Underfoot, Shredded Petals
We sheep across winter’s grayscape to arrive, wool sodden and mucked, neutered, at spring’s sludge pond. There’s enough wet to raise the almost-dead: blossom from bud, caterpillar from egg, bee from hexagonal hutch. Drowned for months, the evergreen roots have been silently screaming. What silk scarves are concealed in tree sleeves? What disappearing trick will vanish the memory of morbid hours? Tucked in our pockets: needles, black lichens, moss. In the distance, Mt. Baker turns its face to the sun. Come migration season, even a caged bird will face its intended direction. Overhead, a chorus of swallows. Overhead, swarms of them travelling by starlight. by Dayna Patterson Dayna is the winner of our March 2018 poetry contest! Her poem will be on display at the Poem Booth through the end of the quarter.
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DivinationThe long body of the Buick
is brown like a doe. The open hood reveals inscrutable innards of iron. Steam rises from the cavity, the open stomach of a deer on a hard November field. Both Buick and doe can carry a man through winter. My father reaches into that space, his back bent with effort as if through haruspex he will solve the mystery of what doesn’t work. I can’t tell him where gears go wrong, but I know what stopped the doe. By Jory Mickelson Jory is the winner of our fourth poetry contest! You can see his poem on display at the downtown co-op December 1st - end of February! Ode to a Flat Black River RockYou fit perfectly in my hand.
You ask to be rubbed, more cat than rock. Once, by the sea, the girls and I gathered a bagful of your bigger sisters. We painted pictures on their obligingly flat sides. In our old backyard, two served as parakeet grave markers. You ask only to be held, stroked, and admired. She who gazes long and deep at your matte black face begins to see etched white networks, then clouds of stardust. Depths within depths, space between atoms, a history of the earth’s crust, a map of the cosmos. By Sheila Sondik Sheila is the winner of our third poetry contest! You can see her poem on display at the downtown co-op September 1st - end of November! Learn more about her work at: http://www.sheilasondik.com/ What Water Says
Leafless aspens groom the iced breeze, while below a brook descends the mountain with its musical story, remembering the serenity of sky, and lightning’s clear passion. Water knows what is far will be near. Water says choose that which closes distance, choose touch. When snow falls and a green mystery is carried by all that moves, choose love. By Jim Bertolino Jim is the winner of our second poetry contest! You can see his poem on display at the downtown co-op until the end of August! Learn more about his work at: http://www.jamesbertolino.com/ and jamesbertolinoblog.wordpress.com Sunnyland Scent
If I could brew a personal fragrance of this morning's air, my perfume would speak to the part of my memory which recollects towhee at the birdfeeder and sweet pine sisken song. Scent memory of grass full of bluebells, tete a tetes, and clover. The smell of garden spade, tomato leaf and butter lettuce. A whiff of family loading dog, canoe and picnic into their panel wagon. Cologne of clucking hens announcing the arrival of warm, brown eggs. Sweet smell of pink and ivory fruit trees dressed in their bridal best. Neighbor scent pushing strollers, drinking coffee, greeting one another with smiling nods. If I could blend a perfume of this morning's air, I would never be alone. By Kathleen McKeever Kathleen is our winner of the first poem booth poetry contest...stop by the poem booth between March 1st and April 25th to see her poem! Congratulations, Kathleen! |