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JANUARY FORUM
*****
1/5/2009
Nope, Boss. Ain't never heard it that I can
remember, but it will give me something to look for.
Dondi
*****
1/5/2009
Way to go Elaine, it's almost as if I had
been there. Wait a minute, I might have been....
Don(di)
*****
1/5/2009
I once heard a Raggae tune on the radio. The lyrics went something like this: "Life cannot start in a refrigerator. Life must start in an incubator." I have never been able to indentify the song or the artist. Anybody know that one?
*****
1/5/2009
I have long wondered if evolution obviates
the existence of a Universal Creator.
Most of the time I tend to believe it does not.
MIRACLE
by Elaine Polin
From a single cell we grew
seeded by the Universe,
protected in the Ocean's depths,
commanded to evolve.
In that fluid habitat
lying safe in salty beds,
infant cells grew, reproduced
and bonded into groups.
Back in Time beyond our ken
cells mutated, formed new life,
developed motion, size and thought,
moved up to Earth's wet shores.
From the creatures crawling there
struggling in the primal ooze,
came after eons, humankind
and from them, poetry.
Is it not a miracle --
from the Word evolved such words?
Can those words now save our kind
or have we said too much?
*****
1/5/2009
Elaine and her little black bag filled with "Deka 3" and "Pavlov's Cat." Here, she's taking them to the Pulitzer Committee at Columbia University, with a stop by Thomas Jefferson for inspiration.
These shots were taken in October 2008.
*****
1/4/2009
I want to wish you all a Happy New Year!
Great success to all!
Surface Tension
by C.S. Scotkin
The old pond is alive
with water skaters
gliding on longish legs
never once able
to feel the cool wet.
Soon,
some creature with
sufficient mass will
break through
to harvest
its hidden gifts.
*****
1/3/2009
Here's one that needs help. Any ideas?
LUMBERING JACK
by TD Euwaite
A tree cannot contain its habits,
Willow bends and maples sap it,
Climbers climb, the lightning crackles
Sparrows guard the nest from Grackles.
Rooting out the oaken tout,
jolted brown the springing sprout,
Defoliate with flailing smatchet,
Cutting down--saw handled hatchet.
Green a gift that God has made,
Lift a swift and fearsome blade,
Bleed the forest floor no sin,
Cuttings down will grow again.
*****
1/3/2009
Age
by T. Turrell
And what if time steals
youth
from lover's
dreams,
And slow hands
point
the way to
yesterday.
Where memories of
goals
can still be
found.
And nothing
seems to be
so out of
reach,
That love alone
can't stop the
turning
page.
Despite
the touch of lines
that shadow
age.
*****
1/3/2009
Poetic Malice
by Stonepaper
I frittered away
a month
full of days
befuddled,
a muddled mind,
in timeless lines forgotten.
How
rotten
of me
to rudely offend. How
crude
of me to make
pretend, again.
The end.
*****
1/3/2009
Heavy Dreams and Modern Problems
What has led to lead?
What leads to lead?
By the time you read
What you've read,
What you've read
Could leave you dead.
Lead is just plumb dumb
Any way you paint it
Whether you plumb it or thumb it
It may have begun
Or end with a gun,
It leaves you rather numb.
We are violent in silent ways
Poverty poisons many's days
The chips are there
When the chips are down
It is where
Poor kids suck in some parts of town.
It sucks!
It could be black as well as white
In some places it is red,
It could as well be grey or pink,
Often we cover it with red ink,
Say it's the way folks are bred.
It's a black problem we say in spite!
It's in the blood, it's in the brain.
It will not wash down the drain
The plumbing lined with lead,
Cathedral roofs so lined
To keep rain off heads of those refined
To pollution further led
As it leached out with the rain.
Rain came down in buckets,
Do we kill less with leaden bullets?
Impulse less controlled results
As lead's effects the brain insults.
One step away from gold, alchemist's dreams,
We need a philosopher's stone it seems.
A. K. Jungers
*****
1/3/2009
Terza Rima Sonnet
'Bursting Emotions'
by Nancy Alcorn
As sunrise bursts, ands spreads across the sky
Lavishing warmth, her shades of color blend
To my surroundings a peaceful sense supply
A new beginning, we must gently tend
Outstretched hand subconscious it is seeking
My censored thoughts, to you will freely lend
Thoughts, clandestine, creep in, slowly sneaking
I, now await, your arcane reaction
While through ten fingers, blue eyes are peaking
How can one explain this mute attraction?
As you approach me, heat intensifies
If we should touch we’ll find satisfaction
What my heart feels, my mind soon amplifies.
My heart, now surely, in your control lies
*****
1/3/2009
TIME IS NOT A RIVER
by Elaine Polin
Time is not a river
flowing to its terminus.
Time moves in all directions,
stops and stands motionless,
moves backward through space
on ancient beams of light
towards the Word.
I have lived on Pangea,
trembled as Earth exploded,
split continents,
built mountains,
tore them down,
battled with Ocean,
surrendered to his power.
I have made footprints
in the dust of the Moon.
Now I have begun anew,
left the sick, dying Earth,
built a growing home
of light and poetry
where a future lives again.
Elaine
*****
1/2/2009
I like Stonepaper's poem. "Spoken shapes" is fresh poetic
expression. This is what poetry is all about--painting or sculpting with words.
"Hardcopy" also contains alliteration, another important poetic device.
Elaine
*****
1/2/2009
People who know poetry don't see the world in the same way as others do. They find that, in a few seconds, something wonderful can occur that becomes overlooked and unappreciated by the common person. For example, a single drop of rain splashes down upon a window, leaving shimmering streaks as it runs down the glass. In this one moment, they find a whole new variety of arts and words that make much beauty. For another person who looks upon the same drop of rain, they may grumble at the thought of another wet day, and totally miss the artful inspiration of the moment.
Sarah Ristaino
*****
1/2/2009
Hardcopy
by Stonepaper
She
demonstrates wherewithal,
son poeme de la roue tourne,
she shows the spoken shapes,
sur son voyage vers Mars
onboard a spiked chariot.
*****
1/2/2009
The New Year has finally arrived, clad in snow and sleet, but
warmed by the light of the holiday season and the poetry posted here on Mars. We
are very pleased to see all the new submissions. We are especially happy with
the thoughtful, detailed comments posted to our Poetry pages: '1 2 3 It's
Poetry' and 'Poetry Breakdown.'
Because of our poets, 2009 will certainly be filled with light and poetry for
all of us.
Elaine
*****
1/2/2009
Thanks Fred. This avatar is the cover of the 2006 Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival program. I was the editor plus a contributing writer and photographer. That's when I met the man who actually invented Rock & Roll; the late, great Bo Diddley. The painting on the cover is "Chopper" by John Bukaty.
*****
1/2/2009
WHAT is your avatar all about, Mr. Euwaite?
Fred
*****
1/2/2009
Welcome to Mars 2009.
We've been here for a year now. We've made some new friends and lost some old ones. We've published 3 books and have 3 more in the oven. Our new discussions are moving along and our contest has a national advertising campaign. Mars is a happy place.
The website will undergo many changes over the next few weeks. Our goal is to keep the quaint "country mouse" theme but to upgrade the features. Right now, everything is still hand-cranked.
If you are checking on your poem and are miffed that it is not on the blog, you can throw things at me. We are setting the bar high. If your poem does not contain a fair degree of good poetic elements, it will not be considered for advancement. Until we have the new blog software in place, there just isn't room for every poem.
You can still send poetry to the forum. We post everything that meets our guidelines.
2009 will be a Martian Revolution. Bear with us while we come up to speed.
Richard, Elaine, Mark, Glenn, Christine and Todd.
*****
1/1/2009
Tapestry of thought
by Nancy Alcorn
Free falling wedged within this tapestry of thought
Consequential words in novel revolution
Within the woven web of fibers tightly caught
Work of art reconstituted convolution
Deep sultry smoking knots of effervescent blue
Consequential words in novel revolution
Of what intention instigates these words so few
Other colors tangled in sultry, smoking knots
Deep sultry smoking knots of effervescent blue
Dying flowers stuck in their terra cotta pots
Trees are leaving flames of color frame the alley
Other colors tangled in sultry, smoking knots
Shades of bird's feather winding neatly attended
And the shades of darkness are pervading weakly
Trees are leaving flames of color frame the alley
Simple woven words that sometimes bite and tweak me
Free falling wedged within this tapestry of thought
And the shades of darkness are pervading weakly
Free falling wedged within this tapestry of thought
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