The third Moon Prize* goes to melanie j zipin's moving poem "but love"—backdating to the full moon of November 14, 2016. Congratulations on a mesmerizing poem, melanie j zipin.

but love (is memory)

by melanie j zipin

sometimes sadness washes over you

and you just stand in the rain and get soaked

drenched

unmoving

inconsolable

blinded by grief masked in tears –

you don’t care

there’s nothing you want to see

nowhere you want to go

buckled – gutted by waves of pure sorrow

drowning

gulping in air

maybe that’s where you need to be

time is suspended

everything goes still

silent utters

forever changed

when the sun comes out, it’s unwelcome

and yet…

a baby cries – or laughs

and we respond

we must

we are still here

we are alive

we refocus

we engage

reluctantly

inevitably

continuing

until it’s our turn to let go

this is what we’re made of -

this is what we’re left with - -

this is what we leave - - -

- stardust

- - broken hearts

- - - storm clouds

and whatever’s next

even memories can fade

but we know how they made us feel

what we are connected with

what can we take with us?

what do we leave behind?

nothing that will last.

nothing that is permanent

nothing at all

but love

* * * * *

* The Moon Prize ($91) is awarded once a month on the full moon for a story or poem posted in Writing In A Woman's Voice during the moon cycle period preceding the full moon. I don't really want this to be competition. I simply want to share your voices. And then I want to pick one voice during a moon cycle for the prize. I fund this with 10% of my personal modest income. I wish I could pay for each and every poem or story, but I am not that rich. (Yet?) For a little while only there will be two awards each month, on the day of the full moon and the day after, until I catch up with past postings.

Why 91? 91 is a mystical number for me. It is 7 times 13. 13 is my favorite number. (7 isn't half bad either.) There are 13 moons in a year. I call 13 my feminist number, reasoning that anything that was declared unlucky in a patriarchal world has to be mysteriously excellent. Then there are 4 times 91 days in a year (plus one day or two days in leap years), so approximately 91 days each season. In some Mayan temples there are or were 91 steps on each of four sides. Anyway, that's where the number 91 comes from, not to mention that it's in the approximate neighborhood of 100.