When I post a contest, I think of a title to ponder and never (rarely) have an idea in mind of how I might write to it. This contest was no different, and after a couple weeks I regretted posting it because I was coming up empty other than snow and coal in my stocking, but then, I finally came up with one which, in the end, thanks to some inspirational writing by others, wouldn't have finished in the top half of my own contest but... What great writing by many of you. I'd like to give a special shout-out to the winner, the stand out winner. If it were the first lines of a book, it would be remembered like Gibson's "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel", but this, "In the visiting room evening's ebony is shellacking everything." The poem OWNS this theme in nearly every line with no wasted words, just hard hitting creativity that you're sorry to see doesn't continue into a novel! The concise complexity of 2nd place leaves one feeling they've read much more because it does what poetry should do, create thoughts to ponder. 3rd place is a heartrending poignant and powerful reminder of neglected souls. I love all these because poetry should create questions within us and not black and whites, not stark answers but all the "in-betweens". The writes that simply played with the colors didn't hit enough on the creative edge I was looking for and some would have ranked higher if they had backed off some superfluous wording or over embellishments but, that said, I still praise the hard creative work of their composition - BRAVO!