Contest Poems in Peninsula Poets

Posted byJennifer PatinoPosted inpoetryTags:, , , , , , ,

Hello everyone! The Contest Edition of Peninsula Poets from The Poetry Society of Michigan includes two of my poems and I wanted to share them with you all today.

3rd Prize Winner of the George Dila Prose Poem Prize:

Visions Again: A Haibun / Jennifer Patino

I’m in a space where the dream world feels the realest. When the mind can’t comprehend what it sees through waking eyes, it shuts off. I’m okay with sleeping in. I’m okay with sleeping too much. I’m busy. I’m vision-walking. Keep in mind, I never asked for this.

I lie awake, craving the taste of lake water and the scent of September rhubarb. I’d give it all for the autumnal. The desert has made my eyes dusty. There is soot in my ears. I’m missing the night birds. All summer long they sang,

Aki — aki — aki!

There were complaints. Nuisance birds. I wondered if they were eradicated. Shooed off. I realized they all just flew home. See, without that cycle, that transition of seasons, I don’t know where I am. I don’t know who I am.

I’m awake again. I’m asking the empty room if the spirits will recognize me underneath the scars of assimilation on my skin. All I did was speak the language. All I did was pierce a veil. I remembered. Aki. Earth. Those songs were a warning. A sweet sounding plea.

I hear my Nokomis answer: They never had a problem knowing who you were before.

In the silence of the birds, in that great pause, it came to me. The meaning. I never realize when I’m practicing patience because I’m always surprised when things just arrive. I never even know what I’m waiting for.

When the little orange moth shows up a few more times on my doorstep I finally feel brave enough to ask it, Aniin ezhi chigeyan? What are you doing?

Helping you remember. Helping you see.

Again, I’ll remind you, I never sought the visions. I just accepted them. I opened the door for them and lived by them. They were the only things that mattered anymore.

stones sing the stories
sentinels guard my dream songs
shelter the sacred

1st Prize Winner of the Julia George Memorial Prize:

Michigama / Jennifer Patino

Michigama, my Motherland,
called to me through teenage
displacement.  In the Florida 
swampland with beaches 
unnavigable, where her
run-off depository of tears
stung my eyes.  I found
her touch again in a
freezing crystal spring,
a placebo at best, but a
comfort to me.

I yearned for her over in
the drought-stricken west,
the scales of my skin unsoothed.
No moisture anywhere. No mirage
to fool me.  My eyes were exhausted,
too homesick to shed a great lake. 
I dreamt of boats. Green grass.
Various conifers.  The palm trees
in Los Angeles were cell phone towers.
The ones in Las Vegas were neon pink.

O, Michigama, song of my youth,
I sang your praises to those who loathed 
winter. I longed for your icy snap.
I vowed to return, but kept breaking
my promise to you.  I saw your offspring 
in dim lit pubs on Fremont Street.
Brothers and sisters of the North
who came to claim another sun. 

When I arrived home, she welcomed
me with pine-laden arms.
I kissed her shoreline and was made whole,
though ashes of me had been scattered about
this huge country.   My heart, Michigama,
is yours.   Apple red and strong.  I cry
with joy when your sugar snow
grazes my hand.   I laugh back
when your many waters wave me hello.

I hope you all are enjoying Autumn. I’ve been having a rough time after catching a nasty cold that I’m still battling. I’m really tired of having sinus issues, colds, respiratory issues, and even a bout of Covid since the Spring. I can’t seem to catch a break no matter what I do. I hope the Winter is easier on me. Thank you all for reading my words and for all of your kind encouragement. This is my first time entering my work into contests and I’m both happy and surprised at having placed. I have entered a chapbook into a contest as well and am waiting for the results of that. I’m not sure what I want to work on next. I’ve been practicing my prose a bit more, but still haven’t been very impressed with any of my output. I’ll keep at it though. I’ve slowed down significantly after a good few weeks of writing a lot because my energy levels are so low due to my body constantly battling all these illnesses one after another. I’m hanging in here though. What else can one do, really? Hang in there, everyone. Be good to each other.

To purchase copies of Peninsula Poets (both back issues and current issue) click HERE.

Published by Jennifer Patino

Poet in Michigan.

42 thoughts on “Contest Poems in Peninsula Poets”

      1. Of course.

        I’ve been thinking of masking up again — less for covid and more that I am just not interested in getting sick from being out in public. Although the vector is usually one of my twins anyway, so I’m not sure that I should bother.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Yeah, my husband & I both masked vigilantly for a couple years & he’d still catch everything going around work so I told him he doesn’t need to bother, really. 🤷‍♀️ Nothing is 100% preventative unfortunately so what is one to do? Deal with it, I suppose, like everything else.

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  13. I’m so happy to see your words getting the recognition they deserve! They are both stunning poems, and I’m proud of you! 💜 Damned immune systems though; for me winter is an endless war against sinus infections… But I hope you get a good long illness-free stretch one of these days!

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