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Winning Poems for May 2008 First Place From the very first line ("My dog doesn't need the Church"), this concise little life lesson had me in its capable clutches. I loved its practicality, its tiny truths, its barely subdued smile. It's sparse and economical, but it backs a big wallop. I've shared this with merely a million people, and not all of them have dogs. And the last line is an unqualified classic, tolerating absolutely no argument. None whatsoever. Love it. --Patricia Smith Second Place Here we've got the just the opposite, a wildly ambitious, cluttered sensory celebration that deftly captures the rhythms of the world's most complicated city. My favorite line, the one that gives the tale an intriguing twist, is "If you are to love this city you suppose it can't be only when the two of you are pretty..." From there, the momentum takes over, and--especially if you read this city setpiece aloud--it just gets better and better. --Patricia Smith Third Place "She stretched and mumbled how she couldn't last/in cities of her selves"--lines such as that one fueled this marvelous character study. I was engaged me so immediately that the creative adherence to form was a secondary, unexpected delight. --Patricia Smith Honorable Mention I'm the dictionary definition of a daddy's girl, and this gentle poem--so full of specific detail, yet at its center a tender and intense moment between father and child--hit me right in the heart. --Patricia Smith Honorable Mention I love the simple instructive tone of this piece, its solidness and warmth. I couldn't decide if the last night was touching or trite, so--maybe because I'm a child of concrete and brick, pitifully inept in matters of the soil--I chose to be touched. --Patricia Smith |
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