Sarah Williams Pokemon Cards

SARAH WILLIAMS Third Place Salveson Prize in Poetry

Pokemon Cards

The soft fwip, fwip, fwip of stiff paper stirs dust, feathery corners worn with time.

A few pieces bend where hands have held them and passed them, playing at games.

Thin cardboard that comes to life with the colors in print and the hearts that hold them.

When stacked together, the whiff of old closets and the space under your bed.

The fronts always changing, while the back remains blue.

Judge’s Comments: I’m drawn to the strong sensory details of this poem, especially the author’s lovely invented word—“fwip, fwip, fwip”—that describes the sound of the cards moving through hands. While the last stanza might be a simple detail, the poet presents it in such a way that I see the constant of the blue background as symbolic of the sense of comfort this game provides to the players across the years.

—Ruth Williams Poet and Associate Professor of English, William Jewell College