TRIBUTE TO MEN: SPLASHHALL MEMBERS' SHOES # 2 CONTEST

[champagne_shoes]

Greetings Moppets,

Allow me to kickstart Splashhall's current Members' Poetry Challenge: Champagne Shoes Two:

TRIBUTE TO MEN

Information: Post a poem which is in some (wild) way related to a tribute to men. Think edgy. Turn the readers on their heads. This is not a Hallmark Moment.
No worries if you revisit your poem to edit it. I will headhunt a few SplashHall judges to make the judging process fun and fair. I will also be dropping in sporadically to shout out encouragement, and to supply you with pertinent information.

Prizes: Payable in US funds either by Paypal or Money Orders

1st place: $30 $40
2nd place: $25
3rd place: $20
Honourable Mention: $15 Montreal Mystery Pack

[ I thought I'd top it off, and realize I have no drive to put together a Montreal Pack ]

Please note that winners may opt to donate their prize money to SplashHall.

RULES

• participants must be SplashHall members
• only one entry per person
• judges may enter a poem, but it will excluded from the competition
• give your poem a title, please. That makes it much easier for the judges.

* Other stuff may pop up as we go along. I will keep you posted.*

The deadline for submission is April 1, 2007
Please enter your poem in this thread; don't be climbing any floors.

The contest is now officially underway.

[cy street]

if you like
tell your sister i will write


i get it
i read something like that a while back

the genesis factor
by stephan a hoeller
the following excerpt was published in quest
september nineteen ninety seven

i quote in absolute deference to the author

"SOME YEARS AGO, Elaine H. Pagels, the noted religious historian, had the importance of the Book of Genesis brought to her attention in a most unusual manner. She was in Khartoum, in the African Sudan, holding a discussion with the then foreign minister of that country, who had written a book on the myths of his people. A prominent member of the Dinka tribe, her host told her how the creation myth of his people relates to the whole social, political, and religious culture in that part of the Sudan.

Shortly after this conversation, Pagels was reading a Time magazine in which several letters to the editor took issue with a particular article on changing social mores in America. To her surprise, four of the six letters mentioned the story of Adam and Eve--how God created the first human pair "in the beginning," and what kind of behavior was therefore right or wrong for men and women today. Stimulated by her conversation in Africa, she quickly recognized that many people, even those who do not literally believe it, still return to the archaic story of creation as a frame of reference when faced with challenges to their traditional values."

before this becomes about you
pour me a big bucket
a blind double
eighteen years old
rain off the brim

clink
clink
light explodes silently
grains of sugar
the luminosity of grapes

i have pictures
thirty five pounders
pink flesh
mouths a mile wide
succulent bellies

i did not trip
no one lined me up and shot me
there was no four story fall
you know
i know
where a deep sleep ends

when i ask
what sort is he
i am happy to leave your skirt on

in a fit of slander
your dancing envy earrings
reveal ancient cities
buried
missing sea ice
gods invented by clouds
exquisite sand stories
stolen beaches

it pleases me to say good bye
and by the time you find my numberless
doorless
slow way home
i will arrive late
i will celebrate my
i should have inspired you
i crave blades of grass
warm chocolate
a new bus line

do you know what white elephants go for

i lurk beneath the reflection
sagging willows
lonely visitors

i am paid for

mister bernal

something to drink

i suggest
raw
wrapped unevenly
pickled organic horseradish
a bit of basil oil
two rocks of salt

i will be gone for a while
if you like
tell your sister i will write
i have business
transactions
a wine broker in spello

that is my taxi

thanks for my people

[elise]

untitled

just inside
the broom closet door
leans his old
long-handled net

she remembers.

just one shrill squeal
brought him running

she atop furniture

his net swinging and
swooping

a hero
in husband clothes.

she smiles.

alone she buries her
face in the scent
of his things

and weeps.

[champagne_shoes]

Fever In The Green Hotel
How
many
times would be
enough? he asked
himself, sipping her
sin -- a giant holding
 a teacup. He was sent to
 investigate her feckless sighs.
Her open bones called out for more. Now
he’s a trapped fever in The Green Hotel--
not quite  the mercenary he dreamed he was.

[Bittersweet]

Testosterone

Walk those Levis my way
You've got Man stitched
sideways across your crotch
in orange thread
the color of curiosity

I'll undo my buttons
if you promise not to behave
the bed is bored
and you are something new
something borrowed
but never blue

Do you know how to tie
a knot?
We'll stretch these silky
scarves into submission
just the way our limbs
like it

Tight is good
testosterone is better

And when the moon
goes down on us
and the cock crows
we will sit in silence
tongues coated
in six flavors of pleasure

[jack lindus]

.
.
.

Dirty socks
Soiled underpants
What need for a launderette?

[Caesura]

I Will Not Call You Zeus

The land and sea were there,
You built the roads that lost us.
In trenches deep with stench
of mud, you fought the wars
that claim us.

No longer stone, your tears
have wet my bosom.
You leave no clue as to the planet
you are from.  Friend and alien,
we share a diaphanous affection.

[champagne_shoes]

HiYa Moppets,

Wonderful entries to date, but participation is a little... sluggish. How can I cajole further submission? Show your colours, please.


   



just shoes

[nixon]

 shoes,

  my excuse (s),

mine is still in draft....am waiting to see if something else comes bubbles to the surface....I am a chronic procrastinator.....I work better under pressure....

 April 1st.....right....unless I get writers fright...it will be there... no later than 11:59 pm CST, on March 31st.

Ideas.....wort the hell out of people.....Ask Rg, to send out a member announcement....leave people reminders in their posts.... bribes and blackmail (j/k)


wishing you a warm spring day

brenda

[the beholder]

dusty bottles of Jack Daniels
old crushed pats blue ribbon cans
litter weather beaten ol'porch
like bones at the lair of the monster
of some fire side tale

worm eaten wood swing
flaking leaden paint like confetti
rusty chain squealing in protest
as i shift my weight careful lest i fall

half remembered shouts
echo through in-termintent years
gazing across sandy overgrown yard
spying that bike from Christmas
what was it eighty-four

should of came back long ago
just couldn't quite forgive you dad
thought we had plenty of time
never thought this is how it would end

damn it why didn't you ever call
was it so hard to say you were sorry
sis' never told me you were this close
losing a suddenly stiffling tie
swinging on a run down ole porch

wishing the years weren't there
some way to rewind
any thing to have a happy ending
yet this is life dad as you told me time an again
it's not always what we wish it was

yet preacher said some nice words
you would have thought them a wee bit glossy
yet they made sissy cry
so i suppose they were good ones

if you could look in on her time after time
funny all this time i hated you so much
only to find myself crying just as hard as sis
when the laid you to rest next to momma

[wellwisher]

Conquest

target engage and penetrate

raw
the tines pierce it
the blood squirts

toss the shotglass
grab the bottle by the neck
head back and swallow

execute swiftly
the hangars unzipped
metal glints in the air

the payload moment
extended silent white
explosions

denouement
double pump a Marlboro anticlimax
exhale slowly

[Sartor]

A TRIBUTE TO MAN

Is man, the noble beast that stands supreme,
born to rule the masses?
To dominate the prey of his regime,
to be the predator of lower classes.
To be the pinnacle,
a capstone high atop the pyramid,
While other life forms pander to his bid,
so proud and clinical.

When in command of all that he surveys;
he asks the question why.
Why should not his own brethren, sing him praise?
Is he a god, that no one can defy?
Majestically regal,
he put the question to a weaker man
and that was when the troubles all began.
Man, now the hawk and eagle.

The hawk and eagle circle warily.
Hone talons as they wait,
then raiding sparrow’s nest, guiltless with glee
and teach their young the ways to kill and hate.
The strong shall rule the weak
with atom bombs and governmental rules,
by taxes and electing foolish fools
and play the hide and seek..

Has man forsaken his nobility?
Unworthy of his goal,
to wear the purple robe of royalty
and play the part of his preordained role.
The answer is, that man,
was born to conquer all within his path
and those who will not yield must feel his wrath.
Behold, the master plan.

Man must own everything within his reach,
it is his destiny.
To sail the universe, a modern Teach.
 Force all those who would disagree, agree.
So arrogant and proud the master plan.
No single planet can hold it in check.
This earth to it, is but the merest speck.
Behold, the master;     man!

Sartor 3-19-2007

[wellwisher]

Sartor
bravo!

[champagne_shoes]

bursts into affectionate laughter at WW's unrestrained accolade


shoes

[Maitredasa Karuna]

The Boy Of The Golden Phallus

The boy of the golden phallus
is of articulate speed

He masculates verbs
and breaks up dead subjects
with sharp wisdom teeth

The boy of the golden phallus
paints electric chairs with his tongue
and his deeds are made of iron

He slips through the hours of the day
with king snake grace
and pours through the night
in a flood of vision

The boy of the golden phallus
accumulates dreams
and shoots them
on the face
of the world-

[Oneiros]

The man across
the unfinished street,
he had his tee off.

Working a jack-hammer,
listening to the radio
some horny girl
just walked by.

Don't care about her,
she got ugly feet
anyway.
And he's got a large

piece of rod,
hammering pieces
off her rocky ass.

[A-FRIEND]

Oneiros,

If you stop and think real hard on it, I'm sure you can do much better than this.
I'll be looking forward to it.

[seraph]

Amen for Men!

With their hard bodies
and such soft hearts
Our warriors are
but children themselves

Their thoughts enclosed
yet their mouths are opened
Dates and memories are eroded
except stats from various arenas

Weighted worries crush them
while they appear to be oblivious
Such lustful strength
produces soft tender whispers

Driven to distraction
most quite focused on women
Such dreamers, that no matter how paunchy
some young thing will still want them


Deep voices
belie their high hopes
Men can be so dangerous
and so damn intriguing

Long live our men and may they chase us for eternity
   While catching us in strong loving arms

[witt]

His Hand

his hand opens the jar
that I have
whacked with a knife
banged on the counter
pried with the fork's tines
run under hot water
till I can't hold it

so easy for him

the grip could crush
my throat in an instant

yet

it cradles my breast
till I open up

easy

[dedm]

what I kept


I am forgetting my father
I can't remember his hands
I know oxygen is flammable

that no matter how a nurse
tries    a towel around the neck
of a dead man won't keep

his mouth from falling open
I remember before the visitation
my mother closing the French

doors    how she took a tissue
and from my father's face
wiped away the rouge

the way she turned to the mortician and said  --
my husband's cheeks were never that color