Poem of the month

Each month the two FSP editors select a poem, from those read throughout that month, as the poem of the month. A laminated copy of the poem is awarded to the poet at the next FSP City meeting. This is peer recognition of a poem of high quality.

Poem of the Month – March 2023 – David Cookson

The Poem of the Month for March 2023, selected by 2023 Anthology Editors, Maria Vouis and Rob Ferris, is willy-willy by David Cookson. The commended poems for March are I Come From by Helen Hutton, At the Zoo with a Bush Poet by Jill Wherry and Chatting with Confidence by Michele Slatter.

willy-willy
David Cookson

Hawker, SA

no overture
far out     aloof
on the blue-bush motley
a dervish of dust
dead leaves
dancing only for itself
a fleeting sketch
to drift through memory
in wakeful hours
as an oud years back
pensive
in that Cairo side street
and a blink ago
        scent of desert
                in your hair

I Come From Here
Helen Hutton

after I Am From by George Ella Lyon

I come from a suburb flexing its muscles
waiting to be heard,
from chook sheds, bent Hills Hoists, ice chests,
the milkman on Monday,
and the smell of bread and the baker’s horse.… Click for more

Poem of the Month – February 2023 – Helen Parsons

The Poem of the Month for February 2023, selected by 2023 Anthology Editors, Maria Vouis and Rob Ferris, is The almanac of last things by Helen Parsons. The commended poems for February are What I Learned From Someone Else’s Grandmother by Helen Hutton, Evening Indulgence by Roslyn Schulz and Life Drawing 1 by Susan O’Brien.

The almanac of last things
Helen Parsons

After Linda Pastan’s poem of the same name

From the almanac of last things I choose fire,
for its warmth and for its fluctuations,
although I know it is both hearth and danger,
bearing its own shadow.… Click for more

Poem of the Month – December 2022 – Steve Evans

The Poem of the Month for December 2022, selected by 2022 Anthology Editors, Veronica and David Cookson, is A Frugal Proposal by Steve Evans. The commended poems for December are Every Afternoon by Judy Dally and Titled by Nigel Ford.

A Frugal Proposal
Steve Evans

My good-as-unused tinfoil
with just the odd wee tear.
My scruffy bit of paper
a little worse for wear.
My little scrap of cellophane,
my piece of broken string,
my own recycled envelope —
you really are the thing.

A seed that’s caught between my teeth,
a stone inside my shoe,
the gate that squeaks in winter wind
all make me think of you.… Click for more

Poem of the Month – November 2022 – Elaine Barker

The Poem of the Month for November 2022, selected by 2022 Anthology Editors, Veronica and David Cookson, is Tearaway by Elaine Barker. The commended poems for November are Overture by David Harris and Figs for Cockatoos by Mandy Toczek McPeake.

Tearaway
Elaine Barker

He arrived hugger-mugger into life
and feet first. What a balls-up,
said the doctor but all was well.
He was a rumble-tumble baby,
a harum-scarum toddler
who ran hurry-scurry
before he learnt to walk.
He turned into a tearaway kid
whose mother said quick-sticks
before anything would be done.
He ran riot as a teenager,
collected odds and sods
in his mishmash of a room
and was always losing things
in a slipshod kind of way.… Click for more

Poem of the Month – October 2022 – Rory Harris

The Poem of the Month for October 2022, selected by 2022 Anthology Editors, Veronica and David Cookson, is ancestors by Rory Harris. The commended poems for October are Torbay (a phonetic acrostic) by Sharon Foulkes and In Dogs we Trust by Peter Meech.

ancestors
Rory Harris

My wife
will never

wash you
so, how many hands

will miss
this opportunity

bathing you
seal slick

glistening
perfumed body

as your grandmother’s
garden still throws

colour into a suburban
universe of scent

Torbay (a phonetic acrostic)
Sharon Foulkes

Timeless twitter and tick-tick
in tall timbers that tower over
tangled tendrils and twisted trunks in tatters;

The orison
of an ornithological chorus,
always at some ornery hour;

A barrow-full of bottlebrush in bloom
bounced through a ballet of butterflies
beyond the bend;

Ancient terrain tamed into acreage:
black-face graze while snakes predate –
and then again, rain.… Click for more

Poem of the Month – September 2022 – Margaret Fensom

The Poem of the Month for September 2022, selected by 2022 Anthology Editors, Veronica and David Cookson, is Dreams of the 60s (or whenever) by Margaret Fensom. The commended poems for September are musings from the death bed: exile by Phil Saunders and Road Moment by Valerie Volk.

Dreams of the 60s (or whenever)
Margaret Fensom

Hovering somewhere between
the imperfect perfect housewife
exploited by commercial TV –
The germs under the rim
of your toilet bowl
will come out and lay you low –
and a manqué flower child,
I contemplate the carbon
sequestered on the bottom of my saucepans –
should I still be burning gas?… Click for more

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