Date:         Sat, 31 Jan 1998 19:36:41 -0500
From: Words from the Monastery <jackechs@EROLS.COM>
Subject:      SUB: VDC: Moving On (poem)

THE END IS NEARER! And I'm not talking about the world either ... ;)

The 1998 WRITERs' Valentine's Day Contest

Remember, save your critiques please and send you entries to Michelle
<winebird@inreach.com> and me <jackechs@erols.com> not the list for entry
into the contest.

*****

MOVING ON

the diamond on her finger
blazes
mirroring the fire
of her new love

as she fills the trash
with layers of her life

plastic Mr. Potato Head
the black and white taffeta she wore
to the sixth grade dance
a brittle once-red prom corsage bleached
almost ivory

and like a cherry on top of a Sundae
was the photograph...
eyes that held her captive
now seem hollow

she sees
a one-dimensional illusion of love
now pale as the withered blooms