Winners & Finalists for 2012 Luminaire Award for Best Poetry
First Place: “Kind to a Spider” by Tim Staley
Second Place: “Suggestion Box” by Ray Larsen
Third Place: “how to kill a flower” by Sharon Zeisel
2012 First Place Winner: “Kind to a Spider” by Tim Staley
Kind to a Spider
See, it’ll happen like this:
when I dim the lights
she’ll unhook her safety line
so I can put her back
where she’s never been.
My drinking glass
down around her crown
as magic carpet slips
between floor, rim,
under eight limbs
until cage and foundation
are one I levitate,
sure not to be jiggling
her red hourglass
through the living room, and when
the glass ambulance lifts,
from the paper stretcher she’ll step
to the perimeter of my property
and probably, that snake
won’t eat her, and that wind,
why should it freeze?
And in this way, Sean, I wish I’d saved you
and your cat from circling your body for days
until finally she’s stuck, whiskers
hard pressed against the window.
Tim Staley was born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1975. He completed a Poetry MFA from New Mexico State University in 2004. Poems have appeared in Border Senses, Chiron Review, Circumference, Coe Review, and RHINO. His latest poetry chapbook is The Sickness Suite (Grandma Moses Press). His poems have also been featured on Lively Words, an online reading series. His hobbies include Bocce Ball, canoeing, potty training, and thinking, and he lives with his wife and daughter in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
2012 Second Place Winner: “Suggestion Box” by Ray Larsen
Suggestion Box
Every day upon entering the coliseum,
I see it
Well-crafted from exotic hardwoods
Stolen, I’m sure, from some forest primeval
Hand-polished brass hardware makes certain
All submissions remain confidential
Goddamn thing probably cost more than
I make in a week
Passing by, I project poison through the dark slot
A gill of gall in your hogshead of cream
The unspoken knowledge that if I told you what
I really thought
The linoleum floor would rend beneath your feet
You would become helplessly entangled
In basement chain and sour mop heads—things
you know nothing about
My first suggestion would be to get rid of that box
2012 Third Place Winner: “how to kill a flower” by Sharon Zeisel
how to kill a flower
plant magnolia seeds in rich soil
water responsibly, allow roots to form and drain
flowers should appear in blossom and in color,
thriving in sunshine.
walk away.
Luminaire Award Medallion Designers
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Devin Byrnes and SuA Kang of Hardly Square, for their creativity in designing our annual medallion imprint. Hardly Square is a strategy-, branding-, and design-based boutique located in Baltimore, Maryland, that specializes in graphic design, web design, and eLearning courses. Their invaluable design expertise has made our annual awards come to life. Learn more about our medallion designers.
Transparency for 2012 Luminaire Award for Best Poetry
Judging spreadsheets and final reports will be updated here shortly.
