First Place

Never Quite Closing Time
 by Arthur Ramer


It’s in the wet shining circle
that is miracle-floating
on top of the scattered peanut dust
strewn on the ebony wood of this bar.
It is Christ walking on the water
left by the bottom of this glass of scotch.

It’s in the fleeting wry smile that nudged the lips
of the more than middle-aged woman sitting on the end stool
when the young girl played the same sad song
for the third time on the jukebox.

It’s in the slow sway of blue-jeaned hips
that the young girl moves
with closed eyes
remembering her boyfriend
how they seemed so in one-ness
only to discover that there are two
no matter how much you make-believe.

It’s in the bar rag
mopping up after another sucker leaves
more broke than buzzed.

All the wisdom of the ages is here,
you just have to know
how to look.


Second Place

Searching for a Sentence
by Janice P. Egry

Words
gather in empty corners,
sometimes as dust-bunnies
that flock under the bed,
only to skitter off
in the breeze of my broom,
giggling with the glee of escape.

Others,
elusive monsters resisting capture
by a bloody pen,
brood deep in dark closets, then
rip the center of my being
as they drip out
onto an unblemished sheet.

Some
flit and glide, like butterflies
visiting leaf after leaf,
come to rest on brilliant flowers,
spread their wings
to reveal uncultivated beauty,
without me ever having to use a net.