Second place, poetry: 'Take, Eat'
A girl kneels
on an asphalt
driveway
full of cracks,
a little concrete,
a sweep of grass,
a plastic swing,
and a string
of three aloe plants
in a dry dirt planter.
Each aloe stem
tressed with yellow
crescent buds, she plucks
a concealed blossom,
a miniature banana
so slender she can pinch it
between two fingers.
Bursting its seal,
she peels it gently,
as if preparing
to eat it.
Instead,
cradling it
to the ground,
not mindful of
her own needs,
she is picking these
for whatever small beings
pass through the cracks
of the driveway and happen
upon this mysterious feast.
Quietly she reaps,
gathering her offering,
piling bare bud
upon bare bud and,
splayed open,
in the center,
her tender
heart.
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