top ten

are as follows:

1. January 6th, 1973

2. face value

3. the birthday story

4. on sunday morning

5. and 6. resurrection sunday - revised (both poems)
*I kept the un-revised version of "in transition", but the revised version is the one I'd like to be graded.

7."Will you give me a drink?"- Revised

8. landscape sketches - revised

9. They Couldn't Salvage Anything

10. What makes people tick

Thank you!

January 6th, 1973

the January air creeps
through the cracks
in the house that father built
and mother makes

and their bodies shiver,
stirring from their
separate stations,
as they rise, and gather
close together

forty years ago today,
they became each others.
the bitter wind crawls,
dissipates - two faces smile,
one shared warmth

face value

(after Nicole Mason's Identity art piece)


if truth was a verb
would you let it happen
on your face
staring strong and straight ahead,
eyes aglow like spotlights,
inviting your audience
to watch your Artist's story playing
at face value?

the birthday story

twenty two years ago

daddy told brother that

" 'little sister decided 

to come into the world

13 minutes 

after we got mommy 

to the hospital.'

'were you speeding, dad?'

'no, son, i couldn't make the car

go fast enough.'

'did you run any red lights, dad?'

 'no, son, i didn't see a-one.'
because you were coming fast!"

through the cellphone,

i follow along, predicting

the exclamation in his voice,
the expression in his face,
the certainty of this
birthday tradition
 and smile, as we savor
 our story together.

on sunday morning

warm light reaches
through wide windows,
a gentle yellow glow,
touching our faces
with tender hands,
and we lift our eyes
as we give thanks
for the floor
beneath our feet
the roof over our head
and the many voices
who join in harmony,
in praise, as we gather
here together
on another sunday morning,
this morning that has
never dawned before.