I’ve recently entered several writing competitions on AllPoetry. Each one comes with its own rules involving word count, required techniques, and structure, but I often return to the same underlying themes. Here are three of my favorite entries, each written for a different contest but connected by one truth.
Gazpacho
Plucked
overripe from aging
vine,
your ruby-red
juice
mingles fresh
with neighboring
neglected cucumber.
Aventurine Thought
A thought skipped stones
across my head,
glinting green down a lucky, bumpy shred,
strolling through clover,
climbing a tree,
then bouncing off brick
to startle me.
Found in the Margins
These poems may have been written to meet the demands of specific prompts, but they still reflect parts of me. Each one circles around the edges of thought, tradition, or experience. In Gazpacho, I found beauty in what is overlooked. Aventurine Thought captures how ideas can surprise me when I am not looking straight at them. And in Ripe, I touch on the quiet ways I have stepped outside family traditions. I did not plan a common theme, but looking back, I see how often I write from the margins, where the small, the stray, and the unexpected leave their mark.
I’d love to know what other threads you notice. Are there any themes that stood out to you across these three poems? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.