Winning Landscape Poems FA22 Contest

Thank you so much to everyone who entered our annual poetry contest. This year Dana Yost judged the landscape category, and Lee Ann Roripaugh judged the portrait category. Please enjoy this year's winning poems :)

First Place

Sudden WeatherBy Todd WilliamsMaybe we were never closerthan when buried in the basementbeneath mounds of musty blanketsas sirens pierced alien skiesturning orange,then red,then black.From wind-rattled windows we searchedroiling heavens as sirens wailedand the transistor radiosang along in pitched squeals and howls,these sonic storms filling tight quartersand our imaginations fully.Together, we'd close our eyesas hailstones began tapping andthen crashing to Earth all around,leaving cracked glass and bent metalbehind in the damp afterglow.And sometimes, in the small spacebetween sleep and being awake,I still feel your soft and firm handreach to my shoulder, quiet calmtenor of your voice at my ear,and the perfume of your coffeeand cigarette-stained breath saying,"Don't worry; it will be all right,"the threat of sudden weather notenough to break the strength of family,even after all these years in your absence.

Second Place

Du Fu Proclaims his Love for East River Stars hangall across the vast plain;the moon bobsin the flow of the great river.Thoughts Written While Traveling at Night by Du FuBy Eric SchulteI don’t know about you, butI think Du Fu would haveloved East River.If Du Fu lived herehe would say the skyis all that matters,painted in watercolor blueand showing a pathwayto heaven.He’d saythe first day of Augustis too early to declaresummer over.He’d say get outsideand enjoy the tangerine sunriseor bright moonlighting up the prairie.His advice would beto pack all the colors and soundsyou can for the comingcold winter.He’d saythis is not “Flyover Country”and any exilenear a fieldof sunflowerswould be just fine.He’d say baseball in summeror football on a gloriousFriday night in autumncreates community.He’d say a glass of wineis best enjoyedat a bar on Phillips Avenue,or in a cabin at Lake Kampeska,or anywhere good friends meet.He’d say a cup of coffeeat the Red Rooster in Aberdeenis the perfect wayto start your day.He’d say the pasque floweris a mirror to the soul, and every bitas beautiful as the peach blossom.I like to thinkhe would be at peaceliving here.I like to thinkhe would call it home.

Third Place

Rules for FlightBy Kathy BjornestadOn a windy daya flock of winter geesebreak and seam together,battle windy chaos as theyfight to hold form..Rules for flight dissolveupon that January day.The wind’s hand opens, tosseslike confetti—feathered bodies,stitched in drunken patterns,scrambled etchings in the sky.