Results: 1st Booksmith Flash Poetry Prize

Congratulations to our three winners, Elizabeth McGovern, Sasenarine Persaud, and Elizabeth Witte.

I will share the winning poems over the next 3 Saturdays.

Congratulations to our 1st Prize Winner: ($20 gift certificate to be used on our sweet poetry section, and taza chocolate) -Liz McGovern!





My Son in a Bookstore
-Liz McGovern

My son runs up and down
the aisles
Red curls blaze as he
descends upon the children's section.

Planes, trains, automobiles,
ducks, bunnies, pirates.

He moves the stools
Then the table
and with proper decorum
of his two years,
removes books one by one
from the shelves

He wishes he could read
Captain Underpants. I tell
him when he is older.
When he actually can read.

In a flash, he is again
on the other side of the store.

I glance at the other patrons,
sitting quietly and calmly
in the wooden chairs.

I worry what they must think
of me,
letting my son destroy
the serenity, the peace
of a bookstore. I worry
what they must think of him,
the feral child of "Mad Max,"
raised by wolves,
a misbehaving demon.

Arms loaded, I drop my
purchase on the counter.
The cashier smiles,
"What a wonderful child!"
Another coos, "What
great hair!"
"He must have so much fun!"

And I forget my worries.
Cassidy holds my hand
as we toddle out of the store together,
into the sun, and on our way
to other adventures.

Liz resides in Salem with her husband Ian, two year old son Cassidy, and two rabbits Sabrina and Snorbles. When she isn't entering poetry contests or working, she spends most of her time at playgrounds, yarn stores, and of course, bookstores. Her favorite poetry comes from the Romantics, and the last book she read was Kurt Vonnegut's Look at the Birdie.