Competition

Third Prize

The Shift Change
by Christina Kleinau

Shuffle forward, wait a while,
Shuffle forward, wait a while.
Slump my shoulders, drop my head,
Shuffle forward, wait a while.
Like lemmings off a cliff, we all clock in.

Fluorescent lights, blink and flash,
Mechanical gears, grinding, pounding.
Blank faces all around me.
We do not smile, there is no cause to.
Forget the fire, and the brimstone,
Our hell is steam and steel.

Our bosses all smile down, from upon their grassy Eden.
They don't care, about our heavy hearts.
So long as the wheels keep turning, they are happy.
So long as the wheels keep turning, we are not.
Oh, to be free!

Highly Commended

The Difference between the Best of Life and a Green Pea
by Joshua Cornish

The sun is glaring a golden cancer
walking with light
that sometime lies
not caring that they're born to die

What if the grass grows a different shade of green?
would a president shoot another president because of the error?

A dusty track
twists along a broken family
they were forgotten
just left there waiting to see if a better reality show can
drag down the depths of their society

If one ant can hold the structure of the world literally .
on its shoulders
then why are we miserable?
if it wasn't for that one thing
we would all be in the ground with negative integers

Bet you can't wait
till you drink your espresso tomorrow
on the way"
to your $57 an hour job

While in a field
slowly degrading in a garden
is one lonely green pea"