Sol Poet Laureate 2001 Part Two Winners

SOL MAGAZINE
POET LAUREATE 2001 Edition
PART TWO

JUDGES
Warner Conarton
Kim Cotton
Craig Tigerman

Contents of Part Two

In each instance, we have listed form first, topic second. To read about any form, click the name of the form. To see the winning poems in the Poet Laureate 2001 Competition, click on topic.

CINQUAIN	SOUL SING
QUATRAIN	TO HAVE OR HAVE NOT
PLEIADES	LET'S GET PERSONAL

CINQUAIN: SOUL SING

FIRST PLACE winner of a $10.00 electronic book gift certificate

Free Flight
My soul
soars like a black
bird riding thermal winds
as the sky turns to crimson at
sunset
Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA

JUDGES' COMMENTS: Wonderful imagery. Flows. Like its subject, a beautiful metaphor into the cause of the effect. Satisfying. Strong writing.
============

SECOND PLACE

Raiment
O Cirque,
cloud's adornment
hung upon a necklace
silvering stream's resplendent hymn
wear me.
Ron Blanton, Alpharetta, GA

JUDGES' COMMENTS: Builds steadily to emotional climax bursting with desire. Lovely wording, exquisitely expressed.
============

THIRD PLACE

To Touch a Tree
smooth bark
tingles under
palms, fingers - like singing
electricity soul branches
skyward
Lynette Bowen, League City, TX

JUDGES' COMMENTS: Simple touch builds and burst forth into soul-song.
============

HONORABLE MENTION

Connections
Sometimes
they are strangers
who tickle my soul with
coy smiles that linger like a good
secret
Roz Garay, Whittier, CA

JUDGES' COMMENTS: Simply written, memorable last two lines.
============

HONORABLE MENTION

Debut
She comes,
demoralized
because of alcohol--
admits her need for help: this fills
my cup.
Jean McAllister, Bellevue, WA

JUDGES' COMMENTS: Good use of irony to express deep feelings in a very real drama.

QUATRAIN: TO HAVE OR HAVE NOT

FIRST PLACE

New Year's
The sound of laughter mingles with steaming buns
As patrons celebrate the Year of Snake
Few notice the Chinese owner as he slips outside
To hand food to the shabby man standing in the cold
Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX

JUDGES' COMMENTS: Good use of contrast to highlight the theme. Tender story. A candid and touching replay of the surge of "random kindnesses" that recently swept the country. Silent giving speaks so very strongly.
============

SECOND PLACE

My Mother's Choice
She said, "Yes" to keep this child,
at an ailing age, under frowns of friends.
The tangled cells twined deep below her heart
heard and danced with life.
Andrea M. Zander, Rochester, MN

JUDGES' COMMENTS: Delightful, the sense of defiant triumph in this gift of life. One choice made a huge difference in two lives.
============

THIRD PLACE

Arise
Arise man of my hand
speak and be spoken to
be pleased by the land
please the one who made you.
Ron Blanton, Alpharetta, Ga

JUDGES' COMMENTS: Powerful personal expression of the gift of life. The two pairs of verbs in active and passive voice embody each life's purpose: to give and receive love in creation's community. Excellent.
============

HONORABLE MENTION

The Unnecessary Necessity
The kidney on my right need not be redundant;
The one on the left can suffice for me, and
A lovely but languishing sister, a lifelong companion,
Shall continue, perhaps thrive, on my excess.
Coke Brown Jr., Fort Worth, TX

JUDGES' COMMENTS: The gift of life, indeed. How brave and loving, this poet's testimony about one who has two, and one who has none. Generous story.

PLEIADES: LET'S GET PERSONAL

FIRST PLACE Winner of a $10.00 electronic book gift certificate

Grandma
Good-hearted, Great Grandma
grabbed the gospel in a
garden of
goblins, yet she never
grieved, or
gripped a
godsend.
Candace A. York, Austin, TX

JUDGES' COMMENTS: Excellent example of a Pleiades.
============

SECOND PLACE

Consequently
Chin wiped, silver hair brushed, you
cherished, I walk slowly past the
closing doors. Love is often difficult when
closeted within sterile halls. But love often
chooses the rugged road when you know you
can make a difference in someone's day.
Chains of duty fall away. Love takes its place.
Claiborne Schley Walsh, Montrose, AL

JUDGES' COMMENTS: Moves gracefully through this form to touch the reader's heart. The leading "C's" were hardly noticeable. A memorable poem worth saving for a timely reminder.
============

THIRD PLACE

Inversion
"I am so alone," you told me once--
In that moment were we born again;
I stretched a wary hand across my
Independent walls, welcomed you
Into me, knowing I could heal you, knowing that
In your healing I would be scarred and lonely too someday;
I will be scarred and lonely, too.
Martha Kirby Capo, Houston, TX

JUDGES' COMMENTS: Penetrating insight into the human condition.
============

HONORABLE MENTION

Magnets
Maybe we were
meant to be
matched as we are.
Memories:
meeting eyes see
more between you and me...
more than can ever be.
Magnets
Andrea M. Zander, Rochester, MN

JUDGES' COMMENTS: Enchanting. Nice three-fold rhyme at the end.

Continue to Part Three
or
Return to Poet Laureate 2001 main page

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