Honorable Mentions: Spring Contest

The Road Home

By: Kelli J Gavin

I have walked one too many roads

A few stray paths have distracted me

Not always sure where I was going

Or why I was called away

Home should be where the heart is

But sometimes my heart would fail

A faulty human with a messy soul

At least I thought I should search

Maybe there was something more

Someplace where my mind could rest

Where I wouldn’t feel such constant flux

A place where sleep would come easily

But those roads lead to nothing I wanted

Everything I thought was for me- wasn’t

Joy couldn’t be found down any worn road

Happiness couldn’t be detected on a new path

Rest was absent from any trail my feet tread

Boldness was needed to turn back around

To return to where I had come from

I wasn’t going to accept how I had failed

I learned that acceptance was defeat

Finding the strength to make changes

Discovering new ways of loving life daily

The road home seemed to be a needed journey

I realized that I needed to be elsewhere

Only to find that road home

I needed to create a new life

Spring is the time of renewal

A time to stay the course and rediscover

That everything I need is within reach

The road home is the only road for me

Bio-

Kelli J Gavin of Carver, Minnesota is a Writer, Blogger and Professional Organizer. Her work can be found with Clarendon House Publishing, The Ugly Writers, Sweatpants & Coffee, Zombie Pirates Publishing, Love What Matters, and Southwest Media among others.  Kelli’s first two self published books were released in 2019 (I Regret Nothing- A Collection of Poetry and Prose and My Name is Zach- A Teenage Perspective on Autism). She has also co-authored 15 anthology books. Her 3rd and 4th books will be published in 2020 and 2021.  Kelli is currently writing a book of fiction short stories.                                                                                                                                                                                        Her blog can be found at www.kellijgavin.blogspot.com .

Daffodils, In A Box.

by Alyson Faye
A tight-knit troupe
of lemon-capped florets
bulb-bedded in a box.
We worship the light –
veering to the left,
then to the right.
Our plumy stems
feather the air,
whilst our roots break free.
Our heads burst
into a citrine froth
joyous, to greet the day.

 

Untitled Poem

By Andy Campbell

The sun emerges:
The warmth a friend thought vanished.
And dormant seeds flex

Shaken from slumber, heeding
Instincts long buried,
Safely rested under soil.

The garden, once grey
Explodes in motion capture,
Colours emerging.

(Andy Campbell)

https://www.facebook.com/postordinandy

 

Flowering

By Nicole S. Entin

The slow rise from the nadir of seasons, the depths
Of snow melting away to reveal the barren, untilled
Dirt beneath. Impossible infinitude of the world renewed
As the terrestrial creatures begin to stir, breathing
Vibrant new life upon the once-dead land.

Daffodil yellow sunlight streaming onto the ground
Where the grass has begun to push through the earth.
Mother Nature’s labour of love, verdant hopeless
Blessing for the humans who live in their self-made
Linoleum and brick paradise, and still plant pansies,
Crocuses, and hellebore on their front lawns, in their
Window boxes. Their own labour of love, when they
Tuck the tiny seeds into the soil, and watch their
Offspring grow, bloom, reach into the clear blue sky.

Obligatory moment of wonder after the frigid cold
Cedes its glacial grip in favour of a gentle chill,
Letting budding branches sprout diminutive green
Leaves, paper-thin and translucent, like aging skin
On these newborn progeny of springtime.

 

Nicole S. Entin is a teenage poet, writer, playwright, and theatre director living in Toronto. Her poetry has been featured numerous times in anthologies published by the Poetry Institute of Canada, and won second prize in the youth category of the Open Ages National Poetry Contest. She is published in Synaeresis (Harmonia Press), and has an upcoming publication in Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal. Her full-length play, Locked in a Room, was produced for the National Theatre School Festival, winning an Award of Merit for playwriting. Her latest play, In the Chocolate Boxes, had a staged reading in October 2019 at Alumnae Theatre’s Next Stage Readings series. She is also a youth member of the Playwrights’ Guild of Canada. She will soon be moving on to the next chapter of her life, as she pursues studies in English and Comparative Literature at the University of St. Andrews, UK.