January 2012 Winning Poems
Featured Reader & Judge: Cora Lee Palma-Hayden
First Place:
IF ONLY
by Victoria Maynard
I'd like to believe in parallel worlds
where I could stretch my hand through space
and touch your fingertips with mine,
no walls of time to separate our souls,
to bind my body here, while yours is long since dust.
I fear to die! If there could be some other way.. .?
My cowardice, tethers me to this life
with only memories for company,
yet, sometimes I think I feel your lips
brush mine in a good night kiss,
it’s nectar, sweet with promises
you could not keep, dear heart.
A heart which ceased to beat
while mine, must linger on until
it’s free to leave this world, for yours.
Second Place:
The Shuttering
by Judith DiBisceglia
ln—housed desire
whirls and twins
from the earthborn floor
opening shelterless sky
loves extractionit embrace
turns attachments against me
like a knife sliding over and over
into flesh, breaking bone
of pelvic, spine,the allied
i covered my face
taking down fear of flesh
and drifted
a buoy bound only to bone
windswept in the constant see
of flowers unable to stay open
in-flamed in darkness
wounds from farther inward
burning from the entrancement
of my wanting
i was blinded by the sun
struggling to stay open
the frigid quantum released
untethered
into the solar winds
the underwritten of deaths promise
life swallows what i love
cherish
what i held in my arms
flesh forever gone
Honorable Mention:
Sleeping Alone
by Donna M. Westbrook
Missing:
One warm body with
soft snore,
buzz of air filter,
hum of oscillating fan,
(you were always hot) `
Midnight and
early morning shuffle to
bathroom and back again,
soft hiss of your inhaler
before duvet is reshaped
into cocoon
Cocoon that spooned
my cocoon
Shielding me
from nightmare phantoms
Present:
My cocoon
Broken open and abandoned
I have put on your robe
Taken your pillow ·
Retreated to your chair
Hoping to escape the phantoms
Waiting in our bed.
Honorable Mention:
"If yesterday is a blur, will I remember today
tomorrow?"
by Linda Levine
it used to be so easy--
memories
would remain
tucked into my
mind’s roledex
organized and compliant
at my command
they’d appear
each savored like
a delicious dessert
linger until
I'd had my fill
then take their leave
a buried treasure
of thoughts
neatly nestled in
unique compartments
it used to be so easy--
yet now
they cavort
and carry on like
unruly children
vie for my attention
try my patience
unfettered they
respond neither to
threats nor bribes
refuse to be banished
or even accept an
occasional time out
every day
there’s a new
tug of war
every day they
tease and torment me
play hide and seek
dare me to find them
and every day
l lose the game
it used to be so easy
Special Contest: Haiku
The Forest
John J. Buchholz
Woodland’s family
Giant trees shade lesser kin
Sun rays fathers all