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Welcome! You are all eligible to enter the contests here, whether or not you subscribe. But those who do subscribe will find out about the results of the previous contest, as well as the challenge for the new contest first! Send me your name and e-mail address. It's free and your e-mail will not by shared with anyone!
The "July 4th" contest winner: Jim Dunlap for his poem "Freedom's Banquet," which you will find below. Congratulations, Jim!
Current contest: I will read the "Summer" contest entries from '04 as I get caught up, and give awards to my favorites. I'll reinstate the contest as soon as possible, so don't give up on me!
Always write "contest" in the subject line. The winning poem, along with the author's name, will be featured on this page, then moved with the featured poets to the Archives. The winner will receive a signed copy of my first book, Heartache and Whimsy.
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FREEDOM'S BANQUET
Jim Dunlap
Since freedom is a delicate thing,
It takes nurturing and defending.
It's a state of being and state of mind
Requiring detailed and devoted tending.
It thrives on human sacrifice
And swells like a river in flood --
A veritable psychic vampire
Nourished on martyr's blood.
Those denizens of darkened dungeons
And occupants of unmarked graves
Are the few sacrificed for the many:
Blood-price, as it saves ... and depraves.
Each of us knows altruism
Is mostly contra-survival;
And patriotism's a religion
That grows with each bloody revival.
The "much" that we owe our lamented dead
We forget in our daily existence,
While we grope for material possessions
On a level far more than subsistence.
Published in Lyrical Iowa, 1999
Jim’s work has appeared in 90 plus small press magazines to date, including Plainsongs, Potpourri, and online at Poetry Life and Times and Poems Niederngasse (Switzerland). He is newsletter Editor for the Des Moines Area Writers' Network, Senior Contributing Editor to the Poets' Porch, and is in Who's Who In America, 2003 and 2004, and Who's Who In The World, 2004.
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