Editors’ Choice Awards

V:2 — September 1988, selected by George Swede

ex-boxer

cocking over his cabbages 

a cauliflower ear

H. F. Noyes

free of the plow,

     the oxen move to the barn 

          side by side

Ross Figgins

dim hushed library 

against mahogany glow 

dust motes twinkling

Mary Lou Bittle-DeLapa

VI:1 — January 1989, selected by Ruth Yarrow

     A drizzle dries 

 on the stone steps 

steaming workmen

Ira F. Stone

a small stone 

   throws its shadow

               down the canyon

Helen J. Sherry

my shadow lengthens toward it    dusk

Lee Gurga

VI:2 — May 1989

Winter night 

a semen of stars 

among bare limbs

Herb Barrett

the size of a fist, 

an old nest shreds 

in the March wind

Ellery Lyon

the waterfall 

      finally

        free

Elizabeth St Jacques

VI:3 — September 1989

On the telephone . . .

  That hesitant voice of love 

    I call my father

D. S. Lliteras

     in my bones

the crack of nearby lightning 

     summer storm

Lawrence Rungren

falcon held spellbound, 

       falling, falling: 

       the red glove

Amadigaz Araghetti

VII:1 — January 1990

   My head on her breast 

hearing her heart skip . . .

      the furnace kicks in

David Elliot

forgiven

by a mountain trail 

—the white of it

Vincent Tripi

a circle of light 

the long necks of swans 

                   dipping in

Francine Banwarth

VII:2 — May 1990

drought

ants disappearing 

into cracked earth

Tom Clausen

spruce grouse

have eked out the wínter,

needle by needle

Emily Romano

Filled with old women 

and lilies.

the church in the hills.

Alexis Rotella

VII:3 — September 1990

seal of winter moon 

on bay, driftwood, rocks—

my pen runs dry

Brent Partridge

the cawing crow 

leaves

taking his anger

Gloria Procsal

on her wall

where once a crucifix hung 

a sheaf of oats

John J. Dunphy

VIII:1 — January 1991

Hearing the whack 

of the Zen master’s stick 

my shoulders twitch

Margaret Chula

inandoutofthewrenhouse

              parenting

azhiac maratos

the kite of pigeons 

breaks open like mica 

into the sun

Marian Olson

VIII:2 — May 1991

Girlhood dreams

     back and forth . . . the shuttle

     of the loom

Jean Jorgensen

matching

its serrated wings

the fish crow’s voice

Wally Swist

in the high grass

the birth steam leads us

to the cow and calf

Andrew J. Grossman

VIII:3 — September 1991

spring miracle—

each seed knowing 

what to become

H. F. Noyes

new leaves overhead 

extra coins

in the blind man’s cup

Karen Sohne

summer wind 

drowsing in the pines—

   voices of old men

Jim Kacian

IX:1 — January 1992

Candle in my cell, 

flame pulsing 

to the tree frog

Daniel Mills

old woman's lined face— 

another name crossed out 

in her address book

Dorothy McLaughlin

willow shadows

      in and out of my cup . . . 

tea leaves settling

Christopher Herold

IX:2 — May 1992

a falling note of owl song 

                 winter stars

Ellen Compton

After the blind 

Amnesty of sleep 

Light so bright it clatters

Sarah Singer

Wind through the temple shrine 

plum blossoms returning 

the monk's bow

Daniel Mills

IX:3 — September 1992

The netmaker 

taking time 

with his shoelace

Matthew Louvière

mid-afternoon—

the shadow of a gable 

climbs the sapling pine

Peggy Willis Lyles

inside I wash dishes 

outside the weeping willow 

sweeps the earth

Sr. Mary Thomas Eulberg

X:1 — January 1993

Greetings, sandpiper . . .

I have left all my affairs 

to be here with you

Virginia Egermeier

August heat 

the laser's hiss 

at my eye

Rosamond Haas

a young boy 

plants the seeds 

his dad hands him

Jim Kacian

X:2 — May 1993

tiny tree roots

that cracked open the boulder 

 now hold it together

J. Ervin

Wind chime

blossoms drifting 

with its sound

Richard Balus

woodpile low— 

the old man 

keeps a little flame

Robin White

X:3 — September 1993

the turnstone’s cry 

amidst the autumn beach-wrack 

his cinnabar legs

June Hopper Hymas

her rough cough—

sanding brown wood 

a little smoother

Diane Albertina

shrimp

into the hot pan 

our argument silenced

Robert Tannen

XI:1 — January 1994

into the thermal 

of slow birds, the raven 

hitches a ride

Marian Olson

discussion 

of one word . . . 

a spark flies

John Stevenson

Autumn sunset

     the red blanket on the line 

          filigreed with snowflakes

Beatrice Brissman

XI:2 — May 1994

kiva opening 

Hopi priests 

crawl out of the earth

Richard Wiman

a pulse of sparrows 

expands to a cloud 

shrinks to a spruce

Lee Giesecke

breath barely visible— 

under the dawn moon 

white mushrooms

Nasira Alma

XI:3 — September 1994

evening sun 

in the bare hau tree 

the pictograph for red

Tony Quagliano

woven into

the oriole nest

last year’s fishing line

Diane Tomczak

nearly worn in two 

by the water’s thrust:

river-sculptured stone

Emily Romano

XII:1 — January 1995

fixed

to this Japanese cushion 

as I wend my renku-way, 

I know origami cranes 

have no legs

Sanford Goldstein

seeing in the pond

iced over all winter, one frog

this impulse towards prayer

Geraldine C. Little

Today, at the hospice, 

       every window

           half open.

Jeff Crandall

XII:2 — May 1995

Only the telescope 

reveals tiny purple buds 

atop evergreens

David Nelson Blair

on the wet sand 

bird print calligraphy 

       flourishes of seaweed

Ronan

Gone wandering 

in a rice paper brush painting, 

trees and grasses sway 

and the red kite takes flight 

in my heart.

Kay F. Anderson

XII:3 — September 1995

Hyacinth—

forgetting everything

in a breath

Richard Balus

artist’s widow

her painted face forever stroked

by his brush

Mary Lou Bittle-DeLapa

Hole in the clouds

just the right size

for this full moon

Garry Gay

• Diane Albertina

• Nasira Alma

• Kay F. Anderson (for tanka)

• Amadigaz Araghetti

• Richard Balus (twice)

• Francine Banwarth

• Herb Barrett

• Mary Lou Bittle-DeLapa (twice)

• David Nelson Blair

• Beatrice Brissman

• Margaret Chula

• Tom Clausen

• Ellen Compton

• Jeff Crandall

• John J. Dunphy

• Virginia Egermeier

• David Elliot

• J. Ervin

• Sr. Mary Thomas Eulberg

• Ross Figgins

• Garry Gay

• Lee Giesecke

• Sanford Goldstein (for tanka)

• Andrew J. Grossman

• Lee Gurga

• Rosamond Haas

• Christopher Herold

• June Hopper Hymas

• Jean Jorgensen

• Jim Kacian (twice)

• Geraldine C. Little

• D. S. Lliteras

• Matthew Louvière

• Peggy Willis Lyles

• Ellery Lyon

• azhiac maratos

• Dorothy McLaughlin

• Daniel Mills (twice)

• H. F. Noyes (twice)

• Marian Olson (twice)

• Brent Partridge

• Gloria Procsal

• Tony Quagliano

• Emily Romano (twice)

• Ronan

• Alexis Rotella

• Lawrence Rungren

• Helen J. Sherry

• Sarah Singer

• Karen Sohne

• Elizabeth St Jacques

• John Stevenson

• Ira F. Stone

• Wally Swist

• Robert Tannen

• Diane Tomczak

• vincent tripi

• Robin White

• Richard Wiman