I was very honored this week to win a Laureate's Choice prize in the annual Maria W. Faust sonnet contest.
Having read my fellow prize winners, I'm truly grateful my poem has been included alongside the work of such talented writers.
I've included below a link to the winning poems, my sonnet and a link to the poem's inspiration.
http://sonnetcontest.org/2019-winners/
A Gynandromorphic Cardinal Spots a Married Couple
“The anomaly is known as a bilateral gynandromorph. In plain language: Half its body is male and the other half is female…[They] are rare but not altogether uncommon.” National Geographic, 1/31/2019
That man is so agreeable and bald.
His scalp, its natural state, is not so red.
He’s crying softly, like he just recalled
a perfect day, which left him here for dead
in autumn’s half-vermillion dawn. Instead
of stoicism and testosterone,
he’s falling towards the ground, a name in stone.
The woman sets her flowers down to help
him to his feet. He’s twice her size! The power
she had gets thrown off like a gown, to help
brush off his sleeves. In town, the half-taupe hour
and leaves get blown awake; the softest shower
begins. She gives the outraged look of spring
to all but shame’s mistake, until I sing.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/a...-pennsylvania/