Looking into the night sky
I see blinking stars here and there
And my memories swim
Around a starry eyed girl

My mind speeds like a steed to those days
That had the beauty and brilliance
Of the arching rainbows of the blue
And the glowing hues of peacock feathers
You were then the rhyme and rhythm of my life
The song and melody of my spirit
The symphony in my violin
The alluring dream of my nights

Once you got into my garden unbidden
Like a flitting butterfly
A leaping grasshopper
A honey sucking bee
A winging robin
When the breeze was hissing
When the flowers were nodding
And perched on my shoulder

I plucked for you a red, red rose
And you savoured its fragrance
That very day you became my friend
You spread a pervading aroma
That wafted into me with every gushing wind
You became the throb of my life
My singular passion
A rising flame
My heart’s silent language
The sole focus of my life

But without even a parting word
You left me to my fate
Now I am pushed into a desolate isle
Where loneliness comes to strangle me
And I feel so defenseless!

Here I struggle to elbow out
The train of wistful memories
And at my feet lies the withered rose
The sad reminder of a passion we once shared

Now I know love hurts, it hurts terribly
Leaving one so utterly vanquished

Won’t you come once again?
As my friend, nay as my soul mate
To be together for ever
And sit looking at each other from eye to eye!
In anticipation, I wait here
For the falling echo
Of your jingling footsteps!

Yes, I am in eternal wait!

Submitted: Wednesday, March 19,2014
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12. by Valsa George:


Glimpses of Simplicity and Innocence

1

Sad enough, she had a drunk as her husband,
And two famished children, born of their wedlock,
Before the Earth revolved round the sun twice!
Before there was time enough to know each other!

Torn beyond the limits of endurance,
She had divorced him a couple of years ago,
Only to add more mouths to be fed,
As he came expressing remorse,
Each time when her womb was empty!

2

The girl watched her young skin,
Across her belly stretching,
Into an enormous mound,
And wondered why it had,
Inflated like a balloon.
She rubbed ‘Tiger balm’
As she had seen,
Her mother applying it,
On her swollen knee!

2015?
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13. by Darlene Walsh:


Life's Flower

Ah, pretty flower what promises you bring
I'm a women now, it's time to sing
All ways for an adult are now open to me
There can be nothing better you must agree

Monthly discomfort is small price to pay
For a beautiful baby someday I pray
Life is so good, Life is so great
Wonderful is a woman's monthly fate

Month after month is the eternal cost
Or the human race would soon be lost
Life goes on monthly, year after year
Family grows with children I lovingly rear

I'm doing fine but I'll skip swimming today
I need to go shopping, I'll find a way
It always comes when it's least convenient
Without fear of leakage I could make an achievement

At the worst time there is no cessation
Time to cancel that planned vacation
And the price I pay goes on and on
Monthly I wish this price be gone

When life's pretty flower becomes a flood
Life threatening becomes the hemorrhaging blood
Life's flower is no more for loving gestation
Time for an outpatient endometrial ablation


Submitted: Sunday, April 6,2014
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14. by Bri Edwards:

Accidental Hacking

You may not believe this story, but I assure you it is true.
Each week I volunteer at our library and one of the jobs I do ….
is to use Clorox wipes to sanitize the public computer section.
No germ is safe when I get going; NONE avoid detection.
As I wipe across a keyboard ….i sometimes see the screen flicker,
but I don't pause to pay attention, else my boss will shout 'Clean quicker! '

The other day, in the U.S. Mail, by registered mail, receipt-requested,
I got an envelope (return address 'NSA') : I was shocked by what.....it suggested.

It seems our country's ‘security agency' had received recent complaints.
They'd been asked by many to find a U.S. hacker …..and apply restraints.
The NSA's agents had narrowed down the list of suspects to ……JUST ME!
It seems my random wiping of keys had caused a hacking spree.

The Russians had held back in Europe, feeling their plans were compromised.
Trump said he'd had proof, of Obama's foreign birth, stolen. (I wasn't surprised.)
Coca-Cola claims its secret formula's been stolen; they've forgotten what it was.
Even Santa's called about hacking at the North Pole. His elves are all abuzz.

Well I called the toll free number supplied and asked for agent 'Q'.
I explained that perhaps their suspicions were correct. What was I to DO? ?
She said 'For now don't DO anything. We'll send a cleaning crew.'
So now each week I just shelve books. My cleaning days are through.

(May 30.2014)
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15. by Beach Girl


I'd Search for You


If I could walk backwards into the night
Down dark and winding roads of pale moonlight
I’d search for you

If I could spin the earth back round the sun
To years before my heart was won
I’d wish for you

If I could fly beyond the earth's blue sky
From star to star I’d step, gazing from on high
For views of you

If like a drifting seashell I washed upon your isle
I’d hope to find you waiting there with your silly smile
I’m in love with you


Submitted: Thursday, November 21,2013
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16. by Stephen Katona


Spider In My Pencil Case


From a group of boys,
Came excited jabbering noise.
In the corner of the playground,
There was something they had found.
A boy called Tom poked it with a stick,
Watching made me feel quite sick.
I could see it was a baby spider,
My first thought was to hide her.
I cupped her in my hands,
And resisted all the boys demands,
Firmly saying 'no,
I'll never let her go! '
She tickled my palm,
Glad to be safe from harm.
I thought hard about a hiding place,
Then dropped her in my pencil case.
From that day on she was my pet.
I kept her safe from every threat.
My friends helped me catch a fly,
To feed her so she would not die.
Then one day in Maths she gave me the slip,
When I forgot to close the zip.
I didn't see her leave her den,
And thought we'd never meet again,
Until I saw in plain view,
My friend upon my shoe.
The boys were quick to tell the teacher,
About my eight legged creature,
So I had to set her free,
On the trunk of a sycamore tree.
I knew it was for the best,
But I found it hard to free my guest.
At last I said goodbye,
With many a tear in each eye.
That was a year ago,
And still I miss her so...

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17. by Stephen Katona


A Quokka And Quail Quiz Night


'Quokkas and Quails I shall invite, '
Said a Queen organising a Quiz night,
'Under the Quandong trees,
There's a lovely breeze,
For games of Quoits, where you throw,
Hoops onto sticks, in case you don't know.
We'll have Questions about Quarks,
And other Quantum remarks.'

The button Quails,
Ate brown snails,
And Quandong drups,
From green leaf cups,
To Quell their hunger,
And make them feel younger,
Using Quandong moths,
As little table cloths.

In a world of fantasia,
They ate Quinces from Asia,
Quivered at tales of the tiger Quoll,
Who lived in a hole,
And attacked the nests,
Of Quetzal bird guests,
In Quassia trees,
Whenever they please.

Then they all sang a song,
Under the Blue Quandong,
Of a world without Quarrels,
And impeccable morals.

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18. ?