Second place, Poetry - 'Starlight'
I found a poem
in a moment you've forgotten,
when your eyes met mine
then shifted up
to splattered silver brightness
hanging still against the ink-smeared sky.
Lines composed
by your murmured label of a constellation,
my hazy memory of your voice,
and the swift extension of an arm,
your finger pointing into frigid air.
As if with your shoulder stretched forward
and hand toward above
you could almost brush
the glint of shining stones
set in the rich darkness of the heavens.
It's the compressing distance
between your right index finger and a corner of Orion,
between your raised arm and my left ear.
It's the instant of wind that hits my face
with the sharp fragrant winter
and the sweet scent of night.
It's the continuity of cool breeze
dyed by an aftertaste of snow
running through my open jacket.
Stanzas written with gleaming lights
pulled deep into the expanse
of charcoal-stained parchment,
pulling my eyes
where they've returned for hours
and hours before this.
But now, in the illuminating presence
of met gaze and matched smile,
the sparkling drops of silver reflect
brighter than before.
The extent of its enhancement
only seen from where I'm standing:
a wide path crawling ahead and behind
through too-warm cabins and bare trees,
my snow boots planted on its black pavement,
and you nearly crouching, barely leaning
through an empty space beside me.
A space that's been hollow
save starlight's cloudy radiance
since evening,
a gaping pressure
against my side and on my mind,
until your shadow and feet
shuffled into and filled out
its burning blankness with poetry.