InterBoard Poetry Competition

listen

listen
she said
we’ve got to talk

and i listened
to muddy hooves
galloping across the bone bridge
of my ribcage
as she rocked
back and forth
in the saddle

stop
she said
i’ve got to
talk to you

so i stopped
and she climbed off
lit a cigarette
blew it out
the side of her mouth

i can’t do this
anymore
she said

smoke
i said
will kill you

fuck you
she said
i can’t
fuck you anymore

what’s his name
i said

it’s not what you think

what do i think
i said

that i’m cheating
on you
but i’m not
it’s just
that i don’t
want to

what’s his name
i said again

what does it matter
she said

it matters

don’t be mad
she said
as she looked
at the ceiling
and wiped
mascara
with her thumbs

uh-huh

i told you
how i am

uh-huh

it’s, it’s
bill

uh-huh

i climbed off
the bed, dripping
200,000 years
of sweat
and semen

you said you wouldn’t
be mad

uh-huh
that’s
what I said

listen
she said again

and i listened again
and this time
i heard the feet
of all the rats
that ever crossed the atlantic
running across steel strings
the screams of a baby
cape buffalo thrashing
in the jaws
of the alligator
the sound of a wind
shield in a sand storm
with sharks teeth
for wiper blades

we don’t make love
all we do is
fuck
she said
i want more

and bill
I said
has it

christ
you make this hard

listen
i said

you just skinned me
with a dull knife
chopped off my
fingers
pulled out the
bones
whittled notches
and used them for clothespins
to hang up the raw flesh
on my intestines
you tied up
for a clothes line
and then soaked it all
with gasoline
in my front yard
on christmas morning

don’t ask me
for a light

Terry Lucas (Bardone1)

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REBIRTH

Where the mountains kiss the shore,
Underneath a giant tree,
Where the northern birds are soaring,
Calling loudly, wild and free,

I have come to cast my tears
Onto the grey seascape below,
Watering the salty rocks
Where only lichen grow.

I have come to breathe the air
That is frozen drops of rain.
At last my soul rests easy.
I have come home again.

Where the waves crash on the cliffs
And a constant water fall
Crashes down like thunder
I now stand and I recall

The voices of my childhood;
The words from off the land;
The songs of sea and rivers.
At last I understand

I'm part of all around me;
Of the sea, the sky, the earth.
I've returned and as I ponder
I have reached my own rebirth.

Pam H. Murray (rhymetimeblue)

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DECIPHERING A PANTOUM

In framework, line one’s the brace--
And every line’s a building block,
Following the first line’s pace;
Syllables click off like a clock.
Every line’s a building block,
And fills up its appointed space.
Its syllables click off like a clock
Whose minutes formulate an hour.
Each line fills its appointed space,
And expedites the pantoum’s flow,
Like flying minutes form an hour.
Line twelve fills a pivotal place:
It expedites the pantoum’s flow,
Embellishing the first line’s pace.
Though line twelve holds a pivotal place,
Line one’s still the framework’s brace.

Jim Dunlap (ecrivain01)

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MORE ABOUT THE IBPC...

General information

Archive of winning poems

Most recent poems entered from About Poetry Forum

Poems entered from About Poetry Forum, 2003

Poems entered from About Poetry Forum, 2002

Poems entered from About Poetry Forum, 2001

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