Foobooz Flash Poetry Contest: And The Winners Are…


And time is…up.

I gotta say, when put to the test, you people really do know how to come through. I asked for poetry. I gave you just three hours (or so) to write them. And we had no less than 33 entries (including one I had to delete because someone decided to be a racist dick). Sure, not all of them were genius, but (nearly) all of them were recognizable as poems. So congrats to all of you.

But still, winners have to be chosen. And this time around we had two three of them.

The winner of the first set of tickets is Andy B, who came through with a spare but lovely verse about a night that every parent has experienced.

An eight o clock reservation
at Bibou

An Indian Summer night the
Queen Village streets are glowing

The cork is popped, our
faces flush with love and Bordeaux

Our eyes meet, the twinkling of bells
It is my cell phone

It is the babysitter. My son
Has
Vomited
All Over The Dog

Fin

And for that, Andy? A pair of tickets to tomorrow night’s festivities. Let’s hope the kid manages to keep his pudding down this time, huh?

For the second pair of tickets, Charles Alburn gave us some words–just a few, lonely, beautiful words–on the coldest, saddest anniversary ever.

10:03 PM
A crudely cleaved steak stiffens on a plate
Gristle and sinew
A knife brays on its surface

10:07 PM
A cough opens in the air
Minor distractions
A man next to us cracks the binding of a menu

10:10
Checking the menu
Foie Gras is misspelled
I catch you looking at your watch
Your eyes move but never meet mine

10:40 PM
You comment on the crumbs collected in the finer strands of my cartigan
I brush them away
Strangely embarrassed, slightly angry

10:42 PM
I recall you five years ago
Against the same broken tiles
Your cheeks flushed and glowing from the wine
Warmer
They’ve changed the lighting in here

10:45 PM
A half a glass of wine

10:51 PM
A check

10:56 PM
The silence blankly acknowledged across an ocean of table
Of pretense
Of wood and linen

11:00 PM
Happy Anniversary

Oh, and I’m also giving out a third set this time around. Why? Because I can and because–with a baby and an anniversary–I just decided to make this a full circle-of-life kind of day. So the third set of tickets goes to Gijuyn, for her telling ode to modern pregnancy.

I can’t think of anything that rhymes,
even harder to be witty.
I’m just hoping since I’m pregnant
and hungry you’ll take pity.

As if the lack of booze
for 9+ months isn’t enough,
I can’t even eat lunch meat
without heating it up.

I’m reduced to homemade lunches
and leftovers by day,
I have to abstain from seafood
(and cured meats too, by the way).

So while people complain
about a horrible night gone wrong
I hope you’ll consider
my pathetic gestation song:

Please, give me my night out
so that I can dine
on food that I adore,
and my @#$%ing weekly ration of a half-glass of wine.

So those are your winners, folks. And for those of you who couldn’t get through the door with your words, I’d just like to remind you that your credit cards will work just as well. Tickets for tomorrow night’s event are still available at the Garces Family Foundation website.

Hope to see you all there.