At the age of twenty,
It has all come together,
Fortune has been sent to me,
Through the bad weather.

The storm has settled,
The sun has appeared,
And all the pressure,
Has fully disappeared.

The vision is breathtaking,
Its beauty to my eyes,
My minds like a bird,
Soaring through the sky.

I feel better than ever,
The jigsaw is complete,
Right clicking on my past,
Then pressing delete.

On the 16^th of March,
Elisha and I move into our home,
Like a real couple,
With our own personal zone.

Yesterday I finally got a job,
Following a year of rejection,
Forty five hours a week,
It sounds like perfection.

I’ve made something of my life,
I’ve proved the doubters wrong,
Now they cannot put me down,
I was fated for success all along.

So I have my first full-time employment,
And my parents I will finally leave,
Is 2012 my defining year?
Well that’s what I believe.

A Poem By Corey Booth – 24/02/12

Week 4 – A Letter To Myself
The Top Three

So this week’s title was “A Letter To Myself” and I have to say this week has been the best poetry quality so far!! Honestly I’ve been sat here for 3 hours now trying to decide, I wish I could have a top 10 but I made the rules for a reason. The following three poems are the ones that I found the best out of all the submissions. The poems are labelled “A, B, C,” just comment the letter of the relevant poem that you find the best. Voting will close 12.00PM on Monday!

A: By  alternativetodoingsomething

Dear me,
Writing to yourself is best form of self-conversation
Alternatives will only get you regarded with strange fascination
You could call yourself, holding a phone to each ear
But might find it difficult to both speak and hear
A self email might seem like a plan
But falls apart when considering the other hand
You’d have to set up multiple accounts, and that’s a lot of work
To go to for a simple self-communication perk
Facebooking yourself is just a plain horrible notion
Leaving you adrift in a public narcissistic ocean
So maybe just talk to yourself, it’s both efficient and neat
Until you find yourself ranting on the corner of a street
So you turn to Twitter and its account creator
But only follow yourself until 140 characters later
So you casually talk it over with yourself over drinks
But people just see you drinking alone – it’s not what they think!
Yes, a letter to yourself is the only way
Now all you need is something to say
But until then, it just can’t be
Yours truly, kind regards, sincerely, me.

B: By J. R. Walls

A letter to myself?
Is a letter to myself a letter to me or my society?
Me, mine, I…Sigh.
In reality my thoughts are gorged in the morality of my age,
subtly caged to seclude raging prison guards.
I’m sure in directing a letter to myself I should be taking stock
of goals and losses and knocks against my mental health.
But I wont. I can’t, I think. I?.
Identity is fluid, the souls of man clearly in question.
What is me’ness?
What constitutes you’ness?
In fact philosophers had a suggestion:

Truth is lacking. The luck of locking on to something you can call legitimate as an identity is purely coincidental.

You could have been him.
You could have been her.
Trusting your “I” to be truthful to you is hope not fact
So, hopefully implementing tact, I feel i must retract my prescribed challenge and re-title this.

A letter to my phenomenological, societal, chance creation.

C: By graypoet

Well, you’ve put another notch on the gun of time
And what do you have to show for yourself so far
There have been quite a number of changes in your life
So let’s review the past and see who you are.

Oh the school years that you didn’t realize were so much fun
The sports and the parties, how you see with a backward look
Breezing through those years without a care in the world
Making the grades, irritating others for you never cracked a book.

You didn’t want to go right back to school again as of yet
Not content with the scholarship, you wanted to jump into life
So you enlist in the Marine Corps, no heed to the conflict at hand
As if that weren’t enough you decide to start a family and take a wife.

There were the hard years of full-time work and going to college
Never one to complain you put in the hours and hold the course
You earn a degree and off to work for the years that are to come
You never imagined the pain of loosing so many loved ones could be worse.

Now the children are grown, giving you grands and even great
What will the next stages of life bring as you continue to struggle
You try not to dwell on the loneliness of life as you live out each day
But you kindle the thought that with someone you’d still love to snuggle.

You give the advice to any that want to listen to your ramblings
Live your life looking ahead not dwelling on the things left behind
Looking back might show us who we were to make us who we now are
But marching ahead, living each day as it comes, is what will make us kind.

These are the final three, so please all add the letter of your favourite poem in the comment section below, remember on Monday the voting closes.

Legs start shaking,
The heart has sunk,
Full body aching,
Mind has shrunk.

Words don’t arrive,
Tongue is ensnared,
Unable to contrive,
Eyesight is  impaired.

Feeling the fretfulness,
Loaded with stress,
In entire unhappiness,
Thoughts are a mess.

Mouth is desiccated,
Incapable to adapt,
Mentally devastated,
Idea’s are trapped.

Have you felt like this,
When you’re under pressure,
Wedged in an abyss,
At the end of your tether?

I for one have felt it,
On a regular basis,
I actually embrace it,
In all it’s different cases.

Pressure is natural,
Something everyone goes through,
From Comedians and Singers,
To the president too.

So it’s not just you,
It’s something everyone will feel,
Just pull through,
And get over the ordeal.

A Poem By Corey Booth – 22/02/12

Week 4 – A Letter To Myself

This is the fourth week of “The Poetry Challenge.” I recently posted the poem “A Letter To Myself” and had a huge responsive to it, so this gave me the idea to see what you would write to yourself, so this week’s title is “A Letter to Myself”. The top 3 will be selected on Friday. For any information regarding the contest click the link or contact me otherwise just comment your submission in the comment section below. Last week’s winner for the Valentine’s Day special was the wonderful poem “Euphoria, With A Gumdrop Incision” by Ethan Greenwood who was also the runner-up on the week 2 contest! So go check out his blog, I promise you will enjoy it!

A Letter To Myself

Dear Corey,
I see you’re now 20 years old,
Wow, you’re all grown up,
With the rest of your life to unfold,
Your life could have been better,
If you done well in school,
But you chose to be the clown,
The funny class fool,
So Corey was it worth it?
Skipping math’s class?
At least now you have matured,
An adult at last,
Shame you don’t have many qualifications,
Because you could go far,
But I do still believe,
That you could be a star,
I know the Welsh economy’s terrible,
It’s not your fault your unemployed,
Some credentials would have helped,
That’s the reason I’m annoyed,
You threw your education away,
Just to have a giggle,
But now your chances of getting a job,
Are very incredibly little,
But the person you are,
Is one that makes me unbelievably proud,
From that rebellious teenager,
You have turned it right around,
No longer do you drink,
And you don’t do drugs,
And no longer do you associate,
With them idiotic thugs,
I’m glad you have started writing,
Everyday you write a poem,
And they keep on improving,
I love the talent you are showing,
Well that’s all I have to say,
I’ll now leave your past behind,
I’ll speak to you soon,
Yours dearly, your mind.

Week 3 – Valentine’s Day Special
The Top Three

Since this was “The Valentine’s Day Special” contestants were not set a title all they had to do was submit a Valentine’s themed poem! The poems are labelled “A, B, C,” just comment the letter of the relevant poem that you find the best. Voting will close 12.00PM on Monday!

A: By   Ajay Ohri– My Valentine Poem

My Valentine Poem

Is dedicated to all those

Who feel the urge

to do something!!

on a Tuesday!

because the rest of the idiots in the world

are doing it too!

–

Sweet Valentine

Take away my money, heart and time

Let us meet and talk superficially

Laugh at each other’s jokes

and flirt casually

–

Sweet Valentine

Life is easy Love is tough

On this day we try extra hard

Like little children

Trying to walk for the first time

–

Sweet Valentine

Fall in my arms

Wont you be mine

Friday we watched basketballs

Tuesday we watch Valentine

B: By Ethan Greenwood – Euphoria, With A Gumdrop Incision

She said, “I love you, but you don’t have to say it back”
Her eyes fell down, and her voice just slipped and cracked
She said, “I love you, but you don’t have to say it, too
I don’t want to make a liar out of you
I love you, but you don’t have to say it back”

Now I’m trapped in her rendition of a good time
Surrounded by rose petals and cheap white wine
I exist as a writhing cliché in her hand
Dreaming of solitude in a foreign land
I may be a saint, but I’m certainly no valentine

A whisper, a wink, a glance, a nudge, a peck
The embrace of subtle affection around my neck
I disconnect my eyes from their home
And leave them where the blind and lonely roam
As I commit to compress my own life into a speck

Terms of endearment bleach our deepest hues
She’s my straightjacket, and I’m her fuse
I suppose she holds me tightly when I see storms
I memorize the words that her mouth forms
I play it like a game that I would die to lose

We look like fireworks, but we live like guns
I smile and hope we’re not the only ones
This is something I could tolerate
I guess it could be worse, so why wait?
Wrap yourself in silly white lace, let’s just get it done

So I say, “I love you, but you don’t have to say it back”
She says, “I know you know it’s much too late for that”
I say, “I love you, but you don’t have to say it now
I really should be going, anyhow
I love you, but you don’t have to say it back.”

C: By festivalking - A Valentine Thought

Valentine’s day…

A day of pampering and pleasure,
Its February the 14th!
The day all lovers treasure
When love is at its leisure,
Husbands! How DARE you NOT remember

The insignia for the day- “Heart shapes in velvety red”.
Chocolates, cards, flowers and gifts are shared;
Candle lit dinners;
Rose petals on floors, sheets and pillows spread.
Eros flits about and from his touch no romantic heart is spared.

On this day some look to get laid;
Other seek to have past love replayed.
Friends laugh; Lonely hearts cry,
The words “Happy Valentine’s Day” is offered to the passer by.

But to me today is a day like any,
Earmarked by gifts, cards, cakes, love’s crest and candy!?
For this reason I say this prayer earnestly,
“Dear Eros, keep Valentine’s day tattooed on the hearts of many”
For we needn’t await 14th February to celebrate Love in all its glory….

These are the final three, so please all add the letter of your favourite poem in the comment section below, remember on Monday the voting closes.

Dear Corey,
I see you’re now 20 years old,
Wow, you’re all grown up,
With the rest of your life to unfold,
Your life could have been better,
If you done well in school,
But you chose to be the clown,
The funny class fool,
So Corey was it worth it?
Skipping maths class?
At least now you have matured,
An adult at last,
Shame you don’t have many qualifications,
Because you could go far,
But I do still believe,
That you could be a star,
I know the Welsh economy’s terrible,
It’s not your fault your unemployed,
Some credentials would have helped,
That’s the reason I’m annoyed,
You threw your education away,
Just to have a giggle,
But now your chances of getting a job,
Are very incredibly little,
But the person you are,
Is one that makes me unbelievably proud,
From that rebellious teenager,
You have turned it right around,
No longer do you drink,
And you don’t do drugs,
And no longer do you associate,
With them idiotic thugs,
I’m glad you have started writing,
Everyday you write a poem,
And they keep on improving,
I love the talent you are showing,
Well that’s all I have to say,
I’ll now leave your past behind,
I’ll speak to you soon,
Yours dearly, your mind.

A Poem By Corey Booth – 16/02/12

I’m looking to do a few poetry collaborations with some of the talented poets that this online world has to offer! I have many different ideas about what I want to do in these collaborations and I also want the people I’m collaborating with to tell me their ideas so we can write something brilliant. The structure of these collaborations will vary, it could be a verse each, it could be line for line, it depends on what idea’s we come up with and how we go about it.
I understand that you don’t see much collaborating on the internet in poetry but I highly believe that it could become great, with many different poetry styles mixing up, different creativity ideas and the motivation from each other there is potential to create some wonderful work.
When constructing the poem I would like to interact via email as I can access it at any time of day at any place so I will always be able to get back to the collaborator.
I now have over 1,200 followers so if you were all interested I would probably have a nervous breakdown haha! So please only the people who have a few hours of spare time and are really interested in collaborating get back to me!
Also if interested please tell me your idea’s about what you would like to write about because your idea’s may be so much better than mine.
So if interested please write to the email below with what you would like to write about or what ideas you have and I will get back to you as quick as possible with some of my idea’s and we shall go from there!

Also while discussing idea’s with oghma we came up with the idea to get as many poets as we can from all different nations to write a verse about their country to create a mega-poem! So if you’re interested in doing that please email me so I can mark your country down as ”done” !

Email – cjbwork@hotmail.co.uk
Twitter (If there are email problems) - @ClownPonders

I look forward to hearing and working with some of you soon!

Week 3 – Valentine’s Day Special

This is the third week of “The Poetry Challenge.” As we all know, today is the day of love, that being said I have decided we would do something a little different this week and instead of using the title provided all you need to do is submit a Valentines themed poem! The title is completely your choice this week so make the most of it!  I look forward to seeing you all getting in touch with your sensitive and loving sides! The top 3 will be selected on Friday. For any information regarding the contest click the link or contact me otherwise just comment your submission in the comment section below this post. Last week’s winner was the heartfelt “Last Words” poem created by scatteredpeicesofme , So please go and check out their blog to see more of their brilliant talent.

February The 4^th Valentine’s Day

February the 14^th,
Valentine’s day,
The day of love,
The day you say,
How much you love,
How much you care,
How much you smile,
And how much you stare,
To the one you love,
To the one you admire,
To the one you adore,
To the one you desire,
A day of emotion,
A day of affection,
A day of devotion,
A day of connection,
That day of giving,
That day of receiving,
That day of forgiving,
And never leaving,
The day to show truth,
The day to show passion,
The day to show proof,
In a high fashion,
The day for lovers,
The day for friends,
The day for others,
You wish never ends,
A day of guarantee,
A day of feeling,
A day of security,
And love revealing,
So on this day,
Say “I love you”
Because they might say,
“I love you too.”

By Corey Booth – 07/02/12