There was a young lady called Fiona
Who took a boat to Iona.
She fell in the sea,
Shouted “Now I am free.
I have always been a bit of a loner”!
As in Days of Yore
When the sun sinks
Man Drinks
From the Lillie lined pool
Where many a fool
Has drunk before.
As in days of yore
So it is now.
I think on how
Everything has changed
Yet remains the same.
The fool
Still drinks
As the sun sinks
Over the stagnant pool
Where lillies have long since gone to seed,
Vultures feed
And luxuriant weeds
Supply all needs.
Ossip Mandelstam: the tragic life of an incredible poet
“My Vibrating Vertebrae and Other Poems” by Agnes Mae Graham
A great guest post on my friend, Victoria (Tori) Zigler’s site, by Chris Graham (AKA the Story Reading Ape), about his mother, Agnes Mae Graham’s collection of poetry. For Chris’s post please follow this link, http://ziglernews.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/poetry-book-by-author-agnes-mae-graham.html.
The Poet’s Obsession
Love and death are the poet’s great obsession.
Wile the former session
May be long or brief,
‘Tis certain, the performance, once over, ends in grief.
Owl
I have lain awake listening for the owl’s cry.
A note that chills
Thrills
Then does die.
One day
This bird of prey
Will carry my soul away,
Or so the supersticious say.
Mice hide
While I, in my pride
Decide
The owl’s erie cry
Signifies that I will die.
The bird has no interest in me
So why can I not be free
From his cry
That to my window nigh
does rise, then, as suddenly, die?
cynara by Ernest Christopher Dowson
Heels
Heels approaching
Conscience’s reproaching
Din Shrieks, “This is sin”!
But oh, how sweet it is to give in …
Sound ever nearer,
Clearer and clearer.
The man fears her
Yet desires.
unquenchable fires.
The body tires
Yet still he aspires
To take
And her passion awake.
Figurines
Not all metal is brass.
Figurines
Perform sceenes,
Reflected back in glass,
Then out of the play pass.
Some will return again
To cause the director pain,
But not all metal is brass.
International Poetry competition – one of the biggest and best

One of the world’s biggest and most prestigious poetry contests, the National Poetry Competition is now open for previously unpublished poems of up to 40 lines on any subject. (Publication includes being posted on blogs, twitter etc etc)
The competition is judged by Moniza Alvi, Gerry Cambrige and Jack Underwood. Every entry will be read by at least two judges – they don’t just get to see a selected short list. All poems are judged anonymously.
1st prize is £5,000
2nd £2,000
3rd £1,000 and there are seven commendations at £200 each.
Winning poems are also published in an anthology and on the Poetry Society website, and there are other exciting opportunities for each year’s winners, including the opportunity to read at some of the UK’s biggest literary festivals and events.
Entry fee: The first poem submitted costs £6.50. Subsequent entries in the same submission cost £3.50 per poem. Poetry…
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