Congratulations to Steve N Ogah of Nigeria for the selection of one of his poems as our Poem of the Month for February 2002.

His poem is called "Tomorrow".

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TOMORROW

Every now and then
We seek divination at the shrine of today's oracle
For the hue of fruits tomorrow shall bear
We offer torrents of chants
Graceful 'nuts, goats and frothing wine
For the parched and still throat of a shrine's persona
We freight the sack of our palms with cowries
But do not stutter to hurl them into
The open arms of the vista for the future
But has not that which we seek
Spoken in a sparkling tongue:
"Today is the surrogate womb
For the child you seek
I am today well-lived
I do not reside in temples and shrines
I can not be Fathom in still totems
Neither can you entreat me with
Fuming but inviting palm wine
Fresh Kola nuts and glittering cowries
And angry, but bouncing he-goats
I am more than you can see in the Frescos
Of calabashes and strings of cowries
Do not woo me with banal rites
I am precious beyond pearls of pristine sparkles
That is the reason you never find me
As pendants for the adornment of your chests.
As a child you long to behold,
The crystals into me
Are the voices and visions of your time."

Steve N Ogah (c) Febuary 2002

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Runners-up included:

Elissa B of Georgia - "You Were Like The Sunset"

Neil MacMillan of New York, USA - "The Wheatfield "

Rene Faulcon of Washington, USA - "Redecoration"

Michael Naber of Nebraska, USA - "Parody of Me"

Arielle Adamy of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, USA - "Red"

Sree Kopuri of Andhra Pradesh, India - "Solitude"

We would like to thank all of you creative writers who submitted your work to our site during this contest month.