The Leslie Leeds Poetry Prize is sponsored by the English Department at CCSU. It was created by former English professor Barry Leeds to celebrate the memory of his daughter Leslie.
2020 Prize Poems
Winner— Anna Christiano
Finalist: Makenzie Ozycz
Finalist: Nehway Sahn
Judge: Professor Burlin Barr
2020 Winner
The Ghost Haunting My Bedroom Wants Me to Go Outside
By Anna Christiano
The ghost is stealing my gloves again.
Sometimes I wear them to bed
I have always had cold hands.
Otherwise I keep them in my coat
all on the same hanger in my closet
the scarf looped around the neck
the gloves tucked into the pocket.
When I reach for them
they aren’t there
and the lights flicker.
The rooms are colder now
thanks to the ghost.
The electric heaters only work
when I am feeling particularly alive.
The ghost likes when I wear red lipstick
the kind that tastes like crayon.
He likes when I paint my nails bright colors
the strong, cheap whiskey smell of the nail polish remover
removing imperfections one cotton swab at a time.
I know how ghosts work by now.
The third time I left the shower
hearts in the fogged-up mirror I didn’t draw
and the bed was made for the first time in weeks
the dress I never wore laid across the blanket
my ratty pajama shorts back in the drawer
I knew.
I put on the dress
the coat
the scarf looped around the neck
the gloves.
It is uncomfortably warm when the ghost is not around.
The electric heaters only work
when I am feeling particularly alive.
2020 Finalists
My Town
By Makenzie Ozycz
The church bells in my town are the powerful hands of god.
Under a cotton ball moon all things seem
Fuzzy, imaginary, youthful. Too
Many hands that touch two narrow, shaking shoulders.
The cracks in the sidewalk sing songs of grief.
All eyes go up when the astronauts land in the movie theater parking lot.
There are ghost girls & the rabid animals who
Seek the meat.
Playful, treacherous, a vine of berries
Smashed by the weight of heavy, dead moss.
The bells beat, violent, repeat, again.
All the eyes in the town
Close at the same time.
1:44PM
By Nehway Sahn
i.
you died when the train
conductor failed to covet
your path with gum
and loose change.
ii.
they misted god
on the bamboo stuck
under your grave.
iii.
plucked!
four chrysanthemums.
iv.
i hate chrysanthemums.
Anna Christiano is a sophomore at Central Connecticut State University. She is majoring in Media Studies and minoring in Creative Writing. Her work has been featured in various student-run magazines.
Makenzie Ozycz is a graduate student at Central Connecticut State University. Nehway Sahn is a senior at Central Connecticut State University.
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