First Place - Blackberry Bramble by Marie Burdett

Evenings, the farmer will trail the orange path of sunset
a bucket at his hip
his weathered hand outstretched to pick the berries
and his hands are like the blackberry brambles
with their scratches and scars and leathered calluses
giving but taking, yielding forsaking
their gentleness feels bitter as thorn
but is it not love to aid the kid being born
to shake out the corn for the geese to be fed
to call the ducks home at dusk to their beds
and still it is love that sharpens the knife
to weepingly, gratefully take away life
and graciously, tenderly give life back again
in the black of manure in the pigs dusty pen
to love like this is no flippant gamble
it is to walk carefully and wisely in blackberry bramble

About the Author

Marie Burdett is an environmental studies student at the University of Central Florida. She has had a passion for writing poetry since a young age and won the 2019 Arts for Life Award in Creative Writing. When not writing poetry, she can be found vegetable gardening, foraging for wild foods in the woods, or reading form her endless pile of books.