Well...I guess silence WAS listening! After multiple reads of each poem it was truly difficult to decide a separation because the interpretations were all so unique, except the first 3 eeked out something more special to me. The Sound of Silence (After the storm) was an especially powerful write, and given the hurricanes and tornados that have touched many of us - it hits home and has, as the author alluded bitten hard. 2nd place, Silence Speaks, is so clever and true! The author must be a teacher and we all can place ourselves in that classroom where we had our own secret communication! 3rd place, Blood in the Quiet (if I'm reading it correctly) is about abuse and this certainly is a poignant reminder of its evil and shame! I truly couldn't separate the rest of the winners, because they're all exceptional in their own way. Thank you to everyone who wrote to the contest, I don't think I've ever seen so many quality writes before for one prompt!