First Place
Stephen Gould (Denver, CO)
 
The house finch
has a song for it,
morning after snow

Second Place
Ron Moss (Tasmania, Australia)
 
crescent moon
a bone carver sings
to his ancestor

Third Place
C. R. Manley (Bellevue, WA)
 
close enough to touch—
I let the junco lead me
away from its nest

Honorable Mention
Bruce England (Santa Clara, CA)
 
Blowing leaves
tempt the old cat,
but not enough

Honorable Mention
Michael McClintock (Fresno, CA)
 
ancient mountains . . .
runners clearing hurdles
on the practice field

First Place
John Stevenson, New York

Thanksgiving—
fifteen minutes
of mince pie

Second Place
Kristen Deming, Maryland

blossoms . . .
the baby’s bare feet
pedal the air

Third Place
John Stevenson, New York

butterfly
my attention
attention span

Honorable Mention:
Garry Gay, California

one moth
a thousand candles
light the darkness

Honorable Mention
Linda Jeannette Ward, North Carolina

trail’s end—
my pebble
settles the cairn

2007

First Place
Claire Gallagher

family reunion—
some of the beached kelp
in knots

Second Place
Roland Packer

a jar of pennies
on the lemonade stand
evening cool

Third Place
Ken Hurm

lightning . . .
the scarecrow's coat sleeve
caught in mid-wave

Honorable Mention:
Marjorie Buettner

summer's end
the hammock turned in
on itself

Honorable Mention
Ron Moss

Charcoal Alley—
children flick marbles
into the light

First Place: ($150)
Ellen Compton

season of lights
the postman
leans to the wind

Second Place: ($100)
Michael McClintock

having no thought
we've come to see them—
dogwoods in bloom

Third Place: ($50)
C. R. Manley

turning tide—
placing intact clams
back in the water

Honorable Mention:
Alice Frampton

mallard pair
he rocks
on her wake

Honorable Mention
Lois J. Funk

filtering in
with the night air
a skunk's warning

Honorable Mention:
Merrill Ann Gonzales

stone in my pocket—
the brook cuts deeper
into the mountain

Honorable Mention
Joan M. Murphy

a bee chose
the rose I meant to pluck . . .
empty vase

Honorable Mention
Sandra Nickel

soba noodles . . .
the new year
slips in

Honorable Mention
Bruce Ross

hazy dusk . . .
no one bothered to plow
the graveyard road

First Place:
Francine Banwarth

child's wake
the weight
of rain

Second Place:
Jim Kacian

gunshot the length of the lake

Third Place:
Rick Tarquinio

a stick caught
on the lip of the dam
winter's end

Honorable Mention:
Francine Banwarth

summer stars...
the old violin goes
to the highest bidder

Honorable Mention:
Kirsty Karkow

winter drags on...
I squeeze the last drops
from a teabag

Honorable Mention:
Origa

distant thunder—
a titmouse gives one chirp
and falls silent

Honorable Mention:
Bill Pauly

Alzheimer's birthday
each slice of the cake
takes part of her name

Honorable Mention:
Marie Summers

March winds
a decade has passed
by your grave

First Place:
w.f. owen

Indian summer
a spent salmon
washes ashore

Second Place:
Becky Barnhart

after the funeral
whiskers still
in his razor

Third Place:
Michael Fessler

the page-finders
of my father’s Daily Missal
losing their colors

Honorable Mention:
Marjorie Buettner

first buds of spring
   I change the washer’s setting
      to delicate

Honorable Mention:
George Swede

Among the gravestones
with names worn away
children play hide ‘n seek

First Place:
Billie Wilson

whalebone
from a beach near Savoonga—
winter rain

Second Place:
John Stevenson

All Saints morning
a path
of trodden leaves

Third Place:
Carolyn Hall

cremated
in her favorite kimono—
small green plums

Honorable Mention:
Timothy Russell

             spring rain—
the gravedigger latches the door
             of his backhoe

Honorable Mention:
Carolyn Hall

spring rain the cat's pink nipples

First Place:
Marjorie Buettner

loon calls
my daughter drawing circles
near the fire

Second Place:
Billie Wilson

summer evening—
from across the meadow
a call to supper

Third Place:
Michael Fessler

shivering on the roof
I rub my palms together
meteor shower

Honorable Mention:
John Thompson

    ocean breeze—
a strand of seaweed
    steadies the kite

Honorable Mention:
Ross Figgins

autumn rose—
     even as I sketch the wind
        more petals fall

Honorable Mention:
Doug Hunt

Humid July—
from the stove the smell
of old fires

Honorable Mention:
Harvey Hess

the wind of autumn
a homeless man warms himself
hand to mouth

First Place:
Kathy Lippard Cobb

broken easel—
the front yard blue
with wildflowers

Second Place (tie):
Linda Jeannette Ward

heat waves—
the hitchhiker shifts her child
to the other hip

Second Place (tie):
Leatrice Lifshitz

land's end—
sand in each bite
of my apple

Third Place:
W. F. Owen

Indian summer
a fish slips through
the gill net

Honorable Mention:
Jeanne Emrich

     her 18th birthday—
for the first time she notices
       my silences

Honorable Mention:
A. C. Missias

spring sunshine
      the climbing ivy
      filled with sparrows

First Place:
Michael Dylan Welch

 meteor shower—
    a gentle wave
wets our sandals

Second Place:
Yvonne Hardenbrook

      mountain hike
we drink from the beginning
      of a great river

Third Place (shared):
Tom Clausen

spring sun—
       high in his arms
             the newborn is shown

Third Place (shared):
Marian Olson

      snail—
to know
           its heart beats too

Honorable Mention:
LeRoy Gorman

   lethal injection
unable to shut
the blind dog's eyes

Honorable Mention:
Peggy Heinrich

     end of summer
the shape of his feet
    in his sneakers

Honorable Mention:
Linda Jeannette Ward

   Geronimo's grave
someone has left
   plastic flowers

First Place:
Yu Chang

new in town
the scent
of unknown flowers

Second Place:
Christopher Herold

foghorns . . .
we lower a kayak
into the sound

Third Place:
Celia Stuart-Powles

catalog time
the garden begins
without a seed

Honorable Mention:
Ferris Gilli

new butterfly ...
folded wings
lean into the wind

Honorable Mention:
Christopher Herold

morning overcast
a few seeds still dangle
from the dandelion

Honorable Mention:
R.A. Stefanac

break up
I leave behind
her butterfly net

Honorable Mention:
John Stevenson

walking home barefoot,
we enter the shadow
of the hill

Honorable Mention:
Tom Tico

autumn evening ...
a page of the old book
separates from the spine

First Place:
Randy Brooks

funeral procession ...
snowflakes blowing
into the headlights

Second Place:
Zinovy Vayman

autumn evening
my hospital window
becomes a mirror

Third Place:
Ernest Berry

storm clouds
the cry of a shearwater
circles the sky

Honorable Mention:
Margaret Chula

late into the night
we talk of revelations
moon through the pines

Honorable Mention:
Christopher Herold

the kettle whistles ...
           a blur of garden color
           on the window

Honorable Mention:
John Stevenson

winter beach
a piece of driftwood
charred at one end

Honorable Mention:
Ruth M. Yarrow

riveredge old growth:
a towering window
of stars

First Place:
June Moreau

I'm caught in it too—
the blossom-loosening wind

Second Place:
Gary Gay

Over the railroad tracks
the slow motion
of a snake

Third Place:
George Swede

The beetle I righted
flies straight into
a cobweb

Honorable Mention:
Helen Davie

leaf in my palm
its stem extends
my lifeline

Honorable Mention:
Susan Gaston

about the tree
over my small son's grave
—tell me

Honorable Mention:
William J. Higginson

musty smell
forgotten ... deep
into the text

Honorable Mention:
Connie Meester

that Venus!
leading the cupped moon
through every turn of the road

Honorable Mention:
Kohjin Sakamoto

"grabs" and "opens"
the fist
sowing seeds

First Place:
Leatrice Lifshitz

the river—
coming to it with nothing
in my hands

Second Place:
Kay F. Anderson

deep silence
          the orphaned nestlings
          this third morning

Third Place:
Jeffrey Witkin

summer solstice—
the long tips of lavender
bent by bees

Honorable Mention:
Sandra Fuhringer

snowbound
coloring inside
the lines

Honorable Mention:
LeRoy Gorman

the dumproad pond
tadpoles exit
a birdhouse

Honorable Mention:
Kohjin Sakamoto

still sun-warmed ...
the pulled-out scarecrow
in my arms

Honorable Mention:
vincent tripi

Changing the swallowtail
      changed by it
           the spring wind

First Place:
Leatrice Lifshitz

letting the branch go
a shower of petals falls
on the old woman

Second Place:
Michael Dylan Welch

toll booth lit for Christmas
from my hand to hers
warm change

Third Place:
Jim Kacian

winter seclusion
tending all day
the small fire

Honorable Mention:
Helen K. Davie

on the path
only one of us
touched by a falling leaf

Honorable Mention:
John Stevenson

winter, bedtime
   static flickers
       through a white sleeve

Honorable Mention:
Ruth Yarrow

warm river—
up to our necks
in sunset

Honorable Mention:
Jeanne Emrich

beneath the ice
the waterfall
                    still falling

First Place:
Alice Mackenzie Swaim

Old garden chair
sagging with the weight
of a single leaf.

Second Place:
Helen K. Davie

after the stroke ...
watching only the half of your face
that smiles

Third Place:
Peggy Heinrich

City window
mountains and pines
etched in frost

Honorable Mention:
Garry Gay

Autumn deepens
an empty snail shell
explored by an ant

Honorable Mention:
Christopher Herold

early morning sun
     scattered on the table
          several grains of salt

Honorable Mention:
Gary Hotham

snowflakes
no one will miss
melt in her hand

Honorable Mention:
John Stevenson

bright leaves
    blow through
       her dream house

First Place:
Sylvia Forges-Ryan

scattering his ashes
     the moon
          in bits and pieces

Second Place:
Virginia Brady Young

on the river
      of many names, one cloud
      floating

Third Place:
Elizabeth Searle Lamb

learning too late
he didn't like bubinga wood—
sun strikes the urn

Honorable Mention:
Penny Harter

the war memorial—
migrating butterflies
cover the names

Honorable Mention:
Jim Kacian

falling leaves
the house comes
out of the wood

Honorable Mention:
Leatrice Lifshitz

leaving you—
fog on either side
of the white heron

Honorable Mention:
June Moreau

Below zero
all curled up in the woodpile
the skin of a snake

First Place:
Carol A. Purington

deep winter.
                        the armload of firewood
                        chills the kitchen

Second Place:
James Chessing

mourning dove calls ...
     my elderly neighbor stills
          the sound of her hoeing

Third Place:
Lenard D. Moore

August morning—
a window washer wiping dust
from his sunglasses

First Place:
Bill Pauly

snowmelt ...
     she enters
     the earth on her knees

Second Place:
Michael Dylan Welch

an old woolen sweater
          taken yarn by yarn
                    from the snowbank

Third Place:
Elizabeth Searle Lamb

a white horse
drinks from the acequia
          blossoming locust

Special Award:
Alyson Pou

sunlight shines red
through my father's thumb
on the steering wheel

Special Award:
John Thompson

          two women crying
one giving birth
          the other being born

Special Award:
vincent tripi

Approaching the family plot ...
my furled umbrella
turns into a cane.

Honorable Mention:
Marc Arvid White

Chernobyl victim—
fingers pressing the plastic
to his wife's caress

Honorable Mention:
Christopher Herold

                        cloud shadow
           long enough to close
the poppies

Honorable Mention:
June Moreau

The thick clang
of a cowbell
the sun deepens

Honorable Mention:
Sydney Bougy

Roses
in the smaller room
more fragrant

Honorable Mention:
Vicki Silvers

Ninety winters
          Spellbound
                     Again

First Place:
Charles B. Dickson

silent cathedral
     stained-glass apostles
     dimming with dusk

Second Place:
R. J. Trayhern

          up the path
to touch that one oak
in last night's dream

Third Place:
Jim Boyd

dry leaves
the old archer
curves his eyebrow

Honorable Mention:
William Cullen, Jr.

soft rain—
the new grave
looks old

Honorable Mention:
Dee Evetts

morning sneeze—
the guitar in the corner
resonates

Honorable Mention:
George Swede

dusk
a lone car going the same way
as the river

Honorable Mention:
Tom Tico

First days of summer ...
     already the leaves gather
         beneath the sycamores

Honorable Mention:
Lee Gurga

fall leaves the trees the winter sky

First Place:
John Thompson

so many ways
within the waterfall
for water to fall

Second Place:
Dee Evetts

after the rain
on my vegetable patch
a new crop of stones

Third Place:
Joe Nutt

frozen in mud
by the vacant shanty:
lottery ticket

Honorable Mention:
Frederick Gasser

the potter's hands
gently shape the vase
     out of himself

Honorable Mention:
Garry Gay

Watermelon rind,
sitting in its own juice
the summer sun

Honorable Mention:
Lee Gurga

figure drawing class—
in the model's deepest shadows
a stark white string

Honorable Mention:
Robert Mainone

Ebb tide ...
    a little sea
         in the shell

Honorable Mention:
Joan Bulger Murphy

watching rain
pouring down ... pouring down
just watching

Honorable Mention:
Denver Stull

abandoned store—
     large sign reading
          WE NEVER CLOSE

First Place:
Dan Burke

a single strand
of spider silk
     stops her

Second Place:
Lesley Einer

endlessly becoming,
clouds

Third Place:
Jerry Kilbride

mime
lifting
fog

Senryu Award:
Carolyn Talmadge

taking time ...
listening
to the grocery clerk

Senryu Award:
Elizabeth St Jacques

in the Yukon
sleeping with one eye shut
the summer night

Senryu Award:
Bill Pauly

in soap bubbles
again and again
his face is broken

First Place:
Jerry Kilbride

yard sale,
sunlight filling
mason jars

Second Place:
Kathleen Burgy

leaving home ...
the smell of smoke
from old brick chimneys

Third Place:
Ross Figgins

frozen pond—
white antlers rise
through the ice

Honorable Mention:
Steven D. Dalachinsky

June night
my mother alone with
her cancer

Honorable Mention:
Sister Mary Thomas Eulberg

     at dinner
biting into the roast beef ...
     the butcher's thumb nail

Honorable Mention:
Dee Evetts

phoning the neighbors
their real voices
through the open window

Honorable Mention:
Dee Evetts

repeating the lecture
his eyes following
the window-cleaner's blade

Honorable Mention:
Esther Harris

Tools rusting
Unused on the work bench
A faucet dripping

Honorable Mention:
H. F. Noyes

full moon

      peering into
the half-built house

Honorable Mention:
Donald E. McLeod

dusk
drawing the pond's depth
to the surface

Honorable Mention:
Carol Montgomery

old woman, wrapping
her cat's gifts
—centering the bows

Honorable Mention:
Lynn G. Moore

on the way to work
a hot air balloon
up in the mist

Honorable Mention:
Denver Stull

this heat;
     the dog's tail
          the only breeze

First Place:
Ruth M. Yarrow

                light
up under the gull's wing:
              sunrise

Second Place:
Carol Montgomery

second husband
painting the fence
the same green

Third Place:
Clark Strand

such coolness
the snail stretches
its neck

Honorable Mention:
David E. LeCount

the one legged bird
that deep bend before
taking off

Honorable Mention:
Peggy Willis Lyles

bird song
lost
in bird song

Honorable Mention:
Bill Pauly

walking in on her
dead eyes reflecting
          snowfall

Honorable Mention:
Rebecca Rust

in the sea
the fireworks
rising

Honorable Mention:
Ruby Spriggs

bird feeder untouched ...

     alone again

Honorable Mention:
Ruth M. Yarrow

circling each thigh
     cool
of the night river

Senryu Award:
Carol Montgomery

     small child
afraid to throw away
    his Church Bulletin

First Place:
Stephen Hobson

     in utter stillness
the incense
          changes direction

Second Place:
David E. LeCount

early spring sun—
the spinster combs out her hair
for nesting birds

Third Place:
Ruth Yarrow

canyon:
at the very edge
          riversound

Honorable Mention:
Robert F. Mainone

Out of its slipper
     her bare foot talking
          under the table

Honorable Mention:
David Elliott

      Burial prayers
grandson playing hide and seek
      behind the stones

Honorable Mention:
Robert Kramer

between the fireflies
the changing shape of darkness

Honorable Mention:
Dorothy McLaughlin

My father's hammer
warm again
in my hand

Honorable Mention:
Margarita Mondrus Engle

under trees and sky
     the baby studies
     her hands

First Place:
Adele Kenny

migrating geese—
once there was so much
to say

Second Place:
Bill Pauly

sound of her voice
carrying eggs
across the ice

Third Place:
Alexis K. Rotella

moving
with the clock tower's shadow
the flower lady

First Place:
Bill Pauly

heart drawn in dust
by the old Indian ...
rain

Second Place:
Ross Figgins

whispered dusk—
      a fox picks its way
           across the ice

Third Place:
Ruth M. Yarrow

mist
lifting
the loon's cry

Honorable Mention:
Ruth M. Yarrow

snowman's eye
sinking in
the spring rain

Honorable Mention:
Joyce Walker Currier

Autumn afternoon:
I stand on the shadow
of the sparrow

Honorable Mention:
Bill Pauly

ten below zero:
man and boy walk through their breath
to read old tombstones

Honorable Mention:
Margarita Mondrus Engle

hot wind
the roadrunner's beak
opens and closes

Honorable Mention:
Charles L. Cutler

Blackbirds descend
through the floaters
in this eye

Honorable Mention:
Darold D. Braida

the old man
closes the shadow
in his hand

Honorable Mention:
Ruth M. Yarrow

spring drizzle
rounding the thorn
a drop of light

First Place:
Raymond Roseliep

              horizon
wild swan drifting through
      the woman's body

Second Place:
Chuck Brickley

deserted wharf
the mime bows
to the moon

Third Place:
Elizabeth Searle Lamb

a spider's web
across the windharp
the silence

Honorable Mention:
Rita Z. Mazur

under the back steps
     catfish still flop in the pail—
          the long August night

Honorable Mention:
Darold D. Braida

horns fold
at my shadow's touch;
brown slug

Honorable Mention:
Sister Mary Thomas Eulberg

      early April rain
that woman fills every jar,
    seals them forever

Honorable Mention:
Darold D. Braida

dead mynah bird ...
with each passing car
its wing flaps

Honorable Mention:
Edward P. Willey

Picking cotton—
      the memory
           of birdtracks in the snow

Honorable Mention:
Garry Gay

Old tea bag;
     tints the moon
          slightly

Honorable Mention:
David E. Evans

blackened walnut
left unopened—
winter solstice

Honorable Mention:
Thelma Murphy

Distant woodchopper
inside the cabin
axbite echoes

Honorable Mention:
Richard Bodner

    The grey cranes at dusk—
bending in a line along
     the crooked fenceposts

Honorable Mention:
L.A. Davidson

checking for water
the woman finds a full moon
trapped in the cistern

First Place:
Bill Pauly

Old woman,
rain in the eye
of her needle

Second Place (tie):
Gloria Buckner

The path shorter now,
underfoot the crumbling leaves;
the child runs ahead

Second Place (tie):
Elizabeth Searle Lamb

cry of the peacock widens the crack in the adobe wall

First Place:
Robert F. Mainone

fields of snow
     not only moonlight
          but the moon

Second Place:
Chuck Brickley

cold morning sea—
an old man towels
himself in the sunlight

Third Place:
Sister Mary Thomas Eulberg

fields of corn stretching
as far as the eye can see
within            a lost child

Honorable Mention:
L.A. Davidson

  crossing the bright sky
of a near-sighted swimmer,
     the song of a bird

Honorable Mention:
Furuta Soichi

and yet
perishable is flesh—
a mountain plum

Honorable Mention:
Bill Pauly

what thing cries out
deep inside us
cooking the turtle?

Honorable Mention:
Peggy Willis Lyles

Lights out
... the firefly
inside

Honorable Mention:
Gary Hotham

the wind
somewhere else—
bird tracks in a light snow

Honorable Mention:
Sister Mary Thomas Eulberg

apples cooking:
in the aroma
pictures of my mother canning

Honorable Mention:
Stephen Gould

Dawn
     another parting
with the moon

Honorable Mention:
Gary Hotham

back and forth goldfish hot & humid afternoon

First Place:
James O'Neil

the child
points at the moon
and says, "bird"

Second Place:
Darold D. Braida

one seagull
on a shaft of air;
dawn

Third Place:
Kirsten Stromberg

Lean man
Carving
The tree's dream.

Honorable Mention:
Marlene Wills

morning-glory folds into herself into her folds

Honorable Mention:
Cor van den Heuvel

from behind me
the shadow of the ticket-taker
comes down the aisle

Honorable Mention:
Michael O'Brien

Walking to Work

Pages lap at your feet
The quick eye holds up the news to the day

Honorable Mention:
Tal Streeter

Part of a dog
walking by upside down
in the roadside puddle

Honorable Mention:
Garry Gay

Where the ripple was
the fisherman casts his line;
another ripple

Honorable Mention:
Virginia Brady Young

Quiet strokes
of night swimmer: the slap
of beaver tails . . .

Honorable Mention:
Raymond Roseliep

never expecting
the lilies in November
nor the small coffin

Honorable Mention:
Michael McClintock

      the room's smallness
fills with light
      this morning of snow

Honorable Mention:
Joyce Walker Currier

The way of the conch—
blueing in the sea, and
echoing in the wind

First Place:
Elizabeth Searle Lamb

leaving      all the morning glories      closed

First Place (tie):
Robert F. Mainone

Old frog
    up to his ears
        in moonlight

First Place (tie):
Raymond Roseliep

reaching into sky
the girl breaks the wish—
bone of geese

First Place:
Jennifer Virgil

in a dark bag
    onions
          sprouting

Second Place:
R.E.T. Johnson

still lake—
a hawk makes off
with its image

Third Place:
Larry E. Martin

   skiers!
  standing
on the wind