I am so pleased to announce that the winner of Lit Shark Magazine’s May-June Poem of the Month contest is none other than GTimothy Gordon, who writes strikingly imagistic and intelligent poetry.

His winning poem, “Meadowlark, Walt, Me,” predictably contains illusions to Walt Whitman (and when you read more of GTimothy’s work, that’s fitting!), but my favorite aspect of this poem was how the entire thing dangled on the image of the meadowlark, at first waiting and then breaking into song before the end, and it’s a beautiful journey of a poem. The connection between the persona and the meadowlark, as well as Walt, rings true, as well, as we imagine what someone else might do, and why, and how it might sound if we were to do it ourselves – a lovely call to the human-nature relationship. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

For each contest, the winner will receive a unique digital broadside of their winning poem, and the one I created can be found below. Though the poem is about more than the meadowlark, I loved how the poem and its most complex moments hinged on the existence of that meadowlark waiting to sing. With the coming day, the rising sun, and the shock of the meadowlark’s song against the quiet, I loved the fusion of the different shades of yellow and blue. I hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I enjoyed creating it.