Poetry Prize
Winner of the 19 Mudfish Poetry Prize
Judged by Billy Collins
Allen Brafman
Together on the Uptown 6
seated across from me
on the uptown 6
a woman a hardcover
copy of Leaves of Grass
in both hands
I think she has no idea
I am here
seated across from her
not reading Leaves of Grass
but reading her
as she reads Whitman
on the uptown
6 of all places
lips moving
shaping one at a time
each word on the page
it comes to me
as a just opening flower
a morning glory perhaps
I too am across the aisle
reading Leaves of Grass
still fairly certain
she has no idea I am here
seated across from her
seated beside her
lips moving in harmony
the two of us
reading the same words
first spoken
in some long
ago century
fingertips fiddling with his beard
it is Whitman himself
across the aisle smiling
nodding in full-
throated appreciation
looking over our shoulders
as though he is reading Whitman
for the first time
ever continuing to add to
the life
he lives in his head
on the uptown 6
what one might leave today
that some other
might come upon tomorrow
and hear what was said
once upon a time
on a long ago 6
is it not as a flower
a morning glory perhaps
that never ceases to bloom
***
First Honorable Mention
Arthur Solway
Tango
Second Honorable Mention
William Snyder
Side by Side
***
Finalists
Mattew J. Spireng – Kingston, NY
Paul Wuensche – Barnes, UK
Kevin Arnold – Paola Alto, CA
Ted Gilley – Bennington, VA
Ann Robinson – Novato, CA
Kate Aver Avraham – Aptos, CA
Sandra Vrana – Mechanicsburg, PA
Mark Elber – Fall Rivier, MA
Robert Cllinton – Dedhim, MA
Robert Grant – Albuquerque, NM
Kenneth David White – Santa Fe, NM
Seanse Lynch Ducken – Ellensburg, WA
Daniel Meltz – New York, NY
Past Mudfish Judges
Mudfish 9 – Thomas Lux
Mudfish 10 – Charles Simic
Mudfish 11 – Jorie Graham
Mudfish 12 – C. K. Williams
Mudfish 13 – John Ashbery
Mudfish 14 – Charles Simic
Mudfish 15 – David Lehman
Mudfish 16 – Deborah Landau
Mudfish 17 – Mark Doty
Mudfish 18 – Charles Simic
Mudfish 19 – Edward Hirsch
Mudfish 20 – Philip Schultz
Mudfish 21 – John Yau
Mudfish 22 – Erica Jong
Mudfish 23 – Marie Howe
Mudfish 24 – Deborah Landau
Mudfish 25 – Vijay Seshadr
Mudfish 26 – Billy Collins