hammie winners

These poems are vestiges of the poetry workshop:

“In the Market”

(Dedicated to Kayla Aldridge)

I grip the handles of the wheelchair

And push her through the flowing market

Each bump in the pavement

Traveling through the wheels and

Seeping into her body and

Along the handles and

Meeting my palms

Like some shared potent energy

And here is a family

And fish

And coffee

And lilies

And here we are

Traversing through a plentiful world

On soles and on rims

I grip the handles of her wheelchair

As she pulls me through the flowing market

——-

“The Fourth State of Water”

(“In the Fountain”)

Water leaps from the fountain,

Its limbs bending and stretching like yoga.

Its arches are like bridges

Of aquatic architecture.

The people venture into this forest

Darting between thick, spraying trunks,

As each liquid rope

Frays on the pavement

Exhales into mist

And evaporates into happiness—

—the fourth state of water.

For it is here,

At this fountain of youth and old,

That the push and pull of the universe

Bring a diversity of people,

Each in his or her bare feet.