Caroline Wellman
Some nights my parents would put on
their bright sweatshirts and big mittens,
leave us with grandparents and walk down,
skates in hand, after the field froze solid.
And come home laughing, full of stories
of who shared peppermint schnapps,
of who lined up and leaped over barrels.
The blades rusted away in the basement,
the leather so worn it tore like paper.
No one floods the park anymore.
Yet I still dream them here, tracing
the shape of infinity together,
moving close, surefooted and strong
in this place they knew so well,
the wide wild spray of stars overhead
mere chaff they cast off at each turn.
Caroline Wellman
Caroline Wellman, winner of the Anthology Poetry Competition 2022, grew up in the United States, a mile from the Mississippi River.
She holds degrees in writing and American literature from the University of Arkansas. She has taught writing and American literature at colleges in the Midwest and the South. Recently she taught an introduction to journalism class to local middle school students.
Her poetry collection Presences was published by Parallel Press in 2014. Her recent poems have appeared in Bangor Literary Journal, FourByFour, The Green Light Literary Journal, The Hopper, Tiny Seed Journal and Whale Road Review. She currently works for the US Postal Service in Illinois.
Highly Commended
(in alphabetical order by last name):
Patricia Cantwell (Ireland) – The Box; Maria Wallace (Ireland) – I Dreamt I Climbed Lesbos; Glen Wilson (United Kingdom) – I Dream of Dnipro
Shortlisted
(in alphabetical order by last name):
Michelle Bosonnett (Ireland) – I Dream of Moore Street; Rebecca Brunton Weldon (Ireland) – The Almost, the Everything, the Nothing; Mary Alice Dixon (USA) – Night Owl Dreams Woman; Charlotte Dormandy (United Kingdom) – It Fretted You, that Early Morning Cry; Carline Edwards (United Kingdom) – Island Dreams; Noelle Gallagher (USA) – When Night Descends; Christina Hennemann (Ireland) – Seven Cups; Jeffa Kay (United Kingdom) – Paradise Failed; Johnny Kitterick (Ireland) – Boston Shore; Mimi Kunz (Belgium) – The Mind in the Body; Terry Loo (Australia) – Dreams; Carmina Masoliver (United Kingdom) – Dali; Julie O’Brien (Ireland) – Dreams of a Single Mother; Zoe Robertson (Canada) – Big Dreams; Nollaig Rowan (Ireland) – In the Dark we Dream in Haiku; Lizzie Smith (Scotland) – Mermaid Dreams
Congratulations to our winner and highly commended entrants, and thank you to all who participated in the competition to help make it a success. Thank you also to our panel of judges, led by Dr Rachel Hegarty, who carefully assessed each entry to select the shortlist, highly commended entries and overall winner.
Entries are now invited for the Anthology Poetry Competition
For further information or to enter the competition click here.
Illustration by Edel Cassidy
- Winter Dreams by Caroline Wellman is published in Anthology Volume 19. Read more features from this volume or buy it now.
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