First Prize Winner

I won First Prize in a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Story Contest for 2011

I ceased to write and my mind went numb, fingers stiffened and sadness too. A feeling uncontrollable and worrisome. A creative sense that never wains. Clocks tic then tock. It's four in the morning a book in my hand. If I can't live mine - I will simply read theirs. Who lit this fuse? - jrgfeb2011

Great Northeast

Great Northeast

By John R. Greenwood

Winter pain creeping low and mean

Gripping lower backs and shoulders ache

Pharmacy bottle at sink’s edge 

Hands dry-cracked and cramped 

Strain to access white pills

Kitchen floors of scattered puddles

Foyer filled hooks of snow soaked wool

Frozen bootlaces frayed and weary

Men with gray hair whimper and whine

Ice-dam drippings stain ceilings once white

Snowplow-devils pass with smiles and smirks

At driveway’s end 

Mountains high

Begin again once more

jrgfeb2011