Poetry with Purpose Contest
July 25, 2026
Winning Entry. Congratulations Susan Roney O’Brien!
Crotched Mountain Air
by Susan F. Roney-O’Brien
When I couldn’t hear the hermit thrush, you danced its song– arabesques,
plies, glissades– and the breeze brought scents of brocade and star mosses
from the forest floor to dance upon.
When I couldn’t see, we linked arms, walked. We stroked ridged bark–
root to first branch– plucked and crushed a leaf, inhaled green, listened.
Wind strummed twigs like strings.
When memory abandoned me, your words seeded the spring meadow
with clover and we waltzed to remembered harmonies embedded
in the marrow of our bones.
When I couldn’t stand without braces, you took my hand and led me
to the garden where the clematis vine, purple with velvet suns,
embraced the lattice, climbed, shining.
When I think of you, grateful for your care, the forest pathway opens
to the mountain and I am the earth in April, coming into my own–
blossoming, blossoming.