Contest Winner: Dream, Planted

I was thrilled to win first place in the poetry division of the All Write Now! Conference contest this year with the following poem. I hope it inspires you!

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You were the sunflower seed I hid inside the time capsule

twenty-five years ago, buried

in the fall of my thirteenth year.

I dropped you in the metal lunchbox

along with hologram stickers, a rhinestone ring, my favorite

purple pen, and a crinkled copy of van Gogh’s Sunflowers.

I unearthed you this spring, lifted the rusted

metal from the earth, and marveled

how you survived, intact

through drought, freezes, and storms.

I held you in my hand one moment longer

studying your stripes

before I dropped you in the garden

and covered you again, this time in earnest.

How quickly you grew, pushing out

new green leaves from your sturdy stalk

to soak in the sun’s energy.

How prolific you became, sending out

branch after branch, promising

dozens of seed heads.

In the blazing heat and punishing winds

I feared your collapse

but you stood strong.

Oh, the glorious day

your face opened brilliant

to summer’s dawn!

***

If you enjoyed this poem, you may also enjoy these others:

Sunday Dinner, July 1985

Earthen Vessel

 

 

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