2017 Sidewalk Poetry Contest
Here are the winners of the third annual Sidewalk Poetry Contest whose poems were scheduled to be imprinted in the concrete of City sidewalks in 2017!
Untitled
David Morin, age 49
"You shouldn't make faces,
they'll stick that way."
A little white lie
we hear grownups say.
But watch how you act,
for one thing is true -
Though faces don't stick,
personalities do.
*****
Talk this Walk
Fred Woods, age 73
Yo!
I'm a poem.
Speak my words
while you're walking.
Now you are the sidewalk
talking.
Step on me-
there you go-
now you've got poetry
in your sole.
*****
Wise Words
Julie Seifert, age 27
Wild flowers
don't worry,
she told me.
They just go on
shining
whether anyone is
watching
or not.
*****
In Lieu of Flowers
Lisa DeSiro, age 46
I gave her a bouquet
one Mother’s Day when I was little.
Backyard daffodils
cut with the kitchen-drawer scissors
and left on her placemat,
wrapped in a damp paper towel.
What can I offer now?
*****
a moment
Tingyu Liu, age 28
this morning i caught
your breath beneath my ribs and
relearned how to breathe
outside the birdsong
paused for a second, poised on
the edge of a trill
and the homeless man
silenced his coins by cupping
his hat to his heart
RUNNERS-UP
Untitled
Alicia Zeh-Deau, age 34
Snow falling
Baby sleeping
A blanket of peace
*****
my language is arabic
Asil Yassine, age 27
it is my sea. my bahr.
you want me to swim to you, i am seasick
here is where I breathe.
nafsi. nafs.
maybe I will float to you someday
become a fish of two seas.
but I will always be
of this bahr
my language
is my sea.
*****
Ice Storm
Jaclyn Pillitteri, age 32
Snow and slush and
freezing rain cling to my boots,
sticking in the soles,
wrapping around the stiff laces.
Inside, my feet are wrapped in
fleecy softness, warm like
friends in front of the fireplace
sipping hot chocolate with
five perfect tiny marshmallows.
*****
Summer Homecoming
Kamara Swaby, age 21
It is not the bursting fireworks,
neither the quickened processions,
nor the clash of marching bands
on the tracks of glory.
Instead
It’s the flickering street lamp lights,
and the eased solitary strides,
and the light hums of the songbirds
on the path to home.
*****
COMPULSIVE
Millie Selvitella, age 76
I wanted to do nothing but
when I got started
I wanted to do nothing else.