First Place: To Watch These Skies by Linda Goddard

A quarter moon slides up over the eastern horizon.

It’s face milky blue bronze. The air sharp. A brisk wind.

That same cardinal from this morning gives its quick call

on a branch in the oak tree, then the air a sermon of silence.

In the west a hint of wild. The sky sweeps violet, orange-jade,

and copper. Almost dark now. Nothing unusual. Early January

beautiful, until the breaking news in the morning. A howling multitude

of fury, flags and bodies swept into a whirlwind, a leaden gray sky rising.

Susan’s Thoughts

This evocative poem captures the complexity of our times by juxtaposing the serenity found in nature with the inevitable intrusion of disturbing events in the world.

Linda's Bio

Linda Goddard is a poet and creative nonfiction writer. She teaches freshman writing as a designated Valencia Peace and Justice Institute course at Valencia College. When she's not teaching, Linda uses mornings to write the final chapters of her memoir about a little girl trying to figure out her life and place in an Irish Catholic working class family and community. Most evenings she spends a lot of quiet time on her balcony watching the skies and listening to the earth. Silence and solitude, particularly during this COVID pandemic with all its pain-filled challenges, have become rare and restorative gifts for her. Two more gifts of her life that make her who she is are her four precious grandchildren and her monastic profession for St. Brigid of Kildare Monastery, the first ever Methodist Benedictine Monastery.