Each month I send out a challenge for people to send me a 1-2 word topic they’d like me to write a poem to and I must write all the poems in the challenge within 48 hours. People CAN’T send names (yes, everyone wants one named after their child but they can send other 1-2 word titles. Each sender only gets me writing one poem per poetry challenge and the more surreal the challenge, the better.

So feel free to send me a 1-2 word title in the comments below.

And, because some of you are budding poets yourselves, this is now where you can also ask other commenters to challenge YOU with a title too. So let’s see what happens!

Also if you are a published, self published or street poet, this is where to let people know.

AND THE NOMINEES ARE…..

Dragonfly requested by Devlyn

DRAGONFLY, Copyright, Donna Williams, Aug 2008

With might sword, he sought the quest,

Among warriors, he was the best,

Many a beast he had brought down,

His reputation known throughout the town.

He feared not, its fiery breath,

Its knife sharp talons could cause no death,

Unbeatable, he could not die,

For in fact twas no more than a DRAGONfly.

Diamond Flower requested by Judy M

DIAMOND FLOWER, Copyright, Donna Williams Aug 2008

The diamond sparkled chandellier-ly,

An Autie fell into delight,

But the squealing in the jeweler’s window,

Was met with no-one’s shared delight.

Then the flower was so shred-able,

In glee, its petals fell like snow,

She gathered them into her mouth,

The flower gone, no one would know.

Vision requested by Bernie Drawe

VISION, copyright, Donna Williams, Aug 2008

Is vision colors in my brain, which spark from touch and falling rain?

Is vision where the blind girl sees, in movement, space, texture and sound?

Is vision where the haunted sense, the rabbit holes of trauma-ville?

Is vision something up ahead, a guiding hand unseen.

Freezing Rain requested by Xenia

FREEZING RAIN, copyright, Donna Williams, Aug 2008

The freezing rain could do no harm

For mind had lost emotion

For self had lost will

For soul was but a memory half doubted

And yet, even through her armor, it had touched her.

Scaredness requested by Gordy

SCAREDNESS, copyright, Donna Williams, Aug 2008

The scaredness was a yukky thing

It wouldn’t dance, it wouldn’t sing

It wouldn’t let me sleep at night

It wouldn’t let me out of sight.

But then I learned of something new

The thing that scaredness couldn’t do

And there I knew that I’d get free

For scaredness could never be me.

Gadoodleborger requested by Dagan Onymous

GADOODLEBORGER, copyright, Donna Williams, Aug 2008

He spied her in a magic wood, a sensing creature in need of none

And dreamed of how he’d join her there, his partner she would soon become

He lured her back to the place he knew, a world of hierarchy and of power

And there she then began to die, as surely as a wilting flower

His heart began to break inside, he knew only one thing to give

Return her to her sensing world, that she might find the will to live

And there as she began to bloom, she saw something he’d never seen

That he was not of that world either, a Gadoodleborger, he had been.

That he walked between two worlds, he now had finally understood

And so they made their home in neither world, at the edges of the magic wood.

Manhole Cover (requested by Marla)

MANHOLE COVER, copyright, Donna Williams, Aug 2008

She could sense the other woman, she could she see it in his style,

It was as if her aura hovered in the nature of his smile.

But he insisted she was crazy, she’d always been his only lover

Then she found the underhanded wretch, just beyond the manhole cover.

In a fury and a tangle, there were bites and there were scratches,

The smarmy Tom Cat simply mused

What more could one expect

from these two wild feminine Katzes?

Triangles and Squares (requested by Lisa)

TRIANGLES AND SQUARES, copyright, Donna Williams, Aug 2008

He wore a suit with shiny shoes, of mock snakeskin and a tie

He entered with a briefcase, full of samples one could try.

He eyed me up and down and flashed a cheesy grin,

With one of those gold fillings that bad dentistry puts in.

Go ahead, I see you want to, he said thrusting his wares

The squares are in the sale, but triangles taste better than squares.

Hush Wind (requested by Kay)

HUSH WIND, copyright, Donna Williams, Aug 2008

The humble bean, it does no harm,

It does, however, cause alarm,

When after too much beans for starters,

The guests turn into rampant farters.

Sure, try to hush them but have no doubt,

Those winds insist on getting out.

and Kay, you’ve requested a poetry challenge… here’s yours:

“dried fruit”

Donna Williams *)

author, artist, composer, screenwriter.

author of the poetry book, Not Just Anything , published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

http://www.donnawilliams.net