We didn’t complete the judging until halfway into 2021, and living in pandemic times — when things were delayed and done remotely — might have colored our choices. As always there were many beautiful and stirring poems submitted, and the choice was difficult, but overall these poems seem to resonate with the time of COVID: a time of quieter observances, of humble offerings, and of tireless service.
First Prize – High Wire by Barbara Jacksha
Patricia dusts to gospel
Hips swaying to the beat
She scrubs for Jesus
Banishes negative thoughts
Down the drain
She says, “I’m not tired yet”
But I am, roasting in a
Hot desert afternoon
Riffs spark my skin,
Lightning on the high wire
Where a mass choir sings praise
And all I can think of is
Whether grasping that high wire
Would char my hands or
Lead me to my true name
Barbara Jacksha is the author/creator of the Vision Pages series that includes Vision Pages for Creative Writers with Daring Dreams: a vision journal for imagining your dreams to life. Her writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including Smokelong Quarterly, Beloit Fiction Journal, The Summerset Review, Per Contra, Mad Hatter’s Review, and the W.W. Norton anthology Flash Fiction Forward. Barbara’s work has received multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize. She was also co-founder/co-editor of the literary journal Cezanne’s Carrot.
Poet’s Website | Amazon Author Page
Judge’s Note
We all heard the news reports, when one choir practice left 52 sick and two dead. Churches closed, their services went virtual, and choirs learned to blend their voices through electronic media. The need to stop the spread of the deadly virus brought normal life to a halt, but scrubbing went on (more than ever), and hymns were sung to the divine (more than ever), and we humans were more aware of ourselves than ever, as conduits stretched between the mundane and the sacred, ever reaching, ever wondering. Our winning poem, High Wire, carries that tension.
—
Second Prize – Primary Flowers by Blitz
Observing quietly
under halogen bulbs
the paintings freshly picked.
Reds, yellows, blues,
budding petals held
by fragile stems.
We were rudimentary in shape,
squares, circles, triangles bloomed
on bare white walls.
Blitz (AutumnBlitz Xenobuilder) was born to teachers of language, and is a child of immigrant culture. He studied fine arts (painting, drawing, sculpture), and has exhibited locally in the US and abroad, notably in Spain where he traveled via an Artist In Residence stipend in his search for Lorca’s duende. Blitz came to poetry later in his life on discovering open mics and workshops in Second Life®. He lives and works in Los Angeles, USA.
Judge’s Note
Museums and galleries, in the time of COVID, along with concert halls, opera houses and theaters, closed their doors indefinitely, and patrons and artists suffered for the lack of venues. Offerings popped up in virtual spaces. Online, one after another, until there were too many to take them all in, creative works became available via remote access. Primary Flowers with its clearly framed words reshapes the boundaries between artist, curator, observer, and the artwork itself. In our empty spaces creativity blooms.
—
Third Prize – Mariam on Umrah* by Finn Bookmite
nearer with each step
Mariam walks with light
and dust and heat and sun
the rhythm of pilgrimage
the Kabah is now her anchor
and her world’s heart
she circles her universe
and her feet write humility
the uncertainty is offered
and released into love
the circles tread out
fresh room in her heart.
*Umrah is a pilgrimage to Mecca
Kaaba, or kabah. This is the cube-shaped structure at the heart of Mecca, and the focus of every pilgrimage there by Muslims. It is believed to have been built by Abraham.
Finn Bookmite (or Fiona Forsyth in RL) has been a Milk Wood fan for several years, and is currently working on her third novel, “The Third Daughter”. A Classicist since childhood, she sets her books in Ancient Rome, and firmly believes that history is one of the most important subjects we can teach. She studied Latin and Greek at Oxford and taught for twenty five years before moving to Qatar in the Middle East, where she met Mariam, whose pilgrimage is the subject of this poem.
Poet’s Website | Amazon Author Page
Judge’s Note
Actual journeying had become impossible. Cruise ships were quarantined, holidays were super-spreaders, and travel was postponed during the pandemic, whether for business, pleasure, or religious observance. Miriam on Umrah carries us along on a journey, patient and basic, stripped down to feet in dust, showing us that the time taken for sacrifice is itself an offering. As service workers had become our everyday heroes, humility and uncertainty wrote enduring stories of transcendent love.
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