The Lilacs

William Carlos Williams Poetry Competition Winner

When she asked the color of the blooms,
I looked into her rheumy eyes
Paused just a moment, and replied:

They look the way fog feels on skin,
Cashmere cool and combed cotton.
The color of thunder, but not the crash—
Just the gentle rumble, far away enough
That you wonder if you ever heard it

Before you roll over and return to sleep.
When you finally wake up, moving oh-so-slowly
Through the early summer morning
That belies the coming heat
—it’s there, too.

And she smiled just a bit, so I continued:
It’s Thursday, when flushed excitement
Tinges the gray monotony
It would be thirty-nine with a dash of ten
If mathematics were botany

It’s hidden in how
The word forsythia sounds
But mostly, it hums like violins
Or murmured voices in bed on a rainy fall day.
It’s the color of nostalgia, the exact same way
That memories can be sweet

And just a little sad, too.
And yes, I would have to say it is smooth,
The hidden face of a seashell washed onto a beach.
Not quite cardamom or vanilla,
Certainly a little of each.

stopped when she cried—
Her tears were several shades too blue.
She quickly told me not to stop,
And said she just never knew
How beautiful the garden was

So late in the year.

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1st Place Winner:

Ileana Horattas completed her undergraduate degree in natural sciences at the University of Akron before continuing her studies at the Northeast Ohio Medical University. Though she published her first poem at age 12 and participated in several writing competitions, she did not pursue writing during her high school or undergraduate years, focusing instead on a science-oriented education. In medical school she rediscovered poetry as an unexpected and much needed outlet for stress and self-expression. No longer of the viewpoint that professional writing and a medical education are mutually exclusive pursuits, she looks forward to expanding and exploring her writing in the upcoming years.