Upcoming August IBPC 2023:

[Michael (MV)]

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 dynamic

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4/and unpublished work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)

[RamanathanSiva]

I nominate ‘Dog Years’ by Bob for the August IBPC.

[BobBradshaw]

Thank you, Siva. I nominate Michael's "Inspired by Coco".

[BobBradshaw]

Bob Bradshaw
bobbybradshw@yahoo.com
This poem is my original work and is not representing any other forum.

Dog Years


Ashlyn turned 4 years old yesterday.
I have written a poem for her to read
when she turns 25, a year

before I imagine her marrying.
According to actuaries
I will have said Sayonara by then.

My cat leaps onto my lap
as if to distract me from glum thoughts
--or she needs a massage.

Sonny barks, reminding me
who is my favorite.
He is expected to live

another 8, 10 human years
while I age as if my life left
is less than one dog year.

By actuarial calculations
he will attend my funeral,
and my cat?

She will have moved on
to her afternoon nap, grief
a squirrel she refuses to chase.

Sonny, will you sit by my graveside
awaiting my return?
Will you grow nostalgic?

Remember chasing pigeons
into a burst of feathers?
We gazed at each other afterwards

pleased with our team efforts
as if we were held together
by more than mere loyalty

or team goals, and would be
even after the heart’s leash
was finally released.

Or will you return home with the cat
to protect my memory?
Will you growl at relatives

touring my house,
barking when their grubby hands ruffle
my baseball card collection

that’s meant for Ashlyn?
Will your teeth tug at trousers
as their small eyes brighten

seeing work by famed
New York painters hung in the hallway?
Will you chase them away like pigeons?

What about my granddaughter,
who used to rush into my arms
on the spur of the moment?

Will Ashlyn be spongy eyed
walking from my grave?
Will you be there to comfort her?

Won’t I miss the skirts of wind
and the flutter of leaves
chasing each other like chickadees,

the sunlight on my face? Even more,
won’t I miss the precious name
of Ashlyn on my tongue—and yes,

Sonny, your tongue’s sloppy kisses.
Why, dammit, should I leave this world
where I am loved, if only by a few?

[Michael (MV)]

Thanks, Bob, for accepting.

Your canine poem and my cologne poem were forwarded.

In that transmittal, I also inquired again about the status of the monthly IBPC.


Good luck (Bonne chance) in the finals, if they be

And Good luck to the WB,


Michael (MV) days &