2011 Poetry Contest Winners

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Fear of Breathing by Alasdair Moriarty

Wires are bound by wires my body shakes with light bursts of current twenty dollars per pill at fair market value but the pads of your fingers run over plum skin my pupils dilate and it's not fair

the stench of a fishwife's desperation your body circling in my irises falling in with a rush of puzzle pieces coated in cortisol the smell of pond scum and angel's hair rot away and love is a sickness meant to be treated by Cipralex

I wasn't meant to sit at this desk to etch your negative into my neural links over and over but every time I close my eyes your rosebushes come to mind and meanwhile I'm looking at the white pages online and Google maps street view and paying to buy your public records


Love that Red Disease by Deonte Osayande

Cancer of the soul, plague of sunlight, illness of crimson, You have had me infected abundantly.

My throat is a locked door. I can't speak around you. Feverish shivers of flesh, vomiting embarrassment, you are without cure.

Late night urchin, coral reef of ribs resting against me, you are without any pharmaceutical antidote.

I wouldn't want to be sickened in any other way.


Squid Rhododendrons by Stefanie Mullins

Marine the north, noticed something squid; and the sighting led Macia Barry to study squid aeronautics. Her colleagues noted two great distances. Distinct squid squirting over propulsion. Process thrust. Sometimes the squid solo sped anecdotal evidence. Senior off the airborne squids. “When you look at some of the pictures, it seems they are more or less using their fins as wings.� Squid calculus, from the images.


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