Kilmer 2009: First Runner-Up

Ballad of the Frozen Heart
by Laura Baur-Jaronowski, CC'06

Alone.
Alone.
Alone.
Listening to the Sound of Silence,
I am an Island,
But not a Rock.
No, nothing so Immutable and Hard and Enduring.
I am Paper,
which your Scissors have Rent in Twain!!!

Or no, I think a Sponge works better...
Yeah, cuz it like absorbs all that touches it-
I imbibith the filthy water, the filthy Water of Pain, like a Sponge.
(See, it’s a better metaphor, especially for what I’m gonna do later.)

And I am Cold in this endless Winter-
I have watched the Sun rise and set
From my window
In Your window
The orange scintillating Sheen
The sheen
Sheem
Sheets
The orange sheeming sheets

ah!
SHE.
you.

You warmed me through the cloudy Winter
And I imbibed your rays of sunshine
Like a sponge.
And now that you are gone, the waters are cloudy
Like Winter
But not my mind.
My mind is clear
Like Crystal,
But not Crystals of Ice
Fore it is something far more dear to me
That is now frozen in the Ice.

I followed you that day
Through that dark deserted place
where only lost and tortured souls
dare to show their face.
And How was I to know,
How?
That you would die- DIE
from naught but, naught but
A piercing gone Awry.
And not even a piercing of the Heart
By my Heart
Or, my ART,
but only your Navel with a mundane ring.
(It got infected – with AIDS - ok, maybe not AIDS, but still)

I would have cried an ocean
If I could drink that much
Water, that is. (I don’t drink alcohol)
Filthy Water of PAIN!
For I am a Sponge
And all fluids flow to me.
And out of me (if I’m squeezed hard enough).
And as that fluid pain squeezed out-
I cried out,
‘It doesn’t have to End!’
It never has to End!
For all waters return
To where they beganned
And
I made use of another liquid
Lighter than water
Stronger than rain
In my backyard
To see you again
I bathed your body
In Liquid Nitrogen.

And So my lovely,
Winter can be nice
My Heart is still with you
Locked in the Ice.

Audio


Winner
Second Runner-Up
Dishonorable Mention
Dishonorable Mention
Dishonorable Mention
Dishonorable Mention
Dishonorable Mention