Poetry Contest Winners

View the list of 2003-2016 winning poets: 

Art Affair 2016 Poetry Winners

• First Place – Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas - "Those Parting Comments”

• Second Place – Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas - "Toast to the Scribes”

• Third Place – Sally Clark, Fredericksburg, Texas - "Crop Rotation”

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Honorable Mentions – in alphabetical order

• Honorable Mention - Dale J. Bilek, Burbank, California - "Blues for a Black and White Dog"

• Honorable Mention – Dale J. Bilek, Burbank, California – “Along the Trail – A Ballad in Black & White”

• Honorable Mention – Von S. Bourland, Happy, Texas – “Llano Estacado”

• Honorable Mention – Von S. Bourland, Happy, Texas – “Transitions”

•  Honorable Mention – Sally Clark, Fredericksburg, Texas – “Los Compadres”

•  Honorable Mention – Catherine Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Senior Moments”

•  Honorable Mention – Catherine Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - “Get a Grape”

•  Honorable Mention – Carol Dee Meeks, Tulsa, Oklahoma – “It Snarls and Snorts then Steps to Music”

•  Honorable Mention – Carol Dee Meeks, Tulsa, Oklahoma  – “Splendor Is On Its Way Again”

•  Honorable Mention – Sandy Novotny, Fayetteville, Arkansas – “Secret Knowledge”

•  Honorable Mention – Michael Edwin Quagliano, Dallas, Texas – “Epiphany”

•  Honorable Mention – Lorelei Sawtelle, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Autumn Haiku”

•  Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “While She Slept”

•  Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “Redamancy, If”

•  Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “Lindsey”

•  Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “Barbara, Marian, and the Elder”

•  Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “Garage Band Rehearsal”

•  Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “Decent/Descent

 

Art Affair 2015 Poetry Winners

• First Place – Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas - "When to wait”

• Second Place – Catherine "Katey" Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Your First Christmas”

• Third Place (Tie) – Bettye K. Cannizzo, Hartselle, Alabama – “Mama Never Read Kooser”

• Third Place (Tie) – Mary Ellen Main, Beaver, Oklahoma – “Oklahoma Weather”

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Honorable Mentions – in alphabetical order

• Honorable Mention – Kathy Akins, Holdenville, Oklahoma – “The Bucket”

• Honorable Mention – Kathy Akins, Holdenville, Oklahoma – “Do You Love Me?”

• Honorable Mention – Von S. Bourland, Happy, Texas – “Mangrove Haven”

• Honorable Mention – Bettye K. Cannizzo, Hartselle, Alabama – “At Ninety, I Write to My Fairy Godmother”

• Honorable Mention – Daniel Edwards, Cypress, Texas – “The Marionette”

• Honorable Mention – Daniel Edwards, Cypress, Texas  – “My Promise”

• Honorable Mention – Sara Gipson, Scott, Arkansas  – “Desert Sunset”

• Honorable Mention – Jerri Hardesty, Brierfield, Alabama – “Repeating Patterns”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine “Katey” Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Refinement”

• Honorable Mention – Mary Ellen Main, Beaver, Oklahoma – “Your Answer”

• Honorable Mention – Margaret O. Malone, Del City, Oklahoma – “Haunted”

• Honorable Mention – Carol Dee Meeks, Tulsa, Oklahoma – “Glamorous as Camelot”

• Honorable Mention – Carol Dee Meeks, Tulsa, Oklahoma  – “Grace is Beauty’s Greatest Charm”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas – “Adding it all up”

• Honorable Mention – Anna Oberg, Estes Park, Colorado – “Idaho”

• Honorable Mention – Anna Oberg, Estes Park, Colorado – “Requiem for a Tree”

• Honorable Mention – Shelley Anne Richter, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Iron Spirit”

• Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “Moore, Oklahoma, 2013”

• Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “The Cobbler”

• Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “While She Slept”

 

Art Affair 2014 Poetry Winners

• First Place – Von S. Bourland, Happy, Texas – “Jazz is Not Meant for the Tone Deaf”

• Second Place – Anna Oberg, Estes Park, Colorado – “Forest Canyon Overlook”

• Third Place – Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas – “Forces at Work”

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Honorable Mentions – in alphabetical order

• Honorable Mention – Karen Kay Bailey, Blanchard, Oklahoma – “Our Common Voice”

• Honorable Mention – Karen Kay Bailey, Blanchard, Oklahoma – “In Butterfly Time”

• Honorable Mention – Karen Kay Bailey, Blanchard, Oklahoma – “When Daffodils Bloom”

• Honorable Mention – Teresa Burleson, Coolidge, Texas – “The Composer”

• Honorable Mention – C.J. Clark, Hardy, Arkansas – “Ghosts of the Slave Cabins”

• Honorable Mention – Robin Engstrand, Harrah, Oklahoma – “Shelter or Prison?”

• Honorable Mention – Robin Engstrand, Harrah, Oklahoma – “Our Future Is Not Yet Written”

• Honorable Mention – Kendall Hoeft, Pinellas Park, Florida – “Mr. Bass”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine “Katey” Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Get a Grape”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine “Katey” Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Fire”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine “Katey” Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Montana Memory”

• Honorable Mention – Mary Ellen Main, Beaver, Oklahoma – “Inside Your Little World”

• Honorable Mention – Carol Dean Meeks, Tulsa, Oklahoma – “Eventually First May Come Her Way”

• Honorable Mention – Carol Dean Meeks, Tulsa, Oklahoma – “Galaxy Parchements”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas – “Competing with the Best”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas – “Designs and Destinations”

• Honorable Mention – Anna Oberg, Estes Park, Colorado – “Outrunning Lightning”

• Honorable Mention – Michael Edwin Quagliano, Dallas, Texas – “Lament”

• Honorable Mention – Christopher A. Scheffler, Farmington, Maine – “Summer’s Goodbye”

 

Art Affair 2013 Poetry Winners

• First Place – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “Victory Dance, 1945”

• Second Place – Alice Collinsworth, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Dragging Main Street: 1972”

• Third Place – Alice Collinsworth, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Cicadas”

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Honorable Mentions – in alphabetical order

• Honorable Mention – Karen Kay Bailey, Blanchard, Oklahoma – “Garden of the Evening Light”

• Honorable Mention – Von S. Bourland, Happy, Texas – “Bathsheba and David”

• Honorable Mention – Gerald W. Carter, Muskogee, Oklahoma – “Apply Within”

• Honorable Mention – Alice Collinsworth, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Homestead”

• Honorable Mention – Alice Collinsworth, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Waiting for News at the Hospital”

• Honorable Mention – Alice Collinsworth, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “To the Next Renter”

• Honorable Mention – Barbara Hernandez, Bethany, Oklahoma – “Roll Over Lord Byron”

• Honorable Mention – Barbara Hernandez, Bethany, Oklahoma – “Ties That Bind”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine "Katey" Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Montana Memory”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine "Katey" Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Fire”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine "Katey" Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Loaned Twenty-twos”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas – “Pagan Kite Flying”

• Honorable Mention – Robert Murken, Suffern, New York – “Aunt Peggy's Wedding”

• Honorable Mention – Robert Murken, Suffern, New York – “The Unexamined Life Remembered”

• Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “Blast from the Past”

• Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “While She Slept”

• Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “May's Café”

 

Art Affair 2012 Poetry Winners

• First Place – SeanLause, Bluffton, Ohio – “My Uncle’s Quilt”

• Second Place – Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas – “Dropped on the Doorstep”

• Third Place – Adrian S. Potter, Minnetonka, Minnesota – “Bad Luck Sings the Blues”

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Honorable Mentions listed in alphabetic order

• Honorable Mention – Von S. Bourland, Happy, Texas – “Gossamer Webs on Gravestones”

• Honorable Mention – Rose Braun, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Silent Viper”

• Honorable Mention – Bill Cushing, Glendale, California – “To a Mother, On the 2,025th Birthday of her Son”

• Honorable Mention – David Dillon, West Glover, Vermont – “Double Coupons”

• Honorable Mention – David Dillon, West Glover, Vermont – “Autumn at Apple Inn”

• Honorable Mention – LaMar Giles, Linden, New Jersey – “Soup Kitchen”

• Honorable Mention – Michelle Hartman, Keller, Texas – “Poetry Is How We Clean It Up”

• Honorable Mention – Aaron E. Holst, Sheridan, Wyoming – “Dad”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine “Katey” Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “The Call”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine “Katey” Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Your First Christmas”

• Honorable Mention – Sean Lause, Bluffton, Ohio – “Fired from McDonald’s”

• Honorable Mention – Sean Lause, Bluffton, Ohio – “Heaven of Fireflies”

• Honorable Mention – Sean Lause, Bluffton, Ohio – “How the Snail Deals with Painful Memories”

• Honorable Mention – Sean Lause, Bluffton, Ohio – “Find the Object”

• Honorable Mention – Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – “Time . . . and Time Again”

• Honorable Mention – Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – “Clean-Up in Rwanda”

• Honorable Mention – Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – “Abandoned Garden”

• Honorable Mention – Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – “Other Americas (in a Haibun)”

• Honorable Mention – Diane Maciejewski, Elmwood Park, Illinois – “Rogue River Wind”

• Honorable Mention – Carol D. Meeks, Tulsa, Oklahoma – “Away, Lead Me Away”

• Honorable Mention – Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas – “Careening Metaphysics”

• Honorable Mention – Patricia A. Oplinger, Cherokee Village, Arkansas – “Poet’s Tense”

• Honorable Mention – Patricia A. Oplinger, Cherokee Village, Arkansas – “Independent Living”

• Honorable Mention – Michael Karl (Ritchie), Russellville, Arkansas – “The Exploding Inevitable”

• Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “Daybreak Departure”

• Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “Blast from the Past”

• Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “Victory Dance, 1945”

• Honorable Mention – Nick Sweet, Shepherd, Texas – “My Father’s Woodpile”

 

Art Affair 2011 Poetry Winners

• First Place – Betsy Humphreys, Granite Falls, North Carolina – “Learning Japanese at Nikka Yuko Garden”

• Second Place – Stephen L. Jones, McGehee, Arkansas – “Echo of a Rhapsody”

• Third Place – Von S. Bourland, Happy, Texas – “Yellow Roses Tipped Red”

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Honorable Mention

• First Honorable Mention – Kelly W. Johnston, Wichita, Kansas – “Night Lights”

• Second Honorable Mention – David Dillon, Killington, Vermont – “Pall Malls”

• Third Honorable Mention – Sharon J. Montgomery, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “The Unexpected Lesson”

• Fourth Honorable Mention – Sheri Pattillo, Kerrville, Texas – “What a Teenager Never Utters”

• Fifth Honorable Mention – Stephen L. Jones, McGehee, Arkansas – “Having Not Surrendered a Single Breath”

• Sixth Honorable Mention – Von S. Bourland, Happy, Texas – “Retiring in Style”

• Seventh Honorable Mention – Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas – “An Average Attempt”

 

Art Affair 2010 Poetry Winners

• First Place – Sally Clark, Fredericksburg, Texas – “Love Does the Hard Things”

• Second Place – Moriah Erickson, Duluth, Minnesota – “Leaving”

• Third Place – Colleen Cleary, Pleasant Hill, California – “Rocking Chair Santa

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Honorable Mentions listed in alphabetic order

• Honorable Mention – Doris Andrews, Durant, Oklahoma – “That Black Sunday”

• Honorable Mention – Jim Barton, Huttig, Arkansas – “Growing Old”

• Honorable Mention – Von S. Bourland, Happy, Texas – “The Rain Gauge”

• Honorable Mention – Colleen Cleary, Pleasant Hill, California – “Outsider to a Dream”

• Honorable Mention – Lilah Contine, Saint Charles, Missouri – “London Burning”

• Honorable Mention – Judith Durbin, Midwest City, Oklahoma – “Robert”

• Honorable Mention – Judith Durbin, Midwest City, Oklahoma – “summer and twilight”

• Honorable Mention – Elizabeth Elfring, Yacolt, Washington – “The Opera”

• Honorable Mention – Betsy Humphreys, Granite Falls, North Carolina – “In Dominican Waters”

• Honorable Mention – Betsy Humphreys, Granite Falls, North Carolina – “Learning Japanese at Nikka YukoGarden”

• Honorable Mention – Dolores White Kiser, Durant, Oklahoma – “Rejection”

• Honorable Mention – Dolores White Kiser, Durant, Oklahoma – “Passages”

• Honorable Mention – Dolores White Kiser, Durant, Oklahoma – “Nature’s Elegy”

• Honorable Mention – Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – “Mendocino Morning”

• Honorable Mention – Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – “An American Haibun”

• Honorable Mention – Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – “The Green God’s Guerrillas”

• Honorable Mention – Carol Dee Meeks, Tulsa, Oklahoma – “Crushed Rock”

• Honorable Mention – Carol Dee Meeks, Tulsa, Oklahoma – “Holy Intervention Yields Much”

• Honorable Mention – Tamara Mikell-Choudhury, Tucson, Arizona – “Dear Grandmother”

• Honorable Mention – Yvonne Nunn, Hermleigh, Texas – “She Inherited the Damn Thing”

• Honorable Mention – Allen Russell, Hartford, Kentucky – “An Old Soldier’s Prayer”

• Honorable Mention – Allen Russell, Hartford, Kentucky – “The Last Lonesome Ride”

• Honorable Mention – Rick Sears, Mason City, Iowa – “6 Items Only/Oops, I Have 7 Items”

• Honorable Mention – Rick Sears, Mason City, Iowa – “Village Concert”

• Honorable Mention – Jennifer Taylor, Eau Claire, Wisconsin – “The Echoes I Leave Behind”

• Honorable Mention – A. D. Winans, San Francisco, California – “Trying to Let Go”

• Honorable Mention – Francine Witte, New York, New York – “My First Mother”

• Citation Award – Elizabeth Elfring, Yacolt, Washington – “Rock Garden”

• Citation Award – Diane Mauck, Calera, Oklahoma – “Boughing Out”

 

Art Affair 2009 Poetry Winners

• First Place – Patty Landi-Zippilli, Pitman, New Jersey – “The Rehearsal”

• Second Place – Maria Rachel Hooley, Lawton, Oklahoma – “Refraction”

• Third Place – David Dillon, Killington, Vermont – “At the Bluff”

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Honorable Mentions – in alphabetical order

• Del Cain, Saginaw, Texas – “Place”

• Yvonne Carpenter, Clinton, Oklahoma – “State Fair Midway, 1960”

• Sally Clark, Fredericksburg, Texas – “My Grandmother's House”

• David Dillon, Killington, Vermont – “Shadows”

• David Dillon, Killington, Vermont – “Beaver”

• Vicki E. Harris, Barnardsville, North Carolina – “Mind Betrayal”

• Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas – “A Few Words About Babel”

• Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas – “To Remember the Crossing”

• Carol D. Meeks, Tulsa, Oklahoma – “And Then Life Will Get Better”

• Carol D. Meeks, Tulsa, Oklahoma – “Together We Travel the Same Path”

• Yvonne Nunn, Hermleigh, Texas – “Winter Passes the Torch”

• Alyssa Anne Radda, Grants Pass, Oregon – “Seasperation”

• Harriet Slaughter, Long Beach, New York – "The Ballad of Cynthia Parker"

• Linda Thompson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “The Three-Year-Old Con Artist”

• Linda Thompson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “The Reunion”

 

Art Affair 2008 Poetry Winners

• First Place – Marcia Molay, Wenham, Massachusetts – “The Farm” 

• Second Place – Carol Matos, New York, New York – “Dirty”

• Third Place – Maria Rachel Hooley, Lawton, Oklahoma – “All the Beauty You Can Hold”

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Honorable Mentions – in alphabetical order

• Jim Barton, Huttig, Arkansas – “The Last of the Summer Apples”

• James Beard, Follett, Texas – “Transcriptions”

• James Beard, Follett, Texas – “Scandalous”

• James Beard, Follett, Texas – “Afterwords”

• Ken Hada, Ada, Oklahoma – “Hospice”

• Ashleigh Hill, Fairfax, Virginia – “A Good Bad Mistake”

• Maria Rachel Hooley, Lawton, Oklahoma – “Stitching Remnants”

• Catherine “Katey” Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Marion Man”

• Catherine “Katey” Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Fran and My Brother’s Passing”

• Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – “The Wild West”

• Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – “The History of Color”

• Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – “Crazy”

• Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – "Evolution"

• Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – “History Talks in a Boneyard”

• Ellaraine Lockie, Sunnyvale, California – “Coming Home in a Haibun”

• Eileen Malone, Broadmoor Village, California – “This Gold is Horseflesh”

• Carol Matos, New York, New York – “Lenox Hill”

• Carol Matos, New York, New York – “Everything is the same”

• Marti McClure, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “The Beginning of War”

• Marcia Molay, Wenham, Massachusetts – “Trophies”

• Marcia Molay, Wenham, Massachusetts – “The Stone Speaks to Sisyphus”

• Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas – “Touching the smells”

• Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas – “Flat Lux”

• Patricia A. Oplinger, Cherokee Village, Arkansas – “Thieves”

• Kathryn Veres, Woodland Park, Colorado – “Spoons”     

 

Art Affair 2007 Poetry Winners

• First Place – Pat King, Albia, Iowa - “Two Cedar Trees Canting Apart”  

• Second Place – Pat King, Albia, Iowa - “Reading With Surgical Gloves On”  

• Third Place – Maria Rachel Hooley, Lawton, Oklahoma - “Turning Away From Copernicus”

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Honorable Mention 

• 1st Honorable Mention – Catherine “Katey” Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - "Your First Christmas" 

• 2nd Honorable Mention – Catherine “Katey” Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - "Moments After Murrah"  

• 3rd Honorable Mention – Missy Madden, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - "The Old Mahogany Sleigh Bed" 

• 4th Honorable Mention – Catherine Moran, Little Rock, Arkansas - "What to Watch For" 

• 5th Honorable Mention – Inez Phillips, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - "Revenge of the Leaves"

• 6th Honorable Mention – Catherine “Katey” Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - "How My Neighbor's Garden Grows"

 

Art Affair 2006 Poetry Winners

• First Place - Catherine Katey Johnson, Oklahoma City, OK - "Montana Memory" 

• Second Place - Sharon Burris, Ardmore, OK - "The Gypsy Calls" 

• Third Place - Lindsey Allgood, Norman, OK - "waterbaby"

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Honorable Mention 

• Honorable Mention - Maureen Cannon, Ridgewood, NJ - "To Market! What Market?" 

• Honorable Mention - Maria Rachel Hooley, Lawton, OK - "Uninvited" 

• Honorable Mention - Maria Rachel Hooley, Lawton, OK - "Emancipation" 

• Honorable Mention - Catherine Katey Johnson, Oklahoma City, OK - "Lifting the Lid" 

• Honorable Mention - Lori Romero, Santa Fe, NM - "Tornado Tarantella in Stranger, Texas" 

• Honorable Mention - Clarence P. Socwell, Ogden, UT - "A Time Between" 

Our 2006 poetry judge said at least half of the entries are ready to send out for publication.

 

Art Affair 2004 Poetry Winners

• First Place - Maria Rachel Hooley, Lawton, OK - "Bone House" 

• Second Place - Jerry Craven, Canyon, TX - "The Lady of Mercians" 

• Third Place - Jerry Craven, Canyon, TX - "A Tiger of Vietnam"

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Honorable Mention 

• First Honorable Mention - Jerry Craven, Canyon, TX - "The Boys of Ho Chi Min" 

• Second Honorable Mention - Sharon E. Streeter, Portland, OR - "Dancing with Elizabeth" 

• Third Honorable Mention - Jerry Craven, Canyon, TX - "Wild Canaries" 

• Fourth Honorable Mention - Jerry Craven, Canyon, TX - "Field of Iris"

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Additional Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):

• Jerry Craven, Canyon, TX - "Moving Wall" 

• Jerry Craven, Canyon, TX - "Fire Red and Winter White" 

• Jerry Craven, Canyon, TX - "Narcissus Old" 

• Jerry Craven, Canyon, TX - "That Yucatan Rock" 

• Jerry Craven, Canyon, TX - "Painted Ground" 

• Judith Durbin, Midwest City, OK - "Her Father's Story" 

• Patricia Wellingham-Jones, Tehama, CA - "Home Visit" 

• Patricia Wellingham-Jones, Tehama, CA - "Trophy Wife"

 

Art Affair 2003 Poetry Winners

• First Place - Maria Veres Homic, Edmond, OK - "February"

• Second Place - Sharon E. Streeter, Portland, OR - "Edgar Meyer's Bass"

• Third Place - Joe Jared, Yukon, OK - "Dove's Melody"

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Honorable Mention

• First Honorable Mention - Scott Heiserman, Yukon, OK - "Fences"

• Second Honorable Mention - Scott Heiserman, Yukon, OK - "Pity the Weatherman"

• Third Honorable Mention - Lanny Joe Burnett, Bonham, TX - "The Lesson"

• Fourth Honorable Mention - J. C. Mahan, Edmond, OK - "Case of Runaway"