Empire Asparagus Festival 2017 Poetry Contest winners

1st place

The sacrificed
By Mary O’Neill

You will see them in late summer
Early fall. The delicate
Fields of asparagus

Soft and floating; green and browning heads bowed
Weeping

For what?
For what went before? At the beginning?
When they were new and shooting to the sky
Toward the young sun; joyous, tender and naïve?

But strong, too. Straight, proud and confident. Drunk on gentle rain
Rejoicing together, embracing being truly and forever alive
Indeed—and in deed—the very symbol of birth and life?

Then snap! snap! snap! snap! A sudden rat-a-tat-tat, like a machine gun
From nowhere a hurricane of hands. Gripping and snapping
The sacrificed…

Do these weeping head remember?

2nd place

Ode to Asparagus
By Richard Tipton

Early
spring,
and under
the duff and
detritus of
last autumn,
a slumbering
heart awakens
to warming
groundwater
and the
invitation
of dancing
waves
of sunlight.
Breathless,
pulsing
upward,
glowing with
suppressed
anticipation,
freed in
the tangle
of new light
it rises quickly
and soon dons
a lacy veil,
a mist of seeds,
a cloak of promise
tender spears appeared,
succulent and promising,
they were so tasty .

3rd place

Stalks
By Judy & Mimi Gass
(with apologies to Joyce Kilmer)

We think that we shall never see
A plant with such utility.

To take a lovely springtime walk
And come upon its bright green stalk…

Fills vegetarians with mirth,
And carnivores, too, see its worth.

This tall and slender, upright spear
Makes many wishes – that’s quite clear.

Served hot, it’s often steamed or grilled;
And wrapped with bacon, frilled.

With eggs it’s mixed to make soufflé,
In omelets is another way.

Add chicken stock and lots of cream
To whip up soup that’s like a dream.

When cold, this blade can also serve
To make a classy, smart hors d’oeurve.

We just can’t really say enough
About this crunchy bunch of stuff.

Poems are made by folks like us,
But only God makes asparagus.