2004 LOIS CRANSTON MEMORIAL POETRY PRIZE FINALIST

A Startle of Darkness

Their quick shadows ripple

across a brilliance of snow

as the flock flies off

with a great caw caw.

There is such silence now

as in the mind reaching

for a dream that’s fled. Something

flickers, blue ghost of a thought

I’ve lost, or whiff of a scent

only the cells recognize.

In the icy air, a branch

cracks, loud as a sudden shout.

I wrap my arms around my meager life,

take it indoors, where the light

is artificial, anonymous.

Everyone real has already left.

Ginny Lowe Connors

 Ginny Lowe Connors’ poetry is published in many journals and anthologies, and she is the editor of three poetry anthologies, including Proposing on the Brooklyn Bridge: Poems About Marriage (New England Association of Teachers of English, 2003). Among her awards is the Atlanta Review’s Poetry 2001 Grand Prize in the International Poetry Competition. Conners is a teacher in West Hartford, CT, and in 2003 she was named “Poet of the Year” by the New England Association of Teachers of English.