The Jasper Municipal Library hosted a poetry contest through April in celebration of poetry month. Here are the winning entries:

Auspice Deo By Robert Ferrari

O, to be a spider, and never tangle a web,

to be a tide, keeping promise, the diem ebb,

to invite the morning in the first drop of dew,

and announce the night in a rippling orange hue.

O, to be lightning storm, and dance across the sky,

to be a silk worm, and spin comfort as I lie,

to excite the hoar frost in burgeoning crystals,

and melt the last icicle as Spring’s thaw whistles.

O, to be emptiness that fills the universe,

to be winter’s quiet snow, or act the inverse,

to coax wild flowers with summer’s leaping sun,

and subdue the wind before the storm has begun.

 O, to be creature who never counts time’s passage,

to be serene in the solitary voyage,

to travel without belongings, leaving no waste,

and find no hate in my heart or another’s face.

O, to be free of lies, plots, interpretation,

to be free of persuasion and mind pollution,

to discharge clothing, commercials, material,

et nihil desperandum auspice Deo.

O, to be animal, limestone, or petal curled,

to be without greed, and unfold care on the world,

to revere what was brought perfect by Wisest Hand,

and never again, never to live like a man

If I could be... By John Strugnell

If I could be,

Just three words,

I’d be hers