"Finding the Sex of a Caterpillar"
First Place, Poetry Contest
by Vincent Xexaviar
With her mouth
Growing tight with blackberries,
She looks at me
And laughs,
Behind purple stained teeth
And clusters of nectar
She oozes syllables
That resemble in some respect
"Caterpillar penis"
Between giggles
And geysers of
Premature wine
The frothy laughter
Overcomes us both,
As the fuzzy blades of grass
Catch us
In soft humor
The giggles slow
And I taste
The honeyed wonder
Of her smile,
The dark coils of her hair,
And the floral wind
Who carried her request
For a napkin
To dab away
That sweet reward
Of the summer flavor
"Watching You"
Second Place, Poetry Contest
by Allison Barrett
I see that you are deep in thought.
Your eyebrows are dark
and furrowed,
like plowed earth.
The spilled ink of your hair
drips onto your face,
irritating you.
Impatiently,
you brush it aside,
and the smudged charcoal intensity
of your brow
lifts quizzically,
leaving your eyes a little helpless –
two blue mittens lost in the snow.
"Eden Renewed"
First Place, Burkhart Poetry Contest
by Kimberly M. Lowe
The sin of Eve has supposedly been
passed down through generations.
Her stumble rests heavily on my shoulders
as I yearn to commit the one unforgivable sin
in this magical place –
a garden, no less.
Anywhere else,
choose any of this same fruit;
just not here.
Oh, to pluck one flower from its stem,
relieve the full tree of its ripe, heady fruit –
never to recover Innocence.
I wish I could purge myself,
eliminate my desires
in the cleansing ice
that flows in sculptures here.
Instead, I must do my best with the air.
Crisp breeze brings a fresh sting
as I lift away all coverings
and bare my soul
to ancestors long dead.
