| InterBoard Poetry Competition | |
| Third Place Winner, October 2007 | |
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a good day to die Tim J. Brennan (About Poetry Forum) (i) September in Wisconsin is like spent wood burning; living near the Chippewa river where final letters are written, hunger is fed its last supper and breezes cross river water as softly as a woman’s failing breath at the bottom of her hour (ii) by Friday I want her kneaded into rye, set on a warm window sill covered with a damp towel, allowing her to rise by morning (iii) by Sunday she couldn’t see me anymore; it was raining and I watched my words, pale as newsprint, running together; being no longer useful, I threw them away (iv) a blue carnation, white chrysanthemums; all relative, withering in lieu of last rites Judge E. Ethelbert Miller’s comments: “I love the language of the first section of ‘A Good Day To Die.’ I kept saying ‘Chippewa’ river and wondering what it looked like in September. The four sections of this poem capture the passing of time very well. There is an Eastern sentiment hidden in each part; it seems to embrace the visual beauty echoed by the white space between lines. Why must flowers die?” 
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