Longing and satisfaction–two emotions constantly in flux in our souls and beautifully evoked in our five favorite Poems of the Week from this past year. They tell of longing for lost things, for the joy of youth, for an absent parent; they reveal the satisfaction of seizing what we hunger for, the fulfillment of coming home to true love after desiring a stranger. All of them stir our yearnings and delight.
The Poem of the Week series for 2011–2012 starts on November 6. If you would like to send a poem for consideration as a Poem of the Week, please see our Guidelines. Each October the Top Five Poems are selected for special notice.
Congratulations to the winners. Each receives a $200 award.
Sherman Alexie
16D
The woman in front of me was an epic series of curves.
James Arthur
Omnivore
I eat what’s in front of me, as all great men do.
Marianne Boruch
I Lost My Pen, I Lost My Keys
Day or night I lost in a cellar to dark.
Mermer Blakeslee
Visitation
Whatever I feel my mother longs for from the grave.
Dan Gerber
To God Himself in the Passing Hours
I bow to the pale moon now, askew in the sky.
