Here are the winning poems for the current month.  They are also published in the Newsletter.


February 2011

Judged by: Fred Fine

First Place:

Untitled
by Blake Valin

Dark sky flecked in gold
Planted by gardener unknown
The universe blooms

Thin ribbons of rain
Two- penny nails pounding in
Dry earth welcomes

Purple grackles swarm
Snow melts on brown grass
High pitched gaiety

Clear mirror puddle
Little sparrow lights to drink
Narcissus preens

Birds not seen nor heard
Anole�s corpse falls from tall palm
Tropical cold wave

Rattling sabers
Protest the bitter cold night
Palm trees battle wind

Eagle feathers hunt
Wings stretch across full moon
Wary rabbit hides

Erhu strings vibrate
Far away our mountain weeps
Bamboos slowly sway

Pebble strikes window
Silhouette against the light
Love tiptoes below

Graceful earth walkers
Red dust drifts across diy plain
Giraffes assemble

Liquid prism fountains
Murmur crystal notes of spring
Nightingales echo


Second Place:

BEACHCOMBER
by Riva Dunaief

The empty beach is hers
to loot. Air is gray suede,
rain pokes holes in sand.

Her curved back ratchets
down as knobbed fingers .
grasp gritty shards.

Broken shells, pink,
mottled brown and white
till her plastic bag.

Gulls rage overhead,
lay claim with screams
to rotten orange peels.

Terns trace hieroglyphic
footprints, skitter in,
out of hissing spray.

Rain tangles her hair,
soaks the mildew stained
collar of her coat.


Honorable Mention:


Blue Curious
by Judith DiBisceglia

I wrote recklessly from my heart.
Not caring if words were spelled right
No arrangement, scribbled sporadic words
flying ......

glorotic... wind flower
        blue curious... aether

These words, they didn't make sense.
I rearranged, then added

if... yet
        maybe... tomorrow

I never told you I loved you.
Unspoken, sadness amplified

And the glorotic wind flower
swept into the blue curious aether.



Honorable Mention:


Sisters
by Norma Jagendorf

People said you looked like Daddy
and l resembled Mother.
Even so, everyone knew
we were sisters.

Once, in college,
we met by chance in the restroom.
Someone asked if we were twins
as we combed our hair side by side.

Our eyes met in the mirror,
and we laughed and laughed.
You were three years older,
your hair lighter,
your eyes hazel, mine brown,
but there was something in our smiles.

We married brothers,
had two daughters each.
ln time grew older, wiser,
lost parents, husbands, and then

l lost you.


Special Contest: 16 line Blank Verse

Losing Zeidi
by Beth Morris

Between the vultures and the bighorn sheep
he stopped to read a sign about the first
of Arizona�s governors, enshrined
within a tomb atop the Phoenix zoo.

The rest of us kept walking up the trail
to see the African Savannah, till
Samantha noticed Zeidi wasn't there.
�Don�t worry, Sammi, he�ll turn up,� I said;

�he�s done this only twice,� I reassured,
�forgotten where he was and lost his way.
The doctor told us, 'Just a transient loss
of memory, unlikely to recur.� �

We found him- near the entrance to the park-
�I knew you�d all come back for me!� he laughed. . .
(One day I 'll try to search for you but you
will not be found.  Please, G-d let me go first.)