The Poetry Challenge #2

We have a winner! I must admit, as soon as I read this author's two entries, I knew that all three of mine were going to be skunked. This is a well deserved win, and without any further ado, I shall announce that our winner for Poetry Challenge #2 is . . .

Rebecca Blevins for The Reading Tree!

Congratulations, Rebecca! You've just been granted bragging rights, and to prove that you won, I'm sending you a widget/button to go on the sidebar of your blog announcing your win to the world.

Any of you that didn't get the chance to read the poems this week, I'm leaving them posted until this week's challenge begins, so you still have time to go and read them. It's worth the time, believe me. And just to wet your appetite for more poetry, I'm posting Rebecca's poem right here.

The Reading Tree

Book bangs at my side suspended,

Wrinkly plastic crinkles as I

Jump, hug the rough branch, swing my

Bare legs around, bark does bite, but

Worth a scrape or three

Shift around, slightly shaky then

Become concrete, steady, steady

Stand and climb, four, five, the story

Thumps with golden promise, it is

Nearly free

Reach, pull, sit and rest and

Dangle legs, lean back on another

Branch, quiet, sacred, no one else

Comes here, but ants—I share, birds all

Ignore me

Slide the plastic off my arm and

Hold my world close to me, sunlight

Splashes, dots the pages, I am

Smiling by myself—but I am not

Alone.