The Accidental Blogger Gets a Prize

A year ago today I accidentally created this blog while nosing around in search of someone I don't remember anymore. It was accidental because I didn't know I was creating a real blog. I thought it was a test blog.

Now I head for the laptap most mornings and I cherish a number of people I might never meet. A few friends I still miss keenly since they stopped blogging, like Madison, Jenn, and Tall Kay. (Hi, you guys [waving at the air]! I'm thinking of you!) The rest of you make more appearances in my life than some members of my family. So happy anniversary, everyone.

But that's not all I want to say. The reason there's an egret in the post today is that I just won a great big prize for one of my poems. The California State Poetry Society's annual competition chose "How an Egret Saved Me" for first place this year. It's one of my favorites.

How an Egret Saved Me

I lay prostrate on the couch & worried & worried
The newspaper scattered like leaves around my bier
The syllables of war trip over the tongue like poetry
Afghaniraq darfuristan & the birds are fluttering
Into extinction In the latter days the seas arise
My aunt says God is coming soon but where is he
Where is his sign I’ve lost you to the television
& the latest tennis match among the titans
Worried & worried until I saw the water’s reflection
On the wall there A dancing curvature of light
& through the glass I saw the egret winging past
The long white neck folded & long dark legs folded
Trimly as a package born aloft on broad white wings
A love letter airmailed from a distant God

( A photographer code-named Actual took the photo of the egret.)