The Dr. Linda Veldheer Memorial Prize
Lisa Sloan, “Surviving the Arrow”
Honorable Mentions:
Lawrence Rhu
Nothing is as painful as an arrow
shot clean between ribs. It sears the flesh,
lodges in the nest of nerves below the breast;
the heart shrinks, vision narrows, breath shallows,
no fight, nor flee; just, me frozen in place;
and just out of reach, the dog-eared manual;
What is step one? Fire: make tinder bundle
from dry debris; then try to leave no trace.
Years later the scar will still show, reflected
In the bathroom mirror. Through steam and sweat,
the hand-swiped blur, you will lift one sagged breast
examine the dimpling, the pearl-grey sheen
of puckered flesh, the knot, gather of skin,
the little tickler; the traces that love still leaves.
Surviving the Arrow
Judge’s Comment:
Excellent modern sonnet. This poem does what so many great poems do. It starts with mystery and darkness and ends in brilliant enlightenment.