Sun-Moon: Are They Opposites?

A diamante contains opposing concepts which meet in the middle line and is structured in a diamond shape.  The conception of the Sun and Moon as opposites is very ancient.  In the ancient world, the Sun represented the male principle in creation and the Moon the female principle.  We see this concept in the Spanish language where sol (sun) takes the masculine article el and luna (moon) takes the feminine article la. The binary opposition of Sun and Moon is not strong in this poem, but I still like it.

Sun

big, bright

shining, glowing, warming

sky, sunset, night, stars

twinkling, reflecting, beaming

full, white

Moon

--Madeline Smith

Related reading:  The Sun and the Moon in Genesis

A Breezy Dialog Poem

Madeline Smith is a talented young writer.  This is the second of Madeline's poems published at STUDENTS PUBLISH HERE!  The first is here. Watch for others to appear in the near future.


Tea Talk


Two ladies were at tea one day.
The hostess then began to say
‘Ah, yes, my figure has grown lanky
With twenty children to chase and spanky!”
The guest said, “I thought nineteen?”
The first, “Things are not as they seem.
I, in fact, gave birth last night.”
Then, the reply: “What a delight!
Pray, what is the dear babe’s name?”
“Malcolm Mauritius Cornelius Tremain
Vernon Jamaica...and Edwards, of course.”
“Well, I too gave birth.”
“What’s that, your fourth?”
“No, the other day to join the mix,
We adopted twenty-six!”

--Madeline Smith
(Grade 8)

Pantoum: The Petty Slight

The Petty Slight

It actually was a petty slight.
He started it!
I returned it with a bite.
I didn’t mean to!


He started it!
He slapped me in my line of sight.
He didn’t mean to!
I bawled so loud that he took fright.


He tried to fix my line of sight.
We saw how petty we had been.
He’d taken such a dreadful fright.
I wished I hadn’t bitten him.


We laughed at how petty we’d been.
He promised he would slap no more.
I said I would not bite again.
We walked away with peace restored.


--Miriam Parrish and Madeline Smith

Luci Shaw's New Book "Harvesting Fog"

In Harvesting Fog, Luci Shaw uses the gathering of moisture from mist as the prevailing metaphor for writing poetry about seen and unseen realities.

Harvesting Fog is Luci Shaw's 30th book, released in 2010 by Pinyon Publishing. The title comes from a reference in the National Geographic Magazine about Lima, Peru, where there is little rain but a persistent, clammy fog. Residents of Lima collect water from the nets they hang outside, on which the fog condenses into water droplets. Shaw uses this as a metaphor for the gathering of images and ideas for poems that link transcendent with immanent, as Malcolm Guite has commented, "heaven in the ordinary."

“One might argue with Heidegger that only in poetry—particularly the lyric poem—can Being achieve adequate articulation, find a "local habitation and a name," become known. For a poet of profound religious sensibility such as Luci Shaw, whose poems so brilliantly and movingly locate authentic Being in the forms and processes of nature, the lyric impulse often approaches the incarnational. At one point she writes, "Something sacramental speaks/in the rinsing of hard stone by mountain run-off." The same could be said of the elegantly crafted poems, word made flesh, in Harvesting Fog.” —B. H. Fairchild, author, The Art of the Lathe

Read more here.

Random Word Poetry Contest IV

Attention: Poetry Lovers!

Every year STUDENTS PUBLISH HERE! hosts a random word poetry contest.  Everyone is invited to participate.  Here are the details:

You must use all the words in the list below.  Some words may be used in the title.  The poem can take any form you wish.  Poems should be between 12 and 30 lines. Words may be used in any order.

Submit your finished poem to Alice C. Linsley at aproeditor (@) gmail-dot-com.  The deadline is Wednesday, June 8, 2011.
Here are the words you must use:

slanted
embellishment
roars
studded
verdant hills
contrite
mint
plush
net
leaps
unblemished
joyride
hang
topaz
reaching
consumes
___________________

The 2010 winners were Ed Pacht, John C. Nichols and Dior Hartje.  Read their poems here.

Ed Pacht was a winner in 2009. Read his winning poem here.

John C. Nichols was a winner in 2009 also. Read his poem here.

Ed Pacht was the winner in 2008. Read his poem here.


I look forward to reading your work!

Alice C. Linsley

The Death of Death

The Death of Death

Hanging on the tree,
Breathing his last breaths,
He cried out to His Father,
“Must I suffer this cruel death?

Yet let Thy will, not mine, be done,
And while I still do breath,
Oh please remember Thine only son,
And give Me strength Thee to please.”

Great drops of blood stood on His brow,
Great nails pierced hands and feet.
A jeering mob looked on below,
and He went on, His father soon to meet.

Yet love and mercy filled His heart,
“Father, forgive them I plea,”
He chose to save them, in His love,
“Father, I give My spirit to Thee.”

Now heart diminishes its beat,
But death has died, not He,
Death has been defeated now,
He died for sinners we.

Loving Father, accept my praise,
For You have saved us all.
Death has taken its last toll,
The cross its bitter gall.

--Chandler Hamby