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Imagining Mrs. R who died at 114, according to her obituary          My husband died in 1963. He sold insurance (auto, fire, life). Before we met I taught geometry,   nursed ginger ales in Newark speakeasies. Bent-elbowed friends recruited me to drive. My husband died in 1963,   his second heart attack, and Kennedy was […]

Storm Clouds   It’s only bluster, clap and clang, The hoist of flags above mankind And all the flags are rags in rain.   A soldier’s wife recalls the pain Attends his grave her heart resigned It’s only bluster, clap and clang.   With all his friends he marched and sang Convinced they fought for

Politics   We’re speaking past each other. Wait. Let’s stop. Our voices are angry, too intent. Let silence hold our thoughts, translate   our reasons to compassionate words, not just slogans, clever, truculent. We’re speaking past each other. Wait   and listen. Perhaps you’ll hear some accurate assessment, or a plan. Let righteousness relent and

Honorable mentions: Honorable Mention: “Erasure Poem #72” by Shawn Aveningo Sanders, Beaverton, OR Honorable Mention: “Souvenir” by Nancy Flynn, Portland, OR Honorable Mention: “Repast” by Donna Prinzmetal, Portland, OR [Honorable mentions equally ranked]     Judge’s comments Limited to twenty lines, the poems in this category delivered memorable imagery and resonant meaning with great economy

Letting Go of the Landline   My newlywed number is finally gone after thirty-three years, along with my name in the white pages. Everything I have to say bounces from tower to tower no longer tied down by cable, hooked to a house, or nosing under the hard ground. If your paper address book holds

I Sit Astride the Globe   A journey in the terrain of a dragon— highway tunnels, one conceives another， the contour of my birth place.   I gauge my homesickness while twirling the crimson peppercorns with the tip of my tongue. They numb me.   Outside the abandoned woods, sculptured in the silence of the

Rest & Recuperation, 1970   Ninety days before the beach, Honey Peach Tomato started leg lifts and vinyl thighs. She bought boxes of blondness, a stiff coil to press between her palms for bikini pecs, a suitcase. She knew herself gorgeous. In this fierce contest, Angel Babe Fox would outfox fried chicken and jasmine, out-dazzle

Honorable mentions: 1st Honorable Mention: “Knots” by David Southward, Milwaukee, WI 2nd Honorable Mention: “How we know” by Lois Leveen, Portland, OR 3rd Honorable Mention: “In Rome” by Don Hogle, New York, NY 4th Honorable Mention: “Mr. Stagmeyer’s Typing Class” by Jay Schroder, Medford, OR       Judge’s comments I found judging the Poet’s

We tried to do it all—   To live in a rustic log cabin four miles from the nearest neighbor at the end of a road we had to maintain ourselves. It is one of the loveliest spots in the county outside of the Wilderness. We spent our 2-week honeymoon there, and then the rest

In Defense of Loneliness “You’re wondering if I’m lonely”:                                     after Adrienne Rich   Are you asking about this second when the blue between clouds is so spare I could be imagining it, not the blue but the loneliness, the space between what’s missing and what’s there.   Not what’s there, really, but more the