Upcoming March IBPC 2022:

Our discussion forum for topics related to writer's block, poetry, the literary arts in general, and anything else of cosmic import.
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Michael (MV)
Posts: 2154
Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57

Upcoming March IBPC 2022:

#1 Post by Michael (MV) » 28 Feb 2022, 02:57

 
Voice your recommendation(s) here, and

Please let us know ASAP if you are not going to be available to represent the Writer's Block -

then we will know not to consider your poems further for this month's IBPC.

I/we will be looking for consensus - in keeping with a communal workshop environment

Which 1-3 would we like to see represent the Writer's Block in the finals?

After the 3 are selected, then will each author post - in this thread - the poem as the poet would like it forwarded,

and ALL the needed info/statements

Ideally, the only poems that really need to appear here are the final 3, when announced, hopefully by the 1st of the month, if not sooner

^^ the intent is organizational - if poems appear here before the selection of the final 3, then there is a congestion -

Until the final 3 are announced, please maintain poems & workshopping to the Workshop Forum. Thanks.



************

any newcomers or returnees this month, Welcome!

and here is a home link to the IBPC rules: http://ibpc.webdelsol.com/rules


In this thread, from the poems posted in the workshop forum during the course of the month, recommend/nominate by title & author.

Nominated poets, please acknowledge the nomination here in this thread.
Please reply by accepting or declining the nomination - in this thread.

Please note & observe: This is not a workshopping thread.

In this thread, poems that are ultimately selected to represent the Block are then posted here
as the author would like for the poem to be forwarded
along with all IBPC required info.

When the 1-3 poems are decided upon, and permission granted by each author of the selected poems,

along with all the info needed by each author:


1/Your name

2/e-mail address

3/statement that the poem is your original

4/and unpublished work

5/and that you don't have a poem committed to represent another board in the current IBPC. One poet one poem one board
for each monthly,

6/and the poem as you would like it forwarded to the finals.

^^ All of the above is the usual needed info as part of the process.


I will then forward the 1-3 to the IBPC finals.


Thanks

Michael (MV)
 
 
 
 
 

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Billy
Posts: 1384
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 10:56

Re: Upcoming March IBPC 2022:

#2 Post by Billy » 28 Feb 2022, 07:48

I nominate Ken's The Astronaut and Bob's Meeting An Old Friend After 20 Years

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Upcoming March IBPC 2022:

#3 Post by BobBradshaw » 02 Mar 2022, 07:02

I am not available this month, but I am thrilled to nominate Frank’s “Died Last Fall” and Billy’s “Mom’s Other Man”.
I second Ken’s “The Astronaut”.

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Billy
Posts: 1384
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 10:56

Re: Upcoming March IBPC 2022:

#4 Post by Billy » 02 Mar 2022, 21:56

I 2nd Died Last Fall

FranktheFrank
Posts: 1983
Joined: 02 Mar 2016, 18:07
Location: Between the mountains and the sea

Re: Upcoming March IBPC 2022:

#5 Post by FranktheFrank » 03 Mar 2022, 11:54

Thanks Billy, Shiva, Bob for nominations and Michael for recognition.
I'm sorry I haven't been around this month much
and for my lack of contributing to the board.
I have been ill this week, and I'm going into hospital today,
a kidney stone is moving around. Maybe I'll be out today
or not depends. So I'll leave my details in case I'm chosen.
I can't make any alterations because i might not be around
for a few days. If Bob or Michael feel there can be improvements:
grammar, tense etc. I will let Michael decide on changes.

This my own original poem, ieuan ap hywel, it has not been published
anywhere before and is not representing any other board in the IBPC.

ieuanaphywel@aol.com


_______

Died Last Fall

She Died Last Fall

The wind howls down the valley,
an icy blast from the black peaks.
It rattles the latch like a poltergeist;
slashing the kitchen window
with a crab apple sprig.
A puff of vapour expands

from the mine shaft hooter.
The sound reaches her seconds later.
The cage will lift
soon and Evan will step
out with his shift, safety lamps in hand
freed from the Stygian crypt.

She had washed his children, dried them
by the fire, dressed them in red flannel;
put to bed with copper hot-water
bottles wrapped in lamb’s wool.
She’d died last fall, Rachel, who’d taken ill.
The yearly toll the pastor said, an act of God.

Easy for him to say, as if he had direct access
to the throne.
How long must she wait.
She'd seen him caress Rachel’s hair,
the touch that made her sister purr,
the younger, the pretty one.

'It's for the children see, Evan.
I’d promised Rachel.' She'd washed
his back in the zinc bath, warmed
by an anthracite fire. She hid her needs
as he hid his manhood. Their daily,
brief moment of intimacy.

It came like an impetuous gust
from the peaks. Something she'd longed for.
When making ready to leave, he'd said
'You don’t have to go.'
She'd searched his eyes,
the shroud of indifference gone,

he was alive again. She cried
that night in Rachel’s bed,
reached out to touch,
to make sure, to feel him stir.
It’s for the best
it’s for the children.

Kenneth2816
Posts: 1619
Joined: 01 Jun 2008, 09:17

Re: Upcoming March IBPC 2022:

#6 Post by Kenneth2816 » 04 Mar 2022, 09:50

I accept for Astronaut
Second Billy's poem
Third Frank's

Michael (MV)
Posts: 2154
Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57

Update 3/4 re Upcoming March IBPC 2022:

#7 Post by Michael (MV) » 04 Mar 2022, 10:18

Our 3:

Frank’s “Died Last Fall”

Billy’s “Mom’s Other Man”

Ken’s “The Astronaut”


Michael (MV)

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Billy
Posts: 1384
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 10:56

Re: Upcoming March IBPC 2022:

#8 Post by Billy » 04 Mar 2022, 21:57

I’m not representing another board. This is my original, unpublished work.
Bhowellsinnard @gmail.com
Billy Howell-Sinnard


Mom’s Other Man

Weekday mornings mom dragged a kitchen chair
into the living room in front of the TV, invited
a Greek god into our home. Black curly hair,
a silver polyester jumpsuit accentuating his

pectorals, he sang to mom like one of those
gondoliers in Venice. He'd hold his hands
together as if holding hands with mom.
She'd watch his every move, her body

in synch with his, counting aloud each bend
and stretch to immortality. It was simple:
chair and Jack for half an hour, five days
a week, mom laughing when she touched

her nose to her knees. Dad made fun
of the new diet and her contorted faces
throughout the day, meant to lift a sagging
chin, reverse the landslides under her eyes.

Mom remained faithful to Jack those years
of black and white, then color. Dad plucked
grey hairs until he was nearly bald, keeping
an eye from the kitchen on mom's other man.

Kenneth2816
Posts: 1619
Joined: 01 Jun 2008, 09:17

Re: Upcoming March IBPC 2022:

#9 Post by Kenneth2816 » 05 Mar 2022, 02:14

The Astronaut

At nineteen, my mother started
pumping out kids cause that's what
you did in the fifties in America.

You read Good Housekeeping,
Ladies Home Journal, used real
cloth diapers, made perfect coffee.

She was excited by the Space Race,
always telling her three sons the
latest developments, and was

dismayed when Krushchev beat us
putting a satellite in space. We
would go out on the sidewalk at

night as she scanned the skies for
Sputnik, chain- smoking Kents,
crushing the butts with high heels.

We never did see it. Pop never
joined us, remaining at his station
of Mission Control in the E-Z chair.

One day after school, we came home
and Pop was there early, scooped
us up. He had tears in his eyes.

He told us Mom was gone, "where?"
we asked. "Space," he said. That night ,
my brothers and I sat outside 'til dark

craning our necks in hopes she'd send
a signal , maybe a Roger- beep as she
hurtled the orbit overhead past our house.

Even at six, I knew why. My mother
was very intelligent. She just had to know
if this was really all there was.

Original unpublishable . Not representing another forum. ashworthken@yahoo.com

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