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.