16Dec
By Elizabeth Wing
(Fairbanks, Alaska: 2017)
Peeling birch bark
Off this dead log
Knife ashes
Cool in the amber
Of perpetual afternoon
(Summer – north – sun won’t sleep)
Things half-die
Each winter
Under
This
Brittle bark
We find
Green, peeking life
Second Place: Elizabeth Wing
Sir Francis Drake High School, 12th Grade