2024 Nature & Place Third Place Winner: “The Pond, Early Spring” By Rebekah A. Sankey
It’s time to congratulate the Third Place Winner of Frontier Poetry‘s 2024 Nature & Place Contest, Rebekah A. Sankey. Read their arresting poem, selected by Flower Conroy, “The Pond, Early Spring.”
Become enthralled with the earth as Sankey depicts nature in a mesmerizing way, begging the reader to question what it means to belong.
The Pond,
Early Spring
This ambidextrous morning, a small
rain inherits wind. Twin cartographers
below uncertain sky, they chart
continents on the face of the water.
Aquatic shorelines stutter over the agitated
scene. I had a map once. The pond’s solid
edge is lined with the rust and gold of new
green, the season splitting seams in any
optimistic thing. Nothing here is
disoriented. Even barkless, leafless trees lean
over damp geography. I attempt home
in spaces I do not own. Even in one I buy,
belonging eludes me. A shameless bird
sputters glorious over the water’s atlas. Where
do I find a country full of the music I can sing?
rain inherits wind. Twin cartographers
below uncertain sky, they chart
continents on the face of the water.
Aquatic shorelines stutter over the agitated
scene. I had a map once. The pond’s solid
edge is lined with the rust and gold of new
green, the season splitting seams in any
optimistic thing. Nothing here is
disoriented. Even barkless, leafless trees lean
over damp geography. I attempt home
in spaces I do not own. Even in one I buy,
belonging eludes me. A shameless bird
sputters glorious over the water’s atlas. Where
do I find a country full of the music I can sing?
Rebekah A. Sankey
Rebekah Sankey is a poet, vocalist, and educator; she holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has previously appeared in Barrelhouse Magazine. She lives north of Boston in Massachusetts.
