I know better than anyone that life isn’t a competition, and I don’t need contest wins or publications to validate me… BUT, it sure is nice to get a little recognition once in a while. So it was with great pleasure when I saw that my poem “Paris” made the Top 50 list, in the 2010 Poetic Asides Poem-a-Day Challenge.
Here then, is the poem reprinted:
Paris
We bow our heads
at la Tombe du Soldat Inconnu,
collect postcards at le Louvre
and stroll along la Rive Gauche
in the footsteps of Hemingway.
April, I say, isn’t the best time
to be in Paris,
as inconsistent skies
pelt rain on us one moment
and smile upon us
with all the good will
of a benevolent parent the next.
But Paris, he murmurs,
isn’t the worst place
to be in April.
at la Tombe du Soldat Inconnu,
collect postcards at le Louvre
and stroll along la Rive Gauche
in the footsteps of Hemingway.
April, I say, isn’t the best time
to be in Paris,
as inconsistent skies
pelt rain on us one moment
and smile upon us
with all the good will
of a benevolent parent the next.
But Paris, he murmurs,
isn’t the worst place
to be in April.
Great poem and thanks for making a comment on ‘the cancer spot,’ about HEALING WITH WORDS.
Do let me know if you want me to come speak to your group about journaling. I do this free — the only cost is that each participant must buy at least one of my books.
Best wishes
Diana Raab
http://www.dianaraab.com
Thanks, Diana. I will bring this up with my writing group when we reconvene in October. Btw, I noticed you had a cancer story in the latest edition of Survivor’s Review. http://bit.ly/cspFJM You captured very poignantly the uncertainty and fear of diagnosis.
I have a special fondness for Survivor’s Review, because this was the first online cancer journal/blog I discovered, and they were the first to publish my writing. “The Dogwood Tree”, written shortly after my father’s death was featured in Vol. 7 http://bit.ly/aYb2iK, and “Metamorphosis”, a poem about my own cancer diagnosis appeared in Vol. 9 http://bit.ly/bo6bXk.
Very nicely done!
Merci!