Top 5 Poems for November 2011

Hot Dust

hot dust,

black shadows

later,

an old man

sweeps the street

taps his straw broom against the wall

stoops

to clean the underside of his shoes

the sound of a workman

tapping away

is a pigeon

at some bread

on corrugated iron

another street seller

walks around the alleys

calls out to the buildings

to buy and sell

bits of metal,

anything,

he can find

lost in the colours

of the carpet

the night city,

a circuit board

from a plane

© Caroline Gardner

Concepts

Air of notions in motion,

Oh concept so abstract!

Conjured in a mind so mature,

Summarised in an inspiration,

Ready for a composition,

In a short or long length feature.

Is there need to add or subtract?

So magical a notion.

Sea of notions in motion,

Oh concept so visual!

Illustrated in a picture,

Developed from an illusion,

Ready for form generation,

In size, appearance and texture.

Does it deviate from the usual?

So critical a notion.

Land of notions in motion,

Oh concept so concrete!

All blended up in a mixture,

With vibes for a formulation,

Ready for an evolution,

In time and space at a fixture.

Is it apparent or discreet?

So practical a notion.

© Eunice Ogunkoya

The Chair

The chair is waiting.
There is a label taped to it
Which should bare your name
But instead is blank.

The chair could be electric.
You won’t know until you sit in it.
Then, if it is, you’ll light up like a three hundred watt bulb
You’ll glow, incandescent, as if lit from within.

The others at the table are waiting for you to take your place.

Take a seat, they say
Won’t you grace us with your presence.
Nothing will happen if you sit.
The chair is harmless.
It’s not wired up to anything.

Fear grips your skull –
What if, in taking your place
You are electrocuted, fried?

You don’t trust anyone,
so you hover near the door,
and miss
the grand dinner
that everybody else enjoys
the finest of banquets
the trout, the champagne, the chocolate truffles
you leave starving.

At home, you stuff your face with pasta
and wonder what would have happened

had you taken a seat.

© Laura Solomon

Re-Start

I keep your heart clenched in my fist

So I know you’re always close.

A missile for the walls,

I watched your heart explode

Let’s paint this room red, oh so bloody red.

The colour of heat, love, passion and blood shed.

Stain me, perfectly stain me.

Sink in to my skin.

I want to absorb every part of you,

Down to your core, so sweet!

I feel you burn inside

I tore you apart

Just to rebuild you.

Again and again we start!

© Marc D Brown

With You

first day at school. sat all day with my coat on,

is that it then, do i not have to come back again,

oh lord i do, I wish i had been with you,

first day of my job, new faces, new people,

strange places. how long will i have to do this,

It wouldn't feel so bad if i was with you,

First time loss, bit strange so young,

looking back, know now love never dies, Never,

would have Felt happier sooner with you,

First time in a plane, dont like taking off,

bumpy mid flight, we are coming down now,

but i would have felt much better with you,

first time alone, wasn't much fun,

hell and back, time does heal,

laughing now, Oh but to have been with you,

First time new life, New job, New car,

New home, kids back, never lost them really,

Blessed, New beginnings, And now i am with you

© Michael David Graham