A contest was held. The theme was "Poetry Is Life". Out of the many Poets who answered the call, one was chosen as the grand prize winner and eight were chosen as honorable mentions. They represent diverse backgrounds and different viewpoints but all are talented and skilled in the art of poetry. Poet Speak Magazine presents to you the work of those nine gifted Poets.

A lot of people live a life tinged with darkness. We live, we love, we lose, our hearts break and through all of this we are expected to carry on with a smile on our faces. This causes a certain beauty to our sadness and it’s a testament to the strength of our souls. We survive heartache after heartache to experience momentary touches of romance. This poetry collection takes the reader on a journey of highs and lows in love. Relationships without truth and communication can be a dark reali...

Relationships and friendships come and go. We give so much of ourselves that we have to be careful not to lose who we are. Our authentic selves can be found when we spend quality time alone. We cannot connect with others if we cannot first connect with self. The poetry in this collection speaks to that authentic individual in us all, separate from being someone's lover or someone's anything.We love and we hurt, we lust and we ache in our relationships but what really happens when i...