The Lyric 2009 College Poetry Contest Winner

We are delighted to have a winning poem in the College Contest, written by Claire Eder, from Kalamazoo College, Michigan, who won $500 for her entry.  Honorable Mentions go to Ellie Biswell, College of the Ozarks, Missouri; Eugenia Lily Yu, Princeton, New Jersey; Ellen Adria Orner, Valparaiso University, Indiana; and M. J. Rowe. Many thanks to Tanya Cimonetti for managing and facilitating the contest!  And thank you also to the faculty who first taught traditional forms of poetry to their students and then nudged them to enter.

THE GOOD BOOK

Leaves, torn from above, now line the ground.
A hard wind brought them low all out of season,
and with a rotting-thread sewed them to earth, bound
to let the life-ink dry, give way to reason.
Gone the volume that affirmed the lines
of branches pointing to the sky, volume made of two-
dimensional things, arranged along a spine
to take up space, to fill the field of view.
Dead leaves, dead text, live once again in me,
and in your living stoop to say my own.
Your Author, who by saying brings to be,
has left the room, and I am all alone.
Now, gone mute, I take you from the shelf;
my living, though it’s tried, can’t say itself.

Claire Eder
Kalamazoo College, Michigan

Honorable Mention

NIGHT
“O night, thou was my guide. O night, more loving than the rising sun.” 
--St. John of the Cross

After Odysseus arrived by night,
His twenty years of wandering behind,
(Sweet Ithaca!  He dared not trust his sight)
I shut the book and thought The night is kind.
Homer seized upon a truth as old
As human struggle.  Birth is always slow.
The roots awaken, tiny leaves unfold,
And in the bud, the hidden flower grows.
St. John, the Christian mystic, sleepless lay
Inside his cell.  He wrestled with the fear
And sorrow of a priest who could not pray,
Then like a landfall after weary years
Of wandering, he wrote of “loving” night.
For in the dark, the soul receives its sight.

Ellie Biswell
College of the Ozarks, Missouri

Honorable Mention

THE POET TO THE WASP QUEEN AMONG THE PLUMS

Unavailable

Eugenia Lily Yu, Princeton, New Jersey

Honorable Mention

GRANDFATHER

Dust of squirrel-chewed seed husk, engine heat
sandy dry leaves on shelves, leaves on sheets

a basement forest of potted ferns turning brown
sour brass on bare bulb strings, hanging down

Tramp the cat’s fur on your lap, leather seat
linty gray, body-warm handkerchief

my own skin, like a warm salty scone
paper brown, under shirt, smells like your own.

Ellen Adria Orner
Valparaiso University, Indiana

Honorable Mention

BILLY..OF MARBLES AND STRING

Marbles and string began his youth
On red dirt roads, I tell the truth
And I would go to watch with joy
Spinning toys of marvelous boys
I heard their laughter, saw their smiles
I remember it yet after all these miles

Bill never noticed me
Though he hoped I’d never see
His life was made of marbles and string
To escape his life of terrible things

Dark was home, and bitter gall
So to the road to unleash it all
He would go, and a crowd would form
To spin blue tops mid a dusty swarm
After all, young boys need a fair time out
To shed their pain and unleash their doubt
Get away from screaming to enjoy a day
Cover up their heart and walk away

I wish to comfort your heart with this
“all children suffer when love is amiss”
Just be happy with marbles and string
For life dear boy is a marvelous thing.

M. J. Rowe
Oklahoma City College