New Poem: Wind-up Toys

Today is the deadline for submissions for the Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize competition.  The prize was established in honor of the late Stanley Kunitz, who was a celebrated poet and mentor to many young writers.  The competition is open to all poets under the age of 40.  All entries must be previously unpublished poems.   The entry fee is only $15 and it allows for the submission of up to three poems, totaling no more than three pages in length.  As part of my getting serious initiative, I submitted the following three poems, Missed Calls, Ants, and A Dog’s Life.  Contest results will be announced by July 1, 2012 and, while I don’t hold out any hope of winning, it is nice to think that my work is being read by magazine editors.  These are the types of people who can help me get my stuff included in professional, well-respected publications.  Competitions like this can serve as valuable stepping-stones toward my goal, which is to one day, have a book of my poetry published.  In honor of today, I decided to do some writing over my lunch break.  Below is what I came up with.  I may add to it, but for now, this is all I got.  Enjoy!

Wind-up Toys

You do not have to stop and think to breathe;

At the bottom of a cereal box,

Wrapped in plastic, is this thought as routine

As going to work or school, and simple

As swallowing a gasp of air in the lungs.

Your old brain like a wind-up toy of tin and

Rubber springs into action, running signals

Across the kitchen table of your mind.

In your side, a key, turned by the rise and

Fall of days like miles vanishing beneath

The odometer horizon, sent youth

At a furious pace in all directions,

Almost completely unaware of itself.

Once driven by potential energy, life

Exhausted now will seek soon the smallest breath,

Skitter slow, conscious, but still involuntary.