FIRST-PLACE WINNER

As you know if you’ve been following us, we had a contest for inclusion in our most recent anthology, Aurora. We received some fabulous entries, and awarded prizes for first, second, and third place following blind judging. The works of all of the three winners can be found in the book along with many other exceptional stories and poems.

I would like to highlight our first-place winner. Tara A Elliot. Below is Tara’s winning entry, one of three poems authored by Tara for Aurora:

LIGHT

Tara A. Elliott

    For Lucille Clifton

i have finally learned

what it is to be human

it is Icarus

hearing the voice of his father

below  and still

he turns

               his face to the sun

If you’re not a “poetry person” you may be asking, “What’s so great about that?”

What is so lovely about Tara’s poem is the tension, and the tension is showing us what it means to be human. At once, we are Icarus, clad in homemade wings, attempting to conquer the sky. But, if we fly too high, the wax that is holding the feathers onto our wings will melt, and we will fall, and die.

But wait, we hear our father calling to us, we hear the warning; we can save ourselves!

And then, still, we strive forward, toward the sun. We simply cannot resist… so many things, the light, the beauty, the danger, the exploration, the quest.

And that, dear readers, is what it means to be human.

Now, go buy a copy of Aurora so you can see the other jewels Tara and others have contributed to this glittering collection!

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