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Each year a distinguished poet is invited to select the winner of The Consequence Prize in Poetry. We are delighted to announce that award winning poet and translator, Martha Collins, will select this year's winner. The prize recognizes exceptional work addressing the consequences of armed conflict or social injustice. The award for best poem includes a cash prize of $200. The winning poet and three finalists will have their work published in the Spring 2012 issue of CONSEQUENCE Magazine. No entry fee is required to submit your poem. Guidelines: Please observe these guidelines carefully. There is no entry fee. The poem(s) should address the consequence of war, or social injustice. Please submit no more than three poems of any length. Submissions for the contest may be emailed to Consequence.Mag@gmail.com or mailed to: CONSEQUENCE, PO Box 323, Cohasset, MA 02025-0323, Attention Poetry Editor. If you submit multiple poems, each must begin on a separate page. Include your name and contact information in a cover letter only. Please do not identify yourself on the page(s) containing your poem. In your cover letter include a short biography of no more than 75 words. Your submission should be received by October 1, 2011. If you submit by regular mail, and you want confirmation that your entry has been received, please include a self-addressed, stamped post card. If you want mailed, original copies returned, include a SASE. Visit our website at www.consequencemagazine.org on or after November 25, 2011 to see the winning poet's work, and the names of the three finalists. Due to the large number of submissions, the announcement on our website will be the only notice of contest results. We look forward to reading your poems. Susanna Lang Ephemeral In the newspaper, a man explains After all those years, we’d lost our voices. He doesn’t explain how he and his fellow citizens conducted their search, or where he spoke his first word, choking a little on the syllables. The story continues on page A12, along with a photo of this man carrying an armload of long crusty loaves as he steps carefully over barricades improvised from downed palm trees. He looks down, watching his feet or remembering a cousin, a friend, a stranger whose face he might have recognized among those who marched out of the mosque, chanting into the mouths of guns— they never lose their voices, not the guns. I fold my newspaper, set it aside. There is a little black smudged on my fingers, dust kicked up on the square outside the mosque, one or two of those dusty words. Helen C. Nowak WHY DOES THE JACKAL CRY? When nightfall lies thick on the Gaza Strip With none left to ask why— Why does the jackal cry, honey? Who makes the jackal cry? As our burned-out homes hoard ashes and bones Tight as a dragon’s dream, Why does the jackal scream, honey? Where does the jackal scream? As West battles East for treasure and feast, Shattering skulls in two, What has the jackal done, honey? What did the jackal do? When civilized gore feeds ravenous war With dripping chunks of meat, What does the jackal eat, honey? Who does the jackal eat? As stars turn away and evenings decay, But snow-white sands turn pink, What does the jackal drink, honey? Who gives the jackal drink? When the world revolves and nothing resolves, But innocents must die … Why does the jackal cry, honey? Why would a jackal cry? Lucille Gang Shulklapper Pass or Fail After Rene Magritte’s "The Interpretation of Dreams" I remember word paintings, horse you name door, clock you name wind, white pitcher you name bird, all on black canvas, name and image like shooted baby give me courage now. I sit in classroom, Take English test, and I ask you: HOW you write "Holed"? They tell me holed on… everything depends I pass exam. A. Eat. B. Marry. C. Live. WHICH? All of the above. I don’t look at others…Wait … for WHAT? Answers? Words? Pretend I know. Pass. Get job. WHO? Me or I? baby sister flung. . . Head or tree? WHY? does she matter I write these words? o.k…. I holed on. Test I name suitcase. |