
Author: Editorial Staff
A Stroll Through Eternity / Brian K. Mino
Life is but, a merry go round and round and round it goes, will it ever stop? Who can know, but as we go it surely is not slow, as we tread through the winter snow. For I have come to see life on earth as but an afternoon show.
— Brian K. Mino / Grayling, Michigan
Reverie at Slack Time / Dr. Emory Jones
Antimony / Thom Porter
I’d Have Painted Him in Altenburg Crossing the Garden With Geese / Lynn Pattison
You Connect / Radhika Iyer
Ambush / Steve Williams
A hidden yellowjacket nest,
an ankle-twisting curb, those
hungry mosquitoes lurking
in the shade of the maple tree,
a practical joke at your expense,
that word that always used to be
at your fingertips – a threat
in every corner, except in bed
with the covers pulled up. Once
you’ve brushed away the spiders.
Steve Williams/ Munith, Michigan
Annual Contest Winners for 2021
Category 1: Margo LaGattuta Memorial Award: Judge: Joy Gaines-Friedler
1st I’d Have Painted Him in Altenburg,… Lynn Pattison, Kalamazoo, MI
2nd Antinomy Thom Porter, Woodhaven, MI
3rd Reverie at Slack Time Dr. Emory Jones, Iuka MS
HM Premonition Lori Zurvalec, Grosse Pointe, MI
Category 2: Chancellor’s Prize: Judge: Eric Torgersen
1st How Will I Find Absolution Diana Hart, Kalamazoo, MI
2nd Current Resume Art Curtis, Bellaire, MI
3rd You Don’t Know Colleen Alles, Grand Rapids, MI
HM The Girl with a Green and a Brown Eye Nadia Ibrashi, Troy, MI
Category 3: Founder’s Prize: Judge: Russell Thorburn
1st Michigan State Fair 1960’s Roberta Brown , Royal Oak, MI
2nd Skinny Dipping at Cranbrook Janice Zerfas, Eau Claire, MI
3rd Leaving Tawas, July 3rd Christian Belz, Pontiac, MI
HM New Buffalo Cassandra Caverhill, Ann Arbor, MI
Category 4: Barbara Sykes Memorial Humor Poem: Judge: Elizabeth Kerlikowske
1st You Probably Are One Too Laura Sweeney, Bloomington, IL
2nd Learning to Sit Ann Weil, Ann Arbor, MI
3rd Shifting Gears Milton Bates, Marquette, MI
HM Not Yet Robotic Robert Erlandson, Birmingham, MI
Category 5: George Dila Memorial Prose Poem: Judge: Robert Fanning
1st Toad Dawn McDuffie, Detroit, MI
2nd Home Visit Patricia Barnes, Wyandotte, MI
3rd Churned Terry Jude Miller, Richmond, TX
HM Sea of Stars Simon A. Thalmann, Kalamazoo, MI
Category 6: Nature: Judge: Alinda Wasner
1st Wingbound II: Elegy Shy of Lamentation Barbara Saunier, Marne, MI
2nd Call Winter Home Patricia Barnes, Wyandotte, MI
3rd Swarm Warning Iris Underwood, Leonard, MI
HM Japanese Maple Diana Dinverno, Troy, MI
Category 7: Love: Judge: Sue William Silverman
1st The World Will Always Welcome Lovers Barbara Saunier, Marne, MI
2nd What Her Eyes Did Randy K. Schwartz, Ann Arbor, MI
3rd Bringing Late Lorraine Jeffery, Orem, UT
HM A Sort of Love Poem John Jeffire, Macomb, MI
Category 8: Music: Judge: M. L. Liebler
1st Song and Dance Nadia Ibrashi, Troy, MI
2nd Music Ellen Lord, Charlevoix, MI
3rd The House That Jack Built Sold On Jazz, Diana Cornell, Spring Lake, MI
HM Player of Player Pianos, a Love Poem, Sophia Rivkin, Southfield, MI
Category 9: Loss: Judge: Zilka Joseph
1st New Widow Ellen Lord, Charlevoix, MI
2nd Mothers Claire Scott, Oakland, CA
3rd Noise Trek Janice Zerfas, Eau Claire, MI
HM there, then David Fitch, Lathrup Village, MI
Category 10: Women and Science: Judge: Diane DeCillis
1st Fluids Leak Like Rivers Nadia Ibrashi, Troy, MI
2nd I Am a Standard Candle Janice Zerfas, Eau Claire, MI
3rd Brushstrokes and Stars Carla Dodd, Waterford Township, MI
HM Peggy Whitson Patricia Barnes, Wyandotte, MI
Congrtulations winners and thank you to all who entered!
Deep Freeze / Emory D. Jones
I am not going to say it is cold,
But when you milked the cows,
They gave ice cream,
And you could knock over
Any frozen goat.
The chickens hatched penguins,
And the horse snorted
Ice-sickles.
The windows of the house
Glazed over,
And as the inside heat
Melted the ice,
It became running rainbows.
The thermometer
Plunged to ten below zero,
And the trees exploded
Like cannon shots.
Now that was cold,
And if you believe me,
I will tell you another
Tall tale.
Emory D. Jones / Iuka, MS




