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.