First Place
SUSAN ELIZABETH SWEENEY “Revenant"
(Auto)biography: As a child making pictures and poems, I felt I might burst from the sheer joy of creativity. Later, in college and graduate school, I began writing in earnest, though not always happily. I learned from various teachers, both living and pressed between pages, how to craft poems. Despite everything Emily Dickinson tried to teach me, however, I didn't know how to become a poet. Eventually, I stopped writing altogether. A year ago, I began making poems again, and now I am trying harder than ever to practice being a poet.
Second Place
ANN H. SWEETMAN “Yard Work on Saturday”
Ann Sweetman is a high school English teacher who lives in Shrewsbury with her husband John, and daughters, Miranda and Isabel. Her generous and talented Round Table friends enabled her to be where she is today.
Third Place
R. JOYCE HEON “Le Jazz Hot! Baby”
Joyce abandons housework whenever a poem clears its throat, a worthwhile prioritization…except that poems lurk in dustrags and ambush from broom bristles. In self-defense she shouts: I am not a disorderly person…just look at my poems! Her latest work has centered around ekphrasis – writing about the visual arts. She has participated in various Poets in the Galleries projects at the Worcester Art Museum, and has a particular affinity for ekphrasis on photographs. Publications local to the Worcester area include: Diner, Sahara, Poets in The Galleries, and The Issue. She is Associate Editor to Diner.
Honorable Mention
EMILY BOMBA “Grounded”
Emily Bomba of Whtinsville, Massachusetts, once met a man in a bowler hat and hobnailed boots who offered her the world; she suspected he was Satan and turned him down.
RODGER MARTIN “Holiday Sleet”
Rodger Martin lives in Harrisville, New Hampshire. He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships, the Appalachia prize for poetry, and other awards. He is the author of The Nemo Poems. His work has been published throughout the United States and in China.
FRANCINE D’ALESSANDRO “East Village Idyll”
Francine D’Alessandro lives in Worcester but her work is most often inspired by life in her native New York City. Her poetry has appeared in Sahara, Diner, The Longfellow Society Journal, The Issue, Windfall, and the Poets’ Asylum anthology As We Do Most Sunday Nights. She is co-editor of Poets in the Galleries: The Worcester Art Museum Permanent Collection.
TODD RICHARDSON “Believing is not really believing”
Todd Richardson is the author of the small fanzine Dark Alleys of the North Atlantic, a collection of literature and photography. He works as a technical writer and is resident of Watertown, Massachusetts.
