Eratosphere Forums - Metrical Poetry, Free Verse, Fiction, Art, Critique, Discussions Able Muse - a review of poetry, prose and art

Forum Left Top

Notices

Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Unread 09-22-2010, 07:52 AM
John Whitworth's Avatar
John Whitworth John Whitworth is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12,945
Default The Oldie Competition:bonfires and compost heaps

The Oldie Competition
by Tessa Castro

You were invited to write a conversation in verse between the bonfire and the compost heap.The challenge seemed to appeal tou your cthonic and pyrophilic instincts. 'I blaze! I burn! Byronic passions flame' began Jane Weller's boastful fire. No wonder Katie Mallet's compost heap cried: Look at you, you show-off/ With your curl of stinging smoke. GM Southgate's heap was of a similar opinion- Still your arrogance, bright boy/ for where I nurture, you destroy Julie Stoner's heap was humbler, 'Ihave worms: you've the Phoenix'. Like many of your heaps , Basil Ransome Davies's was contemplative: 'Bonfires dwindle and die out, like rivers in the sand / While compost heaps eternally abide.' Commiserations to them and congratulations to the authors below, each of-whom wins £20, with the fireside bonus Taylor's of Harrogate tea and cake set going to the excellent John Whitworth

I coruscate and flash.
My consequence is ash.
I brood in quietude.
I am a multitude.


Here, there, everywhere,
I dance as light as air
I brood. I breathe a breath
Of lifè, and life in death.


I am the great bow-bender
Who lives and dies in splendour.
The more you fret and shout,
The sooner you go out.


My arrows light the sky
They purge and purify
But I remain in rain
And sun, in sun and rain..

John Whitworth

Said the compost heap to the bonfire
'I'm getting the hots for you..
My inside's a mulch of emotion
And I've jilted the barbecue.'

Barked the bonfire to the compost heap
'Youre forever talking muck.
The blokes who've forked you over would fill
A Chelsea flower show truck.'

The compost cooed, 'Last Guy Fawkes,
As the whizz-bangs hurtled around,
You said you were burning for me,
That I suited you down to the ground.'

'My memory's a fading ember,'
Said the bonfire, 'you may be right;
But you'll have to warm to some other old flame,
For I'm going out tonight'
Peter Wyton

'Hello there, heap,' the bonfire said.
'I see you're in a stew.
Your lavish husk-and-peeling spread
Creates a heady brew?

Why, goodness, fire,' the heap replied,
Pulsating modestly.
'How flattering you should confide
You've got the hots for me.'

'It's true. You are so sweet, so svelte,
I'm burning with desire.
Your fine aerobic perfumes melt
The heart of this old fire.'

'Alas, we must be satisfied
With warm, platonic chats.
A closer intimacy might
Incinerate my rats.'
GM Davis

Your heap of rotting vegetation
Malodorous in its stagnation,
Where aphids, wireworms, bugs and slugs -
A coterie of garden thugs—
Make for your decomposing patch
To fornicate and then to hatch.
Bonfires dispose of all such trash
While making bountiful potash!

Your satanic noisome pyre -
That is wrongly called bonfire -
Brings smoke and smuts exceeding black
Stoked by a pyromaniac.
You pollute the earth and sky
Igniting other fires nearby
Necessitating firemen with axes
Thus adding to the council taxes.
Una Mc.Morran

'I love the way,' the bonfire said,
'You quietly decompose.
You-look as if you're all but dead,
Completely comatose.
But underneath that public face -
Or so I have been told -
Though glacial is your natural pace,
Your heart is far from cold.'
'If heat you want,' the compost drawled,
'You'll have it soon enough.
But never think my heart, so-called,
Is made of glowing stuff.
You mock my dull, deliberate ways,
But let there be no doubt
You may have one bright, flashy blaze,
But I will see you out'
Bill Webster
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Unread 09-22-2010, 08:14 AM
Jayne Osborn's Avatar
Jayne Osborn Jayne Osborn is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Middle England
Posts: 6,950
Default

JOHN'S WON THE TEA-SET
JOHN'S WON THE TEA-SET!!!!

You've realised your ambition at last - congratulations, John. I know how much you've wanted (and deserved) this. Congrats to Julie and Bazza too.

Edited in: John, when you scan it, it's a good idea to check the words; they can sometimes alter slightly. Your S2L2 should be 'air'.

Last edited by Jayne Osborn; 09-22-2010 at 08:19 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Unread 09-22-2010, 09:17 AM
basil ransome-davies's Avatar
basil ransome-davies basil ransome-davies is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: lancashire
Posts: 1,090
Default great stuff, john

You'll enjoy the tea set, beautifully packed by Betty of Harrogate.

bazza
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Unread 09-22-2010, 09:19 AM
Roger Slater Roger Slater is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: New York
Posts: 16,475
Default

Aw, compost! I didn't win. But felicitations to John, who I know will cherish the tea set and give it a loving home. Good one!
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Unread 09-22-2010, 11:16 AM
Marion Shore's Avatar
Marion Shore Marion Shore is offline
Distinguished Guest
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Belmont, Massachusetts USA
Posts: 2,976
Default

The Tea Set! You must describe your experience of it in exquisite graphic detail. A cyber tea party as it were.
Many congrats!!!!

Last edited by Marion Shore; 09-22-2010 at 12:37 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Unread 09-22-2010, 11:59 AM
Julie Steiner Julie Steiner is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
Posts: 8,307
Default

I'm sure that tea and cake will taste especially sweet, John. Hearty congrats!
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Unread 09-22-2010, 12:17 PM
Jerome Betts Jerome Betts is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Devon England
Posts: 1,708
Default

O frabjous day! Congratulations on your feat of feet, John. When may we expect the victory sonnet, 'On First Looking Into Betty's Tea-Set'?
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Unread 09-24-2010, 02:44 AM
Holly Martins Holly Martins is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Kent, UK
Posts: 2,445
Default

Double congrats, John, in that it was such a dull subject which you've bested with a killer-diller. For Eratospherians the mythical tea set has assumed the status of a Nobel Prize and the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry rolled into one. Can we have a photo of you using it?
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Unread 09-25-2010, 01:16 PM
FOsen's Avatar
FOsen FOsen is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Pasadena, California
Posts: 2,378
Default

Have an Earl Grey for me, John.

Frank
__________________
-- Frank
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Unread 09-25-2010, 01:45 PM
John Whitworth's Avatar
John Whitworth John Whitworth is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12,945
Default

I think that Bazza (who has won it) said it wasn't a teapot but a selection of teas. Certainly I shall post a photo of me drinking some. And Bazza. You post youravatar sipping Taylor's teas.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump



Forum Right Top
Forum Left Bottom Forum Right Bottom
 
Right Left
Member Login
Forgot password?
Forum LeftForum Right


Forum Statistics:
Forum Members: 8,399
Total Threads: 21,840
Total Posts: 270,796
There are 867 users
currently browsing forums.
Forum LeftForum Right


Forum Sponsor:
Donate & Support Able Muse / Eratosphere
Forum LeftForum Right
Right Right
Right Bottom Left Right Bottom Right

Hosted by ApplauZ Online