Winner of the Fall 2006 Poetry Contest

Phil Terman chose Rocky Wilson's "Early for the Ferry" as the winning entry in the Pat Dillenschneider Poetry Award Contest. Our congratulations to Rocky and all the poets that submitted work, and watch for our spring contest to be announced on the blog. Below is the winning poem:

Early for the Ferry
Red in the morning, sailors' warning...

My body jogs wearily along the waking Delaware,
as my mind calculates how far this month's bills will
outdistance my paycheck.

In his book Islands Aldous Huxley had myna birds
land on people's shoulders and repeat the refrain,
"Here and now, boys, here and now!"

A triangle of grass, near the summer stage, whispers Walt Whitman's name.
Moments later I am spinning on a circle of bricks,
where I once danced to boombox music,
as smiling picnickers handed me dollar bills
and a bologna sandwich.
A squirrel waits on the ferry ramp, his tail,
like a piece of Whitman's beard, points west.
Out past the docked ferry, a cormorant dives looking for breakfast.
I imagine Jennifer and Button, the aquarium's hippo sisters,
clambering down the river bank to take a swim before work.
Sounds from a construction site keep getting louder,
until I can make out, "sweet home Alabama..."
Another worker takes a welding mask and torch out of his truck.
Across the river the buildings are starting to catch fire.
A red-breasted gull flies over
It is the first day of autumn.
Someone has painted a pink happy face
beside the walkway, along with the words, "Have a happy day!"
Rumbling over the blue bridge, a commuter train passes
the sand-colored state prison, built like an adobe
without ladders.

On Linden Street I pick up a dead sparrow
and lay it in the wet grass with some cookie crumbs.
Words come to me from a communion service
at St. Mary's By-the-Sea, "Strength for the journey."

A shortcut through the community garden
leaves me standing among hundreds of purple morning glories,
while, below me, the roots of sunflowers
pass along the promise of rain.