To a Slug in Winter

It may be spring, but there’s still time to appreciate Paul S. Piper‘s 2010 Walk Award-winning poem, To a Slug in Winter, which he reads here on YouTube, thanks to BTV10. You can also read Paul’s poem here.

january foot*

By David M. Laws
2008 Walk Award

is there a better
sound or feeling
under my january foot
than the crunch
of mud-puddle ice?

*Copyright 2008 by David M. Laws. This poem is included in POETRY WALK: Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest – The First Five Years. Info: Book! Placard design by Egress Studio.

we are the mole people*

By Mitchell Morrison
2010 Merit Award

*Copyright 2010 by Mitchell Morrison. This poem, which can also be read here, appears in POETRY WALK: Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest – The First Five Years. Info: Book! Placard design by Egress Studio.

readings, workshops and more!

Whether you like to hear, study, support or write poetry, the Sue Boynton Poetry Contest has something wonderful in store for you this winter. Check out our list of upcoming Events…and join us!

To a Slug in Winter*

By Paul S. Piper
2010 Walk Award

*This poem, which can also be read here, is copyright 2010 by Paul S. Piper. The poem appears in POETRY WALK: Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest – The First Five Years. Info: Book! Placard design by Egress Studio.

Our Twenty-Sixth Winter*

2008 Merit Award
By Nelle McClenahan

I love you as you hang the storms against
          our twenty-sixth winter.

I work nearby … washing each large pane
          and steadying the ladder
as you climb to second-story bedrooms.

We laugh
when the glass cracks …
not once, but twice …
which means two trips to the hardware store.

I don’t blame you for swearing out loud …
but you laugh too.

Looking upward as I toss a tool
near enough for you to catch it,
I think your white hair
          and soiled red jacket are beautiful
against the autumn sky.

Our house will be snug and safe
against the elements
and unknown forces
which might interfere
          with our twenty-sixth winter
of loving each other.

*Copyright 2008 by Nelle McClenahan. This poem is included in POETRY WALK: Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest – The First Five Years. Info: Book! Placard design by Egress Studio.

we are the mole people*

2010 Merit Award
we are the mole people
By Mitchell Morrison

we are the mole people
rising out from under
the round mounds of winter

listening keenly
half-believing
the sun warming our bodies
we hold something back
waiting,
for the frost
and if not the frost,
for the rain
always the implacable rain

the children are playing out on henry street
calling out, yea, shrieking out
some punctuated welcome to spring
we sit disbelieving
sodden,
our dark blood eyes
casualties of the rain,
always the rain,

we are the mole people
we push the wet earth out in front of us.

*Copyright 2010 by Mitchell Morrison. This poem appears in POETRY WALK: Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest – The First Five Years. Info: Book!

To a Slug in Winter*

2010 Walk Award
To a Slug in Winter
     after Issa
By Paul S. Piper

Slug, I picture you curled
     in a crevice of rock

or under rotten wood, the color
     of sand, thick as my little

finger, slick and hard-muscled, silent,
     calm, almost beyond breath,

and I envy you as I walk into frigid wind
     and a dreary day, slipping twice

on the iced road, facing mountains of work
     and left-overs for dinner. I want

to curl with you into your slimy dreams
     traveling slow and moist, a quiet

rush of peace, antennae waving at the blurred
     future, leaving glistening words

wherever I go.

*Copyright 2010 by Paul S. Piper. This poem appears in POETRY WALK: Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest – The First Five Years. Info: Book!