Winning Poem

Balancing Actions
by Brady W.

Contorted, desperate, brilliant gem, fighting for
its kin.
Every living moment spent in the
delicate balance
between life and death
Don’t give in to the temptation of false nectar and vibrant red
against the storm.
You must not falter, for
storms pass, flowers wither
and die,
but life perpetuates itself.
Through every heartbeat and buzz, through every
delicate cocoon, shading their immature eyes.

Runners-up

Teetering
by Mariella L.

Was known by others in bad connotations. Her
temperament, dour.
Had no belongings, but belonged to the wind.
Loved its strength, how it swept her to the places
her wings could not.
Her body, fragile, but her eyes,
indestructible black pearls.
Her soul was misfortuned, the unlucky whose body
would not suffice.
The day the great storm hit, she was
cursed
with a fragile, blue-speckled egg.
Its weight, anchoring her to the earth
where she could only feel the wind’s passing and her great
longing.
She did the only thing she could do; grasp a twig.
Refused to comfort the small egg, she held
steadfast.
Watched a flock of birds fly with her beloved wind.
That poor baby, one sang aloud,
on the short end of that stick.

Caged Desire
by Ty W.

IN THIS
painted PRISON of porcelain and
possibility,
roses strain against their vessel’s dreams, while
distant Mountains mock their captive state. Each
petal whispers
tales OF wind-wild FREEDOM, of Gardens ungoverned by
gilded walls. Here, trapped in perfect Stillness, Beauty
becomes ITS own cage - pristine, Preserved, Precise.
The hummingbird hovers, suspended in eternal
Approach, never to taste the NECTAR it seeks.
Below, an Egg
holds Secrets of flight not yet unfurled,
Promises wrapped in shell and
Shadow. WE
are all vessels, aren’t we?
Containing multitudes of
DESIRE