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2021 National Art Month San Antonio Poetry Contest

Youth, Winner

William Rowden

“Quiet!”

There’s music, listen

to the sway of our bones

on the quarter note,

listen

to the whisks of footwork,

to the mariachi,

to the intimacy of our legs

pinwheeling over the tiles.

Quiet down, child,

and listen

to the chaos of the time step,

the pirouette.

Listen to life

in common time.

Adult, Winner

Don Mathis

“Dining for Dancing”

Back in the days of the great kangaroo scare,

she ate a hamburger for lunch.

Was it marsupial meat? She didn’t care.

She shopped for a red dress for a night

on the town. It takes a lot

to get dressed up for a night of getting down.

Later that evening, her and her date

dined on seafood. She had the frog leg plate.

And then the dance began.

She was on the floor whenever the band played.

She rocked, she rolled, she strolled, she swayed.

At one a.m., they announced the dance floor winner.

Did she win first prize

because of her lunch

or because of her dinner?

 

Adult, Special Recognition

Tessa E. Matiella

“I’m the Lady in Red”

It’s me.

I am red.

“It’s Friday night,

And I’m the ‘Lady in Red’.”

Soft hair cascading around my face

And down my back.

Strutting,

I confidently move across the floor,

Waves of red silk

Glistening in the warm glow

Of the disco dance lights.

Swaying,

I move right to the beat of the music.

“Do you have rhythm?

Watch me.

See?

That’s

Rhythm, honey,

Flowing out of me.

You try it now.

Good! Good!

You got rhythm too!

Now,

let’s move to the beat.”