2010 Valentine's Day Love Poem Contest Winners

WCLV's Valentine's Day Love Poem
Contest is presented by
The Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland.

The first-place winner will receive an
Enchanted Evening package at
The Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland, featuring
romantic overnight deluxe
accommodations for two. Guests
will enjoy rose petal decoration
at turndown, champagne,
chocolate-covered strawberries,
valet parking, and a delicious breakfast
in the morning.

All ten winners will receive a pair of tickets to the April 10 Cleveland Orchestra concert
conducted by Semyon Bychkov, a voucher good for a pair of tickets to any Cleveland Play House
production remaining in the 2009-10 season, and a selected compact disc.

Conratulations to our winners, and thanks to all of the 200 plus WCLV listeners who entered poems.

First Place

Blush

Edgar Degas, please, paint her dancing,
her hands touching me,
her foamy skirt a cloudy waterfall,
her satiny shoes clinging to faerie feet,
her hidden breasts pressed against me,
her fragrance fetching me a fever,
her eyes slanting down, a fake modesty,
and, Edgar Degas, my friend,
after our dance, please,
have us sit together, breathless,
a blush on her face, a dew on her brow,
and then,

Joseph A. Psarto
Westlake, Ohio

Second Place

Timeless

His sinews were a haunting song, his bones so finely bound,
His being, interlaced with mine, was substance without sound.
The wheeling galaxies were turned at impulse of his breath;
And I, with eyes of timeless space reached out, past life or death.

We danced together, ages gone, among the cairn and stone,
Constrained by neither God nor man; bound by our love, alone.
What other journeys, other roads we traveled; atoms flung—
Colliding, merging, fusing fast----
                                                 ruined, remade, resung.

Joette McDonald
Vermilion, Ohio

Third Place

A Mother's St. Valentine's Day Prayer

St. V., bring my daughter a man who's serene
Good-tempered, well-read, and impeccably clean
Tri-lingual, ambidextrous, whom Cupid inspires
He orders dinner in French and then changes flat tires
Discerning, athletic, imbued in the arts
With all of the requisite masculine parts
May he gently undo all her straps, snaps and buckles
(Unlike her father, who is literally all knuckles)
St. V., one last thing, just in case there's a glitch
Please be absolutely sure that his parents are rich

Jane Birnkrant
Moreland Hills, Ohio

Fourth Place

Three Strikes

My first wife played accordion.
My second wife played drums.
My third wife played bagpipes.
I'm done.

Sam Markota
Rocky River, Ohio

Fifth Place

Transitional Colors

We've been misled,
It has been said
To seek for love that's hot and red.

When love is new
And skies are blue,
The world seems bathed in rosy hue.

With love grown old,
We hope for gold;
Another bill of goods we're sold. 

Jacqueline Freedman
Shaker Heights, Ohio

Sixth Place (tie)

Words

On my cul de sac we lose jobs and breasts.
The morning is growing,
and I continue to stare at the cold paper,
hearing only the faucet's slow soliloquy.
Words full of holes come to me.

But now I see myself sitting, struck by Spring
beside my husband, St. Mark's Square, violins.
What were the Venetian miracles we ate?
What was the ambrosia we sipped
on that sapphire day?
From cumbering shadows I go back
to this scene, where sunlight falls
on the palaces and cathedrals of antiquity,
my arms full of words.

Nathalie Ketterer
Fairlawn, Ohio

Sixth Place (tie)

Year-of-the-Big-Birthday Valentine

I've ironed my hair and bleached my teeth, Latissed my lashes too
spent 60 hours before Wii-Fit, anticipating you...
considered Botox, lrnd 2 txt, thrown out my dorky shoes
for 5-inch heels (a bad idea. Love's a barefoot Muse).

I've mantra'd Dr. Roizen's words (and also Dr. Oz)
that broccoli kills the Aging gene: "More Broccoli!" because
love's blazing-crazy, gives your mind a right-cross to the head
so when we meet, the heart attack could leave us both for dead.

Love's GPS, my Sweet Unmet, so far has not a clue
I'm this end of its laser-lock
now where
               just where
                              are
                                   you?

Jane Steckler
Cleveland, Ohio

Eighth Place

My nose is red,
My lips are blue,
I brave the sleet
To be with you.

Elizabeth Knaak
Cleveland, Ohio

Ninth Place (tie)

Never

The whole first sight thing
never happens -
never do lights spotlight two
across the room,
drawing two in some
romantic comedy cliche.
Never does the first kiss
explode under starlight as
The Moment.
Never does love last
when such nonsense fades.
To these Nevers and more,
I lovingly add our
small, but indelible, Almost.

Jeffrey D. Roush
Medina, Ohio

Ninth Place (tie)

Valentine Vitriol

Cupids are cupidinous
   Violets smell vile
This holiday libidinous
   Seems more of a trial
Chocolate's caloric
   True love seldom lasts
Moments euphoric
   Soon fade in the past
Roses are thorny
   Champagne goes flat
Verses sound corny
   I'll stick with my cat

Lyn M. Broach
Akron, Ohio