Late Blooms Runner Up:
Melissa J. Carl
Proof
To love the earth pebbles put
their cheeks against it; they absorb
its groans and hesitations.
For this reason, I will not pick them up.
These are not the dead, and I do not wish
to keep them from their simple obligations.
Here, as proof, they have gathered on the beach
in small sleek herds to remind us
that silence and sunlight turn everything to art.