January 2009
First Place:
Lonelyville
By Arlene Lipton
Only a few steps beyond
The sandy path lined
With blown-rose hedges
There is a place
Called Lonelyville
Each dweller lives alone
In a grey-shingled cottage
perched on shaky stilts
Some face the sea
Some do not
Each assays himself
The sentence is harsh
The doors are sealed
Nobody gets in
Nobody gets out
No one hears the surf
Or the screeching gulls
No one sees clouds
Or waving beach grass
No one feels the sun
SECOND PLACE:
Vacillator
By Ruth E. Dickinson
Some believe a force
they call God
is in charge
of this maelstrom.
Strange,
it seems to me,
to blame it on
what is,
at best,
a nebulous concept.
And yet,
and yet,
in her/his/its defense,
I confess,
in times of trial,
distress,
in anguish,
I have cried out
that name,
desperate to feel
that Presence.
HONORABLE MENTION:
The Budbha on the Road
By Bob Alman
I met the Buddha on the road today
sad stopped sad starred and wondered what to do
and knew I'd need to ask the fellow why
he'd come to cross my path on just this day
But then I realized it wasn't right
to treat him as I would some other guy
so with no weapons there I chose instead
to wield my words with deadly swift intent
and summoned a snarl and snapped at the gaping dude
"Most people would say it's a very nice day, but not me!"
Scratching his belly and farting a dissonant chord
he frowned at me briefly and passed on without breaking stride
leaving me wondering, wordless, and mildly confused
And then in a flash I saw very clearly the thing
I had needed to say to engage that celebrity's ear
and turning to rush to the side of the strutting stud
I was sad and dismayed to find him nowhere in sight
I met the Buddha on the road today
and having no sword or gun or vicious dog
I groped for a way to kill that gloating idol
but my means were insufficient to the task
I met the Buddha on the road today
and could not speak the words I meant to say
HONORABLE MENTION:
Letting Go
By Linda Levine
dandelion bends in the breeze
shakes its gray head sagely
as next generation
declares independence
HONORABLE MENTION:
By Harvey Levine
man and god
create and destroy
side by side
SPECIAL CONTEST WINNER: HAIKU
By Helen Schulman
Minnow swimming
in a round glass bowl,
are you making any progress?