“Winter Storm” by Thomas Warner-Crouch “I Am a Stone” by Emily Smith* - 3rd Place.........................................…82

Thomas Warner-Crouch*

Winter Storm

A silver sky obscures the sun, A piercing wind whips my face, A hissing burst of scolding air, Whispers harshly to the leafless trees, Flailing in response, Endless blinding white flecks of cold powder, Not one speck the same, Swirl without direction to the ground, The chill gnaws at my fingers, Eating my gloveless hands.

Its muffled sound its own invitation, To move or stand still, To talk or stand in silence, The flailing of the trees through the scolding wind, Telling me I must do nothing, Just sit or stand in the icy air, It asks nothing of me in return.

Emily Smith*

I Am a Stone 3rd Place - Poetry

I am a stone Hard and smooth Solid and tough Formed in fire Weathered and tumbled so gently by water and air Eternal and marvelous

1 million years I have been here I’ve changed a bit, in size and shape

50 million years I have been here I’ve changed a lot, I am unrecognizable

You find me beside the river Where I have been resting for 100 years You pick me up, you like my shape You like my shine, you like my color You like my texture You see me with your mind And the eternal part of you is stimulated

But it isn’t long before you decide that you are no longer impressed You toss me violently from the riverbank, back into the water Hoping to watch me make a splash To give you one last moment of satisfaction I strike a boulder instead, and crack down the middle My tough center exposed for the first time In a billion years

Nature took her time to shape me It took only seconds for you to break me And even less time for you to forget

That you ever picked me up.

I am a stone, with a deep crack in the middle Down the river rapids I roll Perhaps I will make it to the ocean this time The water and air will smooth my rough parts And in 100 years I will still be a stone, with a dip in the middle But in 5,000 years perhaps I will be a pebble My texture and shine restored once again, as if I were never broken