Alas, I have been at the parties Ms. Sloat writes of. I read her evocative piece "Etiquette" and the memories of same flooded back causing me to shudder.

Well done, Ms.Sloat. You get my vote.

The rimrocks like the ogre nursemaids was so great, but the writing a poem about writing a poem didn't work for me. Getting past the grief, that worked.

The best poem written was by David Sloan, and he was not selected. Therefore, I have no vote.

Paper Skin Bone of Bamboo gets my vote. Wonderful.

“Map” receives my vote because the layers of imagery in the poem evoke haunting visceral responses. I can see the images contained in the poem so vividly, while also feeling the torture, exhaustion, and disappointment, “ungestured, gestures and unvoiced ghosts,” sharply. The poem takes the reader sharply into a timely topic.

Sorry, but none of these are good enough this time.

HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS POEM
--Joan Colby

I like this poem the best. Well written!

The Latin Girl Speaks of Rivers was so poignant. It definitely gets my vote. I wish all the finalists luck. Poetry is a very personal thing, even more so than writing a novel and I'm humbled by the talent that's out there. Thank you all for sharing.

Each poem had merit. However there were two of them that struck that resonant chord within me, it was a tough choice but in the end, The Latin Girl Speaks of Rivers is my final decision [Paper Skin Bone of Bamboo is a very close second]. Best wishes to all.

Every month I do this, trying to find what will get my vote. This time I like the finalist poems better than previous two months, there's much more variety here. I do like "The Latin Girl Speaks of Rivers" the title reminded me of Langston Hughes's "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" but I'm going to give my vote for "Paper Skin Bone of Bamboo" it tells a story and a familiar story and I love it.

"The Latin Girl Speaks of Rivers" was exquisite and got my vote.

They were all excellent, though. Nice work, everyone.

I'm honoured to have a poem of mine included here...and am really enjoying the other poems!

I loved "Paper Skin--Bone of Bamboo" with the wonderful symbolism of the kite. "The Latin Girl Speaks of Rivers" was a close second for me.

I think"PAPER SKIN-BONE OF BAMBOO" is best of all.Congrats to the poet.

Latin Girl Speaks of Rivers gets my vote, such an intriguing poem.

I love both Blown and Etiquette. But sadly, am forced to pick one out of these two--I think both are really really awesome though.

Paper Skin-Bone of Bamboo

Well, we can't have a tie here; so I have reread the
six efforts, and relented. Although none of them are
great, "Paper Bamboo" is the best.

I voted for "The Latin Girl Speaks of Rivers" because I've been there (not with the pregnancy, but the metaphors for "myself" as a teenage writer). BUT "Map" was equally good because I've been there & get it: my ex is bipolar.

dear jason, i want to give you a major shout out and honorable mention.

Paper Skin-Bone of Bamboo

Wow a tie-breaker! It's has been like a year since I'm a members of this group and this is the first time I see this. Wonderful.

Please, please, Amy, I beg of you to draw a line in the sand here: Most of the poems are too long. How
about Shakespeare? He said it all in 14 lines. It is such a waste of time and space to go on . . . and on . . . and on . . . and on . . . and usually leading nowhere. Also, a bunch of sentences strung together
and separated into equal lines, with commas and/or
periods in the middle of them, is NOT poetry! Let's get real here and upgrade our act.

Thanks Jo!

"Etiquette" is still my favorite

MAP my favorite.

PAPER SKIN my 2nd.

Good luck, ye poets.

Very difficult choice! Every poem is rich enough to fill me up. Great work all.

All these poems were fantastic; it truly is a difficult decision. Congrats to all! I loved "Blown". It spoke volumes to me!

I love the image of a balloon with teeth! I couldn't get past that, even though the others are all WONDERFUL!

What lovely comments. Thanks all!

The Latin Girl Speaks of Rivers By Lorna Dee Cervantes is my favorite!

Since this is a tie breaker, I'll go with Paper Skin Bone of Bamboo. But I really liked Blown, too.

If there is a poem by Langston Hughes titled "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"--from which "The Latin Girl Speaks of Rivers" was derived, this is a type of plagiarism; yes? Would like opinions on this.

Here's a link to Hughes' poem:

http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/poetry/...

As you can see, even from a quick glance, the poems are not similar, so this is clearly not plagiarism.

Many poems are written to other poems and other poets, as hommage or as challenge. Glosas, for instance, are predicated on using lines from other poems in the new poem (they're attributed of course...).

For readers who know Hughes' poems and biography, the allusion in the title of the poem situates it, and, hopefully, deepens the readers' experience of the new poem.

Sometimes there poems have a line that says "after Langston Hughes" somewhere near the beginning but that's not by any means required or necessary. (The poem works without you knowing about the earlier Hughes poem, yes?)

Thanks, Ariel. Now we are looking at a REAL piece of
poetry! Wonderful.

Map

How I Came To Write This Poem - The first verse is nice and easy taking you gently into the poem without any noise or attention seeking. Joan's prose style is beautiful, the words melt together without a hint of cliche (although there is a touch later but this can easily be forgiven). Those marvellous descriptions of birds and then "We paddle still waters Making a groove From which our existence Like waterbirds perpetually slides forward." Beautifully paced bringing you easily and gently on to the punch in the poem and suddenly you are hooked into the drama, you can really feel her grief and her anger. The next verses about the boy communicate the opening that this sadness has created, the coupling of words like buds and clench, delicate and tough, willing and loss. I think this a marvellous, somewhat simple poem which explains the fragility of our existence in soft, poetic harmonies. Thank you.

Again the finalists are well chosen. A hard choice for the best. I didn't vote in time. Every piece recalled to my mind some experience from my many years of life (76). Echos from the past of sorrow, pain, elation, and being free to enjoy the writings of others. Thank you for the Poetry of Goodreads.

Thank you so much, all, and thank you for the community (thank you, Amy!) They were all such great poems. "Etiquette" was a knock-out and I read it over many times. I wanted to vote for it as soon as it was posted. I love its subtlety and deftness. I would have voted for "Paper Skin..." had my poem not been included. I also loved "How I Came to Write This Poem."

Thank you to whomever for the comments regarding the repetition, which was intentional. I would revise it now based upon those comments. As a general rule, I always go by what Voltaire practiced: Never repeat the same word on the same page twice. But I was going for my raw 14 year old voice from decades back, so it was unedited.

The poem was intended as an homage to Langston Hughes and his poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," which was my favorite poem as a 14 year old who had more than once been called a "n....." to her face. "My soul has grown old like the river." It is not "after" reading the poem (thank you, Ariel!) If anything, this poem is "after Goodreads poets" as it popped out one morning in response to last month's poems, the young woman-girl who posted a poem for critique, and the long heated thread... you know which one. It made me think of Langston Hughes, and this poem, and the line, which brought me right back to being 14 years old again and writing 5 poems a day about a river. Also, a 420-page book of essays on my poetry is due to be published by Wings Press in September, and it's odd reading that much about yourself and about poems written so long ago. I wanted to write again in that voice of my youth (and I wanted to repeat the word "want" like the chanting voice of grief or trauma.) The poem was way too personal, in a way I haven't written in years, to post anywhere else, and since it came from this community, I thought I'd post it for the contest, for you.

Thank you!