The 2014 Ventura Valdez Poetry Contest winners at Montgomery College have been announced.
Rachel DiLima has won the Ventura Valdez English Award for her poem titled The Hero and Natalia Schoch Lopez has won the Ventura Valdez Spanish Award for her poem titled Eloí. Each of the winners received a cash prize of $100, which was sponsored by Gival Press.
The Hero
With her copper pot helmet and her wooden spoon sword, she piloted a swing upward to the moons of Mars. There she scooped stardust in between slices of toast and dined on galactic memories, leaving only the crust. On her way to Earth she played hopscotch with the Sun leaving her burned but undeterred, her crooked smile showed she\’d won. And as she searched for gnomes to demand they grant her wishes, I knew her heart just forming for it was green and bold and fearless. So whilst gazing at the little knight as she combed through the grass I whispered to my captured gnome, Don\’t let her heart grow old, let her be a Hero to the last.
Copyright © 2014 by Rachel DiLima.
Honorable Mentions: Delirium Tremens by Angela Niño. Petal Storm by Livia Abramoff.
Eloí
Su presencia inunda mi cuerpo, acelera latidos salados, y frena amargos pensamientos.
En cada átomo de carbono graba su esencia líquida. ¿Al azar del infinito? No creo en tales cosas, ¡que me arroje una mentira!
Hacia él fluyen mis lágrimas, hacia el eterno retorno. En su pecho brota una fuente, tapizada de algas verdes, pardas, cencidas.
Con precisión integrada, cada célula de su piel sugiere una madera noble, de árticos boreales.
Sumido en el insomnio recorre rojas mis arterias, de plutonio-238 y tungsteno radioactivo.
Sus pulmones exhalan vida, vientos de bonanza y estíos al sol navegables. Me estremezco, mi mente a comprender no alcanza.
Lo marca suavemente, el tempo, con su mano desnuda sobre las pecas de mi espalda. Añoro momentos de tangos y rítmicos trémolos de la Pampa.
Calla esta vez y escucha, sólo su vieja guitarra, de cuerdas magistrales, desbordando entera mi alma.
Así es, de inocentes sinfonías, y piruletas infantiles.
Copyright © 2014 by Natalia Schoch López.
Honorable Mentions:
Aroma de una Reminiscencia by Melissa Díaz.
Distante by Christian Chávez.