2nd Place Winner - Sidne Gard

“A Long Distance Sonnet”

New Orleans sidewalks are the worst place to fall.

The oak roots of this sinking city have cracked apart

the pavement. Three hundred years of urban sprawl

adds up to childhood scrapes painted like abstract art.

If you tripped up the four steps it takes to be at my door,

I couldn't catch you, only hold on to your hips.

Seven months of phone calls plan our sophomore

visit, but 963 miles separated make it hard to intermix.

Have we folded our own relationship into voyeur,

or am I simply missing your touch down my backbone.

Your mouth on my breasts instead of your voice in my ear,

my hand against your jaw instead of holding a phone?

The homemade candles and handwritten notes you ship to my mailbox

tell me it hurts just as much to fall on Indiana's sidewalks.