GOODREADS POETRY CONTEST
Want your words to reach 8 million people? Goodreads and the¡POETRY! group have partnered to host an ongoing poetry contest. Join the ¡POETRY! group to vote each month to pick a winner from among the finalists. You can also submit a poem for consideration. Here is our September winner!
Overflow
You tell her you are done with this farm,with the old tractors rusting in the timber,
the flood lines etched on the tin shed.
You remember how each flood
crept to the steps of the porch
as the levy tore—
the floating picnic table,
tying the boat to the flag pole.
The way houses become islands
is routine for you.
You can no longer count
the number of buoys anchored
near your garage door.
She speaks of the lives of trees,
braced in their early years
with tarnished rods, how slowly
they seem to grow, how suddenly
they shade what was once
open space.
When you look at her hands,
you think of water receding,
all the cracked mud.
These acres are concrete slabs,
the river but bristles on a broom,
sweeping away all the seeds.
When you look at her hands,
you think of piles of things after,
in buckets and truck beds,
the way everyone stopped to look.
With love,
Jessica, Elizabeth, and the Goodreads Team
No comments:
Post a Comment