Our poem of the week was a winning poem in Third Wednesday’s most recent “One Sentence Poetry Contest”. This is the second win for Virginia poet, Mark Madigan.
The newest iteration of this popular contest is open for entries until April 15, 2019.
Author: Editorial Staff
I Have No Thoughts of Cosmological Matters – Our Poem of the Week
This week’s poem is a Triolet from M. B. Powell, a Washington poet who has three tiolets in the winter issue of Third Wednesday. The poet’s chapbook, Lovers, Mothers, Killers, Others is published by Finishing Line Press, 2013.
tri·o·let
/ˈtrēələt/
noun
A poem of eight lines, rhyming abaaabab and so structured that the first line recurs as the fourth and seventh and the second as the eighth.
Photo credit: NASA Hubble Telescope
Tip For Writers
Use vs. Utilize
Most people, judging by the number of times I see them misused, don’t know that utilize and use have different meanings. They are not interchangeable. You use an object for a purpose common to that object, while you might utilize an object for a purpose not common to that object. For instance you use a pen to write, but you might utilize a pen to perform an emergency tracheotomy. You would use a dime to pay for a gumball but you might utilize a dime to tighten or loosen a screw.
Soldiers use a shovel: Soldiers utilize a shovel:
The Birds of Morris Graves
Our poem of the week is an ekphrastic based on the body of work of the Northwest artist, Morris Graves (1910-2001). The background image is “Spirit Bird”. This poem appeared first in the Spring 2017 issue of Third Wednesday and was later reprinted in The Ekphrastic Review. (Disclaimer – the poem’s author is one of our editors).
Superior
We like poems that paint a vivid picture and this one from Raymond Byrnes does exactly that. His poem is a photograph of a stormy Lake Superior. It’s an apt description of how quickly conditions can change on the big lake using images that are familiar to those who know the hard working inland sea.
Volume XII, No. 1 – Now Available in Print & Electronically
Entering our twelfth year of publication…
Poems by:
- Ted Kooser
- Dan Gerber
- Marge Piercy
- Jack Ridl
- Lisa Timpf
- Leslie Schultz
- Robert Haight
- Sheryl Clough
- Mary Brown
…and many others
Cover photo: Jude Dippold
Chopin Ballade in G Minor
Our Poem of the Week by Linda Blaskey comes from the newest issue of Third Wednesday. It was an entry in our One Sentence Poetry Contest and earned an honorable mention. A new edition of the popular contest will open for entries on February 15th.
Family Portrait
From Third Wednesday Magazine and InsideOut Literary Arts
A PDF copy of this issue is available free at the Third Wednesday website.
Little Miracles
In our poem of the week, Gina Valdés offers this vivid description of her experiences on the roads of California with some good Samaritans who stop in their “smooth-running carcacha” to get her “not-so-smooth-running carcacha” going again. This poem is from the just released Winter Issue of Third Wednesday. That’s not Gina’s car in the photo but it looks like the car I see in her poem.
Miles To Go
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep…
Coming soon to coffee mugs and t-shirts everywhere – the copyright on Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening expired at midnight on January 1st, 2019. The poem was written over twenty inspired minutes in the summer of 1922 after Frost had been up all night working on a different poem that wasn’t going well.
Third Wednesday Magazine 