A message from: Mike Drabble

Thanks to everyone that entered this contest: it was a pleasure to read your work. There were some strong pieces submitted, but a decision had to be made and I went for 'Hot Fun Shark Attack'. This is a poem that captures the blank-eyed menace of the shark, but in an unexpected yet jarringly familiar setting. It shows that the shark has survived for hundreds of millions of years because its predatory efficiency can be adapted to places other than the oceans; places where, just like at some sunny shoreline, apparently innocent play can mask a more ruthless undercurrent. The writer reveals this undercurrent to be as dangerous as any we may encounter, and leaves us alert for the next time we may venture into a place - or relationship - that sees us out of our depth.

A regular writing & poetry contest: SHARKS

Posted here are the submissions of the poets who participated in the first regular writing & poetry contest, August 2009. The topic was simply "SHARKS." Each contestant pitched in $5 in a winner take all short poetry free-for-all.

Ruth Yeselson's "Hot Fun Shark Attack" was declared the winner, with Dan Larkins & Anthony Lioi receiving Honorable Mentions. Mike Drabble of Unquiet Desperation judged the entries.

Feel free to leave comments for the writers.

WINNER, August 2009: Hot Fun Shark Attack - Ruth Yeselson

I search GOOGLE for “shark facts”
and find: Shark Attack Hot Fun Girls Video:
Join Amy, your hot teacher in swimsuit and floaties
for Fun Facts About Different Types of Sharks.
I fear to click on it, imagining pornographic shark SPAM
circulating tirelessly in my electronic ocean, but
I cannot help but imagine the different types of sharks
nosing among the hot fun girls
as they giggle and splash for the video camera:
the Hammerhead butting against the buttock cheeks
and the Great White gliding amidst the swimsuited crotches,
as hot fun artificial boobs bounce beside fins and floaties.

Amy, this is not the poem I had planned to write,
but I feel a motherly urge to advise you:
Do not believe what the sharks tell you.
There are no fun facts about sharks:
they do not have 8-inch dicks that are always hard;
their wallets do not re-grow $100 bills each time they spend one;
life with a shark is not more fun because it’s dangerous.
Sharks existed before dinosaurs. They have territories,
but no loyalties. They perceive an injury
as a weakness, and will rip you up
when you are down. So, Amy, if you see a shark
swimming your way, flexing his athletic physique,
trailing the blood of his friends or rivals,
flashing some bling and a BIG smile,
do not wait around for the hot fun shark attack,
but swim the other way immediately,
and do not look back.

HONORABLE MENTION: Guantánamo Bay - Dan Larkins

My husband:
Born in captivity
Released and caught in the wild, now
The fish fat you scrape into your scalp
The fin on your plate in Sapporo.

Our child:
Parthenogenesis then Royal Caribbean
Broke off his front teeth
But he grew them back.

Myself:
Just a hammerhead who
Sometimes at night stares
Breathless at the moon’s lights
Above spears and sirens and screaming.

HONORABLE MENTION: The Shark at Fox Point - Anthony Lioi

The window is empty.
The window of George and Irene’s Aqualife fish shop is empty.
The window at Aqualife is empty.
The window in Providence is empty.

Once the tank had perfect water.
The 200 gallon tank had perfect water
and a dogfish shark, family Squalidae.
The dogfish swam in perfect water in Providence.

The dogfish was the delight of pedestrians.
The shark swam in the mighty Aqualife ocean tank,
a sign that Rhode Island fishkeeping reigned supreme!
The shark was a wonder of Providence.

Then, like Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson, the dogfish died.
The tank drained under mysterious circumstances.
Like Robert Kennedy and Gandhi, the shark was dead.
The shark was dead only minutes from the sea.

The mighty tank lies empty.
George and Irene are at work at the window because
like Elvis, Jesus, and the Pawtucket Red Sox
that shark is coming back!

That shark will be a wonder of Providence!

The Shark in a Well - Philippe Javier Garcesto

In a restless concoction I once encountered
The Shark in a Well with whom I Battled
Terrorist of All Blue stuck in pipe
That could barely fit his Monstrous hide
Trapped in the confines of this Steel room
My only escape was through the Well
Where certainly awaited my Doom

With only a Strip of plexi-glass to cover the opening
I pressed my weight on top to brace against the Titan
His determination to barge into the room was Shocking
The pearly Knives that graced his Smile;
This beast of the sea sought to Chew upon My Head!

With no weapons on hand just my mind to withstand
The Fear of this demon Awash all over me
Pressure against the glass; my Will close to Collapse
The end was near I was losing my strength
Time crawled towards the inevitable conclusion

I stared into his black Soulless eyes
The Hunger was his only Allegiance
He broke through the surface as I was thrown back
He smiled to me a shivering quivering Edible mess and said
“STRUGGLE or SURRENDER”

Other Fish - Mark NP

white legs dangle down wriggling toes, flashing thighs reflect across the room

that skirt is so short; so are your legs and you can’t touch the floor bottom

you stir the smoky blueness as you bounce one foot and splash looks to make waves

see my jagged tooth grin and the oily fins circling, do you smell blood?

there’s no frenzy - just a cool ripple that cuts the water all power and stealth

a wet rush swimming in drinks and you think something looms beneath

but I glide by without incident; your eyes follow the smooth length of my body

no attack, you’ll wake in tact left to wonder just who got rubbed the wrong way

Little Fish - Caroline Frank

Will you cry when I die?
Or instead, will you sigh,
a breath of relief,
around my demise?

Never did nothin' but try to survive,
can't help how scary God made my eyes.
Can't help how violent my meals may have looked,
but if it makes you feel better, I left lunch with a hook.

A hook in my stomach to tear my insides to shreds,
but what do you care?
You'll be safe when I'm dead.

I doubt that you understand any of this,
when you're just like the others...
just a scared little fish.