Winner's Page - White Collar

The Aluminum Factory
by Diane Hamilton

I work in a factory.
I corrugate aluminum.
I think it is the ocean,
an ocean of aluminum, rippling and lucent
I don't quail at this sight
I consider ripping off my clothes
and diving in.
What a splash!
That would disarm my coworkers.
They would have to call the coast guard
haul me out like cargo,
hooked to the garnet.
Instead I meander among the machines,
living only in the parentheses,
spouting cliches.

The Aluminum Factory - Curbside - In Good Measure - Me

Curbside
by Robert J. Clawson Curbside
Sight at first: love.
Then what she says:
"I'm double parked. Here,
take the keys." Such trust.
My fingers brush her wrist:
I sense her pulse. She whirls:
Chanel infects the morning air,
red heels snapping at cement.
I'm dying for her croissant,
her black-currant jam,
her orange juice, her yellow egg...
bet I'd butter park her Jag.

The Aluminum Factory - Curbside - In Good Measure - Me

In Good Measure
by Chad Shear

Rattlesnakes
Ticks, gators and deerflies
Machete elbow, sweat
Nobody's been here for a hundred years
Untouched beauty

Squeezed between two yellow lines
Tourists and rock trucks whizzing
(Literally, of course)
Approaching the figurative
Take the damn shot

How high are we
Where do we go from here
Hanging over the edge
Watching for the safety man
One small mark

Fresh hot concrete underfoot
Strike a line, then another
This one crosses that one here
No, no, not that one
Build it there

Hip deep all day
A slow, tiring traverse
Tacks in cypress knees
Marking the path
Watch it! Another moccasin.

All I do is measure things.

The Aluminum Factory - Curbside - In Good Measure - Me

Me
by Joseph McCauley (GRYPHONPOET)

When you hear the roar
of turbines carrying
important people
to important places,
that's me.

When you pick up
your shiny new car
on the day
the dealer promised,
that's me.

When you see
the tiny speck
of a silver bird
slow against the sky,
that's me.

When you don't hear
news of an airplanemangled into scrap and
bodies strewn over miles,
that's me at my proudest.

The Aluminum Factory - Curbside - In Good Measure - Me

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