Our Contest Winners!
First Place
Claire Wincinske
‘Her Garden’
I wonder
If you know that
You
Were the garden
She tended most passionately?
Your faces,
Her favorite blooms.
Your children,
Petals so cherished.
Their children,
Seeds she nurtured-
Starting the process again.
Roots so deep
Love so deep.
Through storms a plenty-
Feast and famine.
Thunder and blinding lightning.
Floods and quakes-
Things that shook
The foundations of the earth,
She stood firm.
A mighty oak in the frame
Of a daisy.
And now you stand
Just as she did-
In the light of
The radiant sun
Tending your own gardens-
Just as she did.
Second Place Tie
Bonnie Rogers
‘Fears’
Should I? Should I write of this?
My fears as I stare into the abyss?
Oh yes! I really should...
With that dramatic opening rhyme
it could be really good
So.....
Should I? Should I write of this?
About my fears as I stare into the abyss?
I fear my body will stay and my mind depart.
I'm afraid of dementia.
Maybe this is a start.
I can't find words, they elude my grasp.
I search my mind, I ask and ask.
What is that word I want to say?
It's so darn (damn) frustrating
It'll come to me another day.
Names. Of people, songs, places.
I should know. I know the faces.
I've always been a bit like this
The trouble is....
It now persists.
Less comprehension is what really scares me.
I read the sentence once, 2 times, then 3.
I watch the news, they talk too fast.
I'm lost ... Slow down!
It's all I ask.
Could this not be my brain, but my slow heart?
Blood with oxygen too slow to give my brain a start?
I sure don't know, but hope for better days.
I trust. And I hope.
And I search for a way.
Second Place Tie
Kelly Deschler
‘Waupaca Awakens’
The thin ice cracks
As daylight breaks,
Along the still waters
Of a chain of lakes
Melting snow and slush
Both lapping the pier,
Letting the bluegill know
A new season is near
North of the place
The first sound is heard,
A sign of change is ...
The red-winged blackbird
Their call from the birch
Is melodic and shrill,
Carried on the winds
Of winter's last chill
Leaves of the maple
Needles of the pine,
Rustle in the breeze
Shiver down their spine
Timid, black bear cubs
And white-tailed fawns,
Welcome one of many
Warm, springtime dawns
Mallards in the distance
Returning geese overhead,
Spotted calves yawning
In their fenced in bed
Much seasonal beauty
One small town did regain,
All of Waupaca awakens
From meadow to Main.