First Place Winner, August 2002 InterBoard Poetry Competition

Poetry

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Poetry

InterBoard Poetry Competition

First Place Winner, August 2002

ARCHAEOLOGY
Brett Hursey
(Blueline Poetry Forum)

The first day she spends
alone at my house
I kiss her goodbye at the door,
climb into my car and think
about the Lost Colony --

the abandoned,
alone-on-your-birthday feeling
that always comes from loss --

the way Jamestown
lay like an unmated sock
in the Tidewater woods --
colonists trading woolen coats
for Croatan beads and buckskins,

or abducted by aliens
eager to learn the secrets
of cross-stitch and butter-churns --

the same aliens
who probably observe
with wonder the way
she systematically sorts through
all my possessions --
bravely spelunks under the kitchen sink,
and carefully catalogs the contents
of my medicine cabinet.

Working her way up
to photo albums and unpacked boxes
in the back of my bedroom closet,

she boldly presses forth
into my wildest bachelor regions,
blazing a trail through
an un-ironed, khaki forest

until she finally stumbles upon
Virginia Dare and the rest of the colonists
huddling around a campfire
cobbled from old love letters
and baseball cards.

Judge Christine Reed’s comment: “This poem is rich with images that succinctly connect with the reader. The tone breathes of love and wonder with line breaks that draw you in. The final image of the Jamestown colonists in the back of a bachelor’s closet is just priceless. This poet knows how to craft simple language smoothly and carries off humor with subtle expertise.”