A Poetry Award

Jan,

A minor award, but if I don’t brag about my life, who else will? I wrote an ode to Chocolate Ice Cream. I think I haven’t work-shopped it with our group, but I did with Edie’s group. (“Very sensuous,” someone commented.) I have read it at a few open mikes including the Mokelumne Hill Gold Rush Conference, with laughs in all the right places. I had it printed in WritersTalk, last year’s “poetry” (May 2008) edition, and it won 1st (poetry) prize for the WritersTalk Challenge for that six-months. $40 richer for it and I nice little plaque on my wall.

I list it on my recent list of “published” articles on my web-site at http://www.writerichly.blogspot.com/. I presume you’re all curious so I include the poem below. – Rich

[So, below, here on my blogspot.blog, I only include the first 20% of the work. If you want more, you can get it by putting in a comment/response on this blog. In fact, thank you in advance for doing that. It’s a pretty good poem, IMHO. In the contest judges’ opinions , too, apparently.]

Cold Temptation
Richard A. Burns

For months I hardly know you exist, thank God.
One day, I slip up. I get a glimpse of your come-hither package at the store;
I allow it into my cart, a small sin in the scheme of things, I tell myself,
But this is the beginning of my fall.

I hide you in a cold, icy place for a day, maybe, a week.
All the while you bide your time,
Tapping your impatient fingers, waiting for me … for tonight.
You play possum, you naughty thing.

... [etc., etc.]

There is more; just ask. -rb

Two Burns Poems Published

Beg, buy, or borrow (please, don't steal) a copy of Who Are Our Friends? And Other Works by South Bay Writers. On Page 20 is my poem, "America, Don't Pass Me By," and on page 52, another poem by yours truly, "Are You Missing Something?" (I apologize that these two poems actually rhyme and are easy to understand. I'll try to get better at being obnoxiously obtuse.)

Other works in the 150 page anthology includes fiction by Meredy Amyx, Carolyn Donnell, Beth Proudfoot, and others. Swann Li's short story is the title piece for for the South Bay Writers anthology. Nonfiction works, poetry, and memoir vignettes are also included. We contributors belong to a branch of the California Writers Club, its largest Branch.

The softback book can be ordered at southbaywriters.com $12.50 each (plus California tax plus shipping and handling).

There's nothing quite like spending your hours of typing, rewriting, optimizing, temporarily giving up, suffering through feedback that can rip out your heart, wiping sweat from your forehead, and the wiping away of tears after some piece of work finally really moves you and at last seeing it transformed into solid pages of literature, possibly for the ages. Meredy Amyx, edited the work, and she was a joy to work with (but tough and opinionated like most any good editor).

Maybe money is tight right now, but so is good, imaginative writing. This might be your cup of tea.

Btw, I'm open to adding more of my work to any anthology of poems and short stories that you may be working on. Blog me back or e-mail me at richard.a.burns@comcast.net .

-rb ;^)