Daphne Nichols
Honorable Mention 2009 Novice Christian Poetry Contest $100
About this Christian Poet:
Daphne Nichols, 22, is currently a piano performance student at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She has been a Christian for two years and feels blessed to be a part of the ministry of Southside Community Church. Poetry is a beloved "second art" that she explores when she can.
About this Poem:
All my poetry takes its inspiration from particularly intense experiences. One summer evening I was lying in bed and suddenly felt a great joy at the night God made...so, as per usual for when I have time on my hands, I tried to write the feeling down.
Night
Quilts glide cotton fingers
over shoulders sharp as stones.
Between the sheets, I blink
at darkness this divine:
that you who broke bread with men
could cradle me, and other sullen sons.
A window frames the terra cotta moon
you hung as light, proclaiming
colder places: dry oceans, cratered pores.
Inside, the blueness blazes
into wood, staining chairs and doors
with foreign, metal kisses.
Weevils hum. Spiders drop
pretense, spin madcap on the sill.
Grasses flash, incandescent,
recently ripe. This night's worth my death,
but you've done that. Cicadas whir,
their yard-house full of light.
Copyright ©2009 by Daphne Nichols