Photograph by Susan Jane Sims
Totally overwhelmed by poem entries for this first challenge of 2015. Ten made it to the shortlist and Poem number 3 made it through as the winner in the readers vote. Many thanks to everyone who entered and congratulations to Gill McEvoy for Through a Glass Darkly.
Poem 1
(Untitled)
In my resolution to be dry for a while
I believe that to be content with
All that I have is the key to the rest of my life.
At last I want to live
To come back not as an ant but as a human.
I love life enough to want to relive it,
Not as friends fear because I have regrets.
I want to live, to celebrate the blue of the sky,
The twitch of the wagtail,
The smile of an elderly woman
Distracted from her impending end,
And invest in those auld acquaintances
That have become friends.
Rachel Thompson
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Poem 2
Old Acquaintance
The chiming of bells
False bonhomie swirls
Around a crowded room
I feel alone in the world
A new year ahead
But old hopes all killed
Destroyed by a few words
All dreams remain unfulfilled
The party’s over
So good at the start
My glass is empty now
Along with my breaking heart
Carol Mills
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Poem 3
Through a Glass Darkly
I never understood that phrase
but now I think I might –
I look though crystal into shadow,
see what’s hidden there:
gifts of thoughtfulness, surprise.
Beyond them glass and shadow,
more and more, unending rows,
open secrets to my eyes.
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Poem 4
Circles
The year’s great spool has looped around again.
Another change and challenge; another chance.
Bravely it shines; brightly it rings the first hour in
With pristine crystal clarity, with spangled, glittering
Glasses all belled and silver-rimmed.
Eyes gleam and glow for one another, lambent
As candles that spread their little pools
Of perfumed light, spill
Diamond rings of marigold fire
Around the table’s welcoming wheel.
So let darkness
Of darkest midnight
Fall as it may:
Circles of brightness
Drive all dark away.
Lizzie Ballagher
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Poem 5
Our New Year
There are no tears of sadness,
for a year that’s passed away.
The tomorrow that we hoped for
is today.
Now the party s over
Just you and I remain,
to make our resolutions
and toast our love again.
Glasses standing empty,
Boxes lying bare,
Signs of celebration,
Spread out, everywhere.
The lamp we lit together,
Shall keep glowing through the night,
Shimmer through the darkness,
to meet the dawning light.
The past is now behind us,
as we await the rising sun,
A new year has just started,
A new life, just begun.
Leela Gautam
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Poem 6
The Office Party
Wine glasses, lipstick smeared,
and discarded finger food
await the caterers.
Balloons deflate, hissing gossip.
Back at home
she kicks off killer heels,
undoes his tie, slides her fingers
over the buckle of his belt.
She won’t ask how old he is
or how young he is;
reality will come soon enough
with the chill of dawn.
Di Coffey
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Poem 7
Aftermath
The beating drum within my head,
The worms twisting in my belly
I survey the detritus of a hazy evening
Reflected in the gleam of glass.
Where now are the frivolities?
The alcohol loosening tongues,
Cutting the civilised bonds that anchor us
All reflected in the gleam of the glass.
I falter at half eaten pies and drying sandwich
Streamers soaking in puddles of former fun
Cans crushed by the party strongman
All reflected in the gleam of glass.
My shaking hands clear table and chairs
Bulging bin bag, clinking and rustling with the wasted and broken
Earrings and cufflinks, treasures in the wasteland
Reflected in the gleam of glass
Never again, my resolution firm
The cost to health and pocket apparent
I will clear and clean and keep my promise
My behaviour reflected in the gleam of glass.
Clearing head, calming stomach,
My nausea falls away as my chaos diminishes
Perhaps just one last drink to toast my new life
The lie reflected in the gleam of glass.
Martin Fuller
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Poem 8
Rebirth
A call to emptiness, to stop worrying
And try being like the crystal glass
Glistens like mellow sunshine,
Covers the gloam like umbrella,
Glitters through mist of darkness,
Then shall begin the wholeness
In spreading lights of hope.
Denim Deka,
Assam, India
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Poem 9
Party’s Over
Clear up the glasses, empty the dregs,
Wipe up the spills of beer, the legs of wine,
Forget the passes made at the office party
By the artificially relaxed Jacks
At the Jills and Janes all free at Christmas
And the pole-axed Maxines and Maries
At the Bills and Daves, all cheer and frayed
At Christmas.
Clear up the messes; empty the guns,
Wipe up the spills of blood on the lane,
Ignore the messages on the office walls,
In the supermarkets, the massive attacks
On our ills and pains all free at New Year
And the fractious magazines. Cry your ‘Je Suis Charlie”s
And don’t fear. The party’s over but there’s always
Next year.
Michael Docker
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Poem 10 – Angie Butler
Darkly glass
Words trickle down from the past
taking on a different meaning, still
as turning water into wine, a glass
becomes a mirror of reflection
familiarity lends a friendly
warmth to pious words
of saints through
A
glass
darkly
but
now
I
see
and know in part
as words are changed
and distorted over time but always stay faith hope and
charity and the greatest of these is charity and time and wine
Angie Butler
