Yup, that’s right, I found out this evening that I won second prize! It’s so awesome because not only are they going to publish my poem, but they are going to pay me! Yay!
Anyone in the Baltimore area, pick up a CityPaper next week and you can read my poem.
It’s my first time ever being really published - not including school lit mags.
Yay for me!
Congratulations. Is there any reason that you’re not posting your poem so we can all see it?
Haj
Excellent, Sara, congrats!
Wahooo! Good for you, damn good thing those papers are free, I wouldn’t wanna half to shell out 50 cents for a Baltimore Sun. All kidding aside, to be a published poet is to have stuck your foot into the door in my opinion. Congratulations and three cheers for Nachos4Sara!
Congratulations Nacho4Sara! Good job.
Congratulations! Do they have a web site? Maybe the poem will be there, so those of us who aren’t in B-more can read it.
That is such wonderful news! Congratulations!
So like, is it this week’s issue? Page number?
Congratulations!
I think you should take orders for us out-of-Baltimorians…I want one too!
Congrats, N4S! I hope you post your poem, or a link to it.
Congrats, Sara! I’ll be sure to pick up a copy next Wednesday.
The Baltimore City Paper’s website is www.citypaper.com, by the way. They’re a weekly paper with new issues every Wednesday.
Hey ho! Congratulations!
Give us a link when it comes out, 'kay?
I was wondering about you; I hadn’t seen your name 'round these here parts in a while.
Congrats on the poem!!! That’s just super.
Congratulations! I’ve only read the City Paper a few times but this is an occasion to go out and pick up a copy.
Thank you, everyone. I wasn’t sure about posting my poem here because there are always copyright issues, but I’ll go ahead and do it anyway. Just, you know, don’t steal it or whatever.
Imagine, Cecil and I appearing in the same paper. What an honor!
By way of explanation, I was inspired my favorite poetic movement and one of my favorite poets. I was trying to use a lot of imagery in the style of the imagist poets (like Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams). Also, in the zen spirit of Gary Snyder, I wanted to capture a single moment and examine it from different angles - to create a sort of reverence and appreciation of a second that might otherwise pass by unnoticed.
It’s actually quite pleasing for me because I love their winning poems; I have at least ten of them from past years clipped and saved. I talked to an editor friend about submitting my poems last year, and he basically said he didn’t think the CityPaper would appreciate my style, which at the time was a bit more maudlin and sentimental. But in the past year, I’ve moved away from that and worked on developing my own voice.
Okay, so here it is:
Nuns
Drift by quiet as swept dust.
One pauses –
the others are dominoes hastening
to a halt behind her –
Then still, lined up like letters of the alphabet
slipping silently from slackened lips –
not ethereal or angelic
but papery, frail –
Absurdly human.
The heft of expectation embraces them
with a smothering breath –
the secrets they possess
the lives they have left
and (silent as god)
the prayers they have said –
They move again.
beautiful, really.
Well done Sarah!
Nice! Congrats.
Isn’t it cool to get paid for doing something you love to do?
You are a very highly talented poet, Sara. Wonderful!
A lovely poem, Sara. Great imagery. Beautiful, strong metaphors.
Good job, and congratulations!