TYWC  - WORLD POETRY DAY 2001
Contest Winners

The following poems are the winning entries in TYWC's contest
held to celebrate World Poetry Day March 21st 2001. We hope you enjoy them.

First place
Musiqua, & Sienna S-J,

Second place
Rebekkah Laeuchli, Moonlight222, Oleander Myst,
Ezis, Pixiedust, Mulyahnto, Arianllyn,
Andrew Chong, Crazybob, Little Cheetah, & Kizzj,

Third place
Darchala Chaoswind, Alexia Winter,
Gold & Writer4ever15

Congratulations Everyone

First Prize Winners

Musiqua

spring flirts with winter
forcing the last grungy snow
to melt into a puddle
at the sight of it
creating mud slushies
brown dead grass pokes up
hoping that it's still alive
by some degree.
trees realize they're naked
for the first time in months
and they blush green
the days learn to love my town
and soon they don't want to leave
but the moon and stars want
their short turn at the talent show
of the merging of winter and spring

Sienna S-J

but that i could
gentle my hand
like a spring breeze shivering,
ladybird-like,
against your
black-eyed honey green skin
and you would
shed your
ash leaf spring-fall
dandelion newness.

but that you would
open your
woody sourgreen smelling 
buds, blossom and
bear fruit,
moonyellow butterbeans,
that you would
swell and ripen
like sweet nectar-laden peaches,
wasp clustered.

Second Prize Winners

Rebekkah Laeuchli

1
Spring is joking with the boy
Joking with his friends
The sunlight giving of its warmth
To raise their spirits high

Spring is giggling with the girl
Giggling with her friends
Cool as the breeze that sweeps the earth
That rushes from the sky

2
Spring is laughing at my heart
Laughing with my friends
Who don't exist. But in my soul
They stay till my world ends

Moonlight222

    The grass is perfectly tanned with spring,
the smeel of barbeques, 
and the cool breeze blows your hair around,
and I watch the firflys light up, and try to catch each other,
and I sit on the porch,
feeling a chill,
as I watch, 
I see nothing but darkness, 
and I smell nothing but spring.

Oleander Myst

The sky falls sometimes,
You know.
It cracks and shatters,
And collapses against the weight of the rain.

I’ve watched it bleed to the ground... 
I’ve seen oceans swallow dripping navy tears
Of a sobbing sky
Once when you weren’t looking.

I saw it sigh and wilt, 
In muted shades
Of faded baby blue.

Even the sky
Severs and splinters
Sometimes,
Much the way that I do,
When I cannot bear the weight
And I cannot find the strength,
To be your sky,
And keep you from falling as well.

But I don’t mind,
You know.
I don’t mind
Holding you up; 
Keeping you sheltered,
Blocking the monsoon.

Beckoning...
Reaching...

Turning faint, shale grays
And heartache
Into vibrant shades 
Of hopeful shimmering cerulean blue.

Being your faith,
I am used to.  
Being your sky
Has become second nature.

This air I breathe is yours.

For you, I’ve held up the clouds
And kept the rain at bay.
I’ve wilted from heat 
Battered and exhausted.

I’ve weathered too many storms
By your side;
Buried too many floods
In the simple crook of your neck,
To care all that much 
If I should falter,
And worry whether
I may fall.

Faith, after all, 
Tells me
That you would never let me go.

Even if I cannot be the strong one.

Even when I lack the courage to hold you,
Or forget how to heal your  broken hope;
Your undying trust.

Even if I cannot wash away
The tears you cry  that stain the sunset,
streaking it
In faded shades 
Of lackluster slate blue.

Even still... 

I always know
That the sky is but two parts of a whole.

When you are night
I am day.

I am the sun
To carry your moon.

I am the blanket
That bundles an evening frost,
And I am the noir to cradle falling stars
And catch them so you won’t burn your hands

You are the precious twilight
To carry my tired sunset,
The silver moon
To carry the jaded sun into the night
And we travel together
As two wandering halves of a whole.

Two imperfect beings
Always trying to harness the truth;
To catch the universe;
To be the air and know the rain,
And paint an ominous sky
In innocent,
Heartfelt ribbons,
Of rich shining sapphire.

But an unstable world gets heavy
Every once in awhile.  

It wobbles and teeters,
Spills petals of flowers,
Silver feathers of the wings of angels,
And rifts under strain.
It shivers and shakes the most tender of balances,
And so we just can’t help but fall
Sometimes.

You think I am strong but my wings can become weak.
You see me sadistic, but I still sometimes shudder.

My eyes spill over too.  

And even through those rain soaked tears,
Through the wind that may tear me
Asunder,
It is always you that I search for. 

My belief
My truth.

I feel as if
We are the constant rising sky
Together.


Because, you know,
The sky does fall sometimes.
Just as I may fall...
Sometimes.

But I am not afraid
To tumble;
And I do not fear the fall.

Night rescues day,
And I know that you would never let me go.

I know the passion
That mirrors my own.
It speaks silent discourses
In your eyes.
I can see the unspoken promise
And I feel its power
Much like the rising sun.

No, I am not afraid.

Night follows day,
Just as moon follows sun.

So I know
Without fear of doubting, 
Without a single tear;
That you would be the one
To catch me.
To hold me, 
To bring me back from the edge.

You would be the one.

You are the one.
For me, and for always;  
Of this, I am sure.  

And if ever the world should explode
In wild shades 
Of bold and bright,
Blinding baby blue,
If ever your universe should tilt,
This same promise I make 
In a faith to be your sky.

To catch you.
To find you.  

It ever the world should shatter,
If ever you need my warmth,
If ever the sky is torn,
And even if I should fall...

Ezis

Dear Life!
How are You
I am sorry I have not looked at You for such a long time
You know I was afraid
I know You waited for ages before I saw You
I promise from now to give You everything
Happiness
Clean tears
Myself
Without saying goodbye
With love for You and all other lives

Pixiedust

I was walking down the street
Tappa! Tappa!
I tasted the sleet
That was falling
Mmmmm! Mmmmm!
It tasted sweet
Yum! Yum!
I hoped it wasn't sprayed by a car
Hope, hope, hope!
I wish the world that winter will come again soon
Wish, wish, wish!

Mulyahnto

Entrenched behind your reasons
Like winter you endure
But changing by the seasons
You shape your sweet allure

        As armored in your subtle air
        You wield your gentle arms
        Emerging on a hopeful prayer
        To strife with wav’ring warmth

        And lightly void inclemency
        To paint your intent truth
        With polychromic remedy
        Revealing hidden youth

Although you see tomorrow
There’s still enduring pain
As change will come with sorrow
And so, the spring with rain

        But win, you will, so confident
        While basking in the light
        To prove that love’s no incident
        Your truth will now shine bright

        If you deem all is viable
        With but the ample thing
        Then love is undeniable
        When you are like the spring

Arianllyn

You cannot hold them in.

When the forsythia is
sprinkled with big
little yellow stars
and the green comes
back, in the ground,
in the air,
you cannot hold them in.

Don't even try to.
It is your nature,
but don't prison them--
into your world
of cold fluorescent tubes,
dull concrete walls,
chalk dust on green
blackboards --
you cannot hold them in.

You may keep them in
six hours a day
as they stare out
glass windows in the wall
where they see but
don't hear the red robin
chirping outside and
can't feel the squish
of the mud while
their bodies can't
escape.  Still,
you cannot hold them in.

For you may handcuff their bodies,
but their souls are always free.

You cannot hold them in.

Andrew Chong

I saw you, 
A ravaged ice queen in state-
-Mink and grey furs draped around
Her long, chaste neck. 
She adhered to the arrogant men
Around her,
The sashaying sluts on stilts.
Aware of their silver-slivered links 
On their hands
That bore her husband's name
On the inset
And thank God, not child.
She fingered her own wedding band
With her naked hands
Adorned in polished chains
The gems that glittered at her throat
And her wolf-grey coat
Comforted her of her place 
In the world
Yet, she had never felt more cold. 

Then she saw me,
And her eyes grew large,
The blankness in them
Became a startled deep grey
Like the first spring rain
That drove the winter away.
Her auburn hair seem to flicker
Of flame
Of sunshine, of light, of winter's bane.
Her jewels and bracelets melted away
In silvery light 
Gone were her chains
She emitted warmth
The colour returned to her face
Her band shimmered gold
Of Aslan's fiery mane

And as you saw me,
Your pride and your pain, 
Your only child,
Your pink-cheeked saint

I swore there was

A touch of spring
True verdant and green
In those eyes of thee

Crazybob

Strike thee down oh wicked sun,
And send away the breeze,
For merry times are few these days,
And would you mind the seas?

My spirit isn't happy,
And my ego ain't quite right,
So gleeful tales of noontime bliss,
Are but nightmares that do fright,

Woe is me my loving friend,
And somber is my mood,
So get thee out of here young lad,
Or you shall be my food,

So send away the daffodils,
And someone shoot the birds,
Cause I don't feel like dancing,
And I'm sick of rhyming words,

Little Cheetah

The season of spring is finally here
The birds are chirping in the tall green trees
It's time for the clouds to shed their big tears
When we see the beauty we sigh with ease

The flowers all around us are blooming wide
Roses and daisies shine in the bright sun
The beautiful butterflies fly up high
The fight of Spring and Winter has been won

The kids in the fields are flying their kites
When the sunlight fades we know dark is nigh
The cool breeze blows gently in the night
The stars shine brightly in the nice spring sky

The crickets in the tall grass sing their song
"Spring is here! We have waited so long."

Kizzj

                  Did I ever realise
             You were my angel in disguise
                    The time it took
                     For me to see
                     The strength
                  That was inside of me
                  The strength you gave 
                  The strength you stole
             The strength i never had at all
              And this i owe to you my friend
                   Will you be there?
                    To see it end?

                  Did I ever realise
             You were my demon in disguise
                   I know not how and
                     I do not see
                   How I could act 
                   But could not be
            The rage I had, the fear I hid
                  You showed the way
                 Through what you did
            And this i owe, to you my foe
                  Will you be there?
                   To watch me go?

                  Did you ever realise
                     I was myself 
                   Just in disguise
                   To hide the truth
                    I'd run a mile
             I'd hide behind a painted smile
             A smile i broke, a smile i made
                   A smie i thought
                   Would never fade
                 And this i owe, to me
                    Why then before
                    Could i not see?

Third Prize Winners

Darchala Chaoswind

Spring
A wretched season's tiding
It bears not the beauty
Of anything else
Just a muddied mixture of the rest
Not the heat of summer
Pale ice of winter
Nor burning autumn leaves
It tries to be all, but is nothing instead
Just as brown tries to be
Red and green
Melted snow
Sodden, rotting leaves
And sickly green shoots
That may never grow to beauteous flowers

I will not speak of 
"The sun's sweet warmth"
Breaking through the clouds of winter
For in the end, it corrupts the pristine snow
With dripping mud and now-thawed grime
Foul stench of rotting bodies
That lay frozen in the winter

Spring is only what I must endure
Until another season comes

Alexia Winter

Spring is
Freedom
Of the outdoors, 
And Sweet grass
Like honey.
Spring is
Luscious honeysuckle,
And blossoming flowers. 
Spring is
The tranquility
Of sunsets,
And the excitement
Of campfires.
Spring is
New life,
And blessed innocence.
Spring is
Sunny days
Full of smiles,
And birds’
Festive songs.
Spring is
A truly wonderful
Phenomenon,
Because it’s
Like being kissed by God.

Gold

I look from my window into the clear blue sky,
I hear a birds voice cut through the air into my heart.
But I do not see the real me.
I can help my friends with a problem,
Help them understand the world they live in.
Yet I don't understand myself.
Some say I know exactly the right words,
That I am always there with an answer.
Inside my heart aches.
I know the wind is blowing across my brow,
The sun is shining,
But I do not feel.
People tell me of their black holes,
I help them out.
Yet I am traveling deeper into my own.
I feel a coldness replace the suns' heat,
A cold gust is the wind.
My heart is turning to ice.
If I am the one who helps,
Helps those with problems.
Who is there for me?
A flower wilts,
I help it grow.
But my own bud is dieing.
I look around,
What a cruel world.
I hear a cry,
It cuts into my heart.
I help.
There is no one to help me,
Help me in my dire need.
I look around and see...
A mirror.
My reflection is clear,
But I still shout.
Who is that.

Writer4ever15

Your hair is of a flaming red,
Your eyes are puppy brown.
When I see your friendly smile,
I forget my frown.

When I saw you sitting there,
I knew it from the start:
You are my one and only, and
I'll keep you in my heart.

© 2001 - TYWC & the authors