Gold shines; illuminated under the setting sun. Artificial lights flicker, giving birth to the night. Terrifying smiles giving life to inanimate faces. Wide, wild eyes staring. Creatures dancing; spiraling towards infinity. Children ensnared by dream fulfillment. Petite fingers clutching the faces of tiny monsters.
Category: Poetry
“Too Old” by Patricia Haggard (2009)
Fifteen is too old to ride a merry-go-round, too old for this twirling coffee-painted pony to take me back to last June, to the machine that spins dizzying circles, as I stand at the head of my friend’s hospital bed, holding her swollen, peeling hand. The whoosh of the machine…
“Summer Long Gone” by Linda Drake (2009)
We were sun-baked and freckled in our halter tops and shorts. Salty from swimming the day away. Full of energy after corn-on-the cob and BLT’s. Eager to ride the merry-go-round at Sound View. Joking about who would catch the unreachable golden ring. Giddy as Grandpa bought us glazed doughnuts for…
“Merry Go Round” by MaryLynn Haggard (2009)
I play on the merry-go-round as the fire on the round ball sets. It gleams and glows pink and red. It looks like a pretty rainbow. Thunder, my horse, is attached to the glowing Merry-go-Round. Through the clouds I see lots of diamonds. They are so sparkly and clear. The…
“The Child of Shalott” by Katie Scibelli (2009)
This carnival rests in a field of flowers. Hear the innocent laughter Her song echoes through you. She waves her hand, Palms dive in and out of air currents. She is a fairy granting wishes. Her crimson hair falls on young shoulders Unkempt after a day of enjoyment. Slow horses…
“Cupcake Girl” by Sierra Ryan (2009)
She is a cupcake of a woman, poured into the ruffled sheath of her bathing suit. What she wears is a bathing suit, it’s too polka dot cute to be swimsuit. Bathing suits are for Bathing Beauties, the antiquated glamour of pudgy poise. Her hair is pinned into fat black…
“The Scientific Process” By Zachary Bradley (2015)
Collins Literary Prize Winner, Poetry (2015) Ants can withstand 5,000 times their weight, a strength attracting the envy of man. But still, even the strongest backs can break. I glue heads to a centrifuge and wait for the force of spinning to make neck snap, “Ants can withstand 5,000 times…
“Last Coyote” By Michael Stankiewicz (2015)
Wallace Stevens Poetry Contest, Third Place (2015) for K.E.J. Despite the buckshot of light from the sky’s many barrels we can’t see them circling Boulder Ridge at three o’clock in the morning. You and I, blanket wrapped in the center of what you call the moonfield—an abandoned soccer tract where…
“Where are you from” By Marissa Stanton (2015)
Wallace Stevens Poetry Contest, Second Place (2015) Silvana is talking about America, my bike is between my skirt. I try to guess her age. Later, I ask if she thinks the man next to the door is— we talk, half-shouting in the café. Where is your daughter, now? I’m mostly…
“September 18th” By Abigail Fagan (2015)
Wallace Stevens Poetry Contest, First Prize (2015) Before they put the yellow sod back on they asked if we’d like to take little clumps of earth and help put him to rest, fingerprinted bits to keep him in the ground in the urn in Montana where it’s cold underfoot and…
