2018 Sonnet Contest Winners From 2016-2018, a Sonnet Contest was held annually and the winning Sonnet would be read from stage during intermission.
The Folly of Dreamers by Jessica Ostertag The night runs swift for those who dream too much-- Who in their fancy place all hope’s desire-- And when the day dispels their spectral crutch, They find themselves in disillusions dire. A dreamer dazed by blinding gaze of love Seen but in these utopias within Meets not those eyes in humbler guise above, In lands of breath and light and death and sin. For what comparison can reason dare Between the love of dreams and that of day, With one ideal and sweet and ever fair, The other, raw, mundane, inclined to sway? Thus those who choose to live in love’s illusion Love but themselves, and die in Love’s exclusion.
Second Place: Pull, gentle current by Karin Murray-Bergquist Third Place: A Meditation on Nature by Jessica Ostertag