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Welcome to Garden 514 in
ARTELLA'S POETRY GARDENS OF FAME!


Click the links below to read the winning poems for the week of May 14, 2004.

Poetry Gardens of Fame Index

First Place
Second Place
Third Place
Fourth Place





FIRST PLACE WINNER


Terre Sadler

Fireflies

If only I had known you were here,
breathing in and out,
sending your energy into the atmosphere of this place...
this place...this planet...
that, for me, has been completely void of air...
would my own breath have exploded with life
like a thousand fireflies?
If only I had known you were here…
would I have turned my head slightly into the breeze
and felt some particle of wind that had already
brushed your cheek like a feather?
If I had known you were here
would the sounds of morning have danced inside me
simply because they had also kissed your ears?
Would colors have greeted me in richer hues
because their fragments had passed before your eyes?
If only I had known you were here,
would my nights have been spangled with stars because
you stood somewhere in the darkness and looked up at the sky?
I wonder these things.
I wonder them because I know what it is like now...
what a difference it has made
to embrace the reality of you.
For now, that I know you are here…
in this place…on this planet...in my universe...
I am submerged in a wonder far more glorious
than mortal air, sight or sound.
I am immersed and infused
with the light of love
that has passed through you to me.
The knowing is almost more than I can bear.
And those fireflies are everywhere.

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SECOND PLACE WINNER

Naomi Sandweiss

Tumbleweed

Don't fight the New Mexico winds
Don't stand alone and try to steady yourself.
Don't clutch your papers.
Don't hold down your skirt.

Take a roller coaster ride along the mesa.
Lay next to the lizard and let him stroke your spine.
Laugh as you drop seeds everywhere.
Tumble into the arroyo.
Gossip with long-lost friends
until you are swept away again.

Throw away your papers.
Let your hair fly.
Feel spring on your bare legs.
Don't fight the New Mexico winds.

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THIRD PLACE WINNER

Eugenia Toledo-Keyser

Collage

Only in the endless currents
of some sepia afternoons,
to my memories comes
the fall;
it exiles me,


to another transparent room,
with radiant lights,

to the last train,
in another obscure story.

Both,
with the white and red
ambulance,
in an autumn war
of love and running,
stumbling and hecatomb.

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FOURTH PLACE WINNER

Jan Bartlett

Doors

In our life's journey we will
open and close many doors.
The one constant is our
family and special friends.
Their love and support are
the keys and locks. The
doors open easier with their
presence. Because of
them it is not so difficult
when a door closes or
sometimes slam shut.
Let's paint the doors before
and after us with confidence
and faith because we have
these caring people with us.

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