The Chaffin/Kash Prize is our contest for members of the Kentucky State Poetry Society (KSPS). This year’s contest generated more submissions than anytime in the last 5 years. We at Pegasus and KSPS want to thank this year’s judge Melissa Helton for the difficult work of selecting from this batch of excellent poetry.
Melissa Helton, literary arts director at Hindman Settlement School, has belonged to the Hindman writing community since 2015. Her work has been published in Shenandoah, Still: The Journal, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Appalachian Review, the Norwegian Writers’ Climate Campaign, and more. Her chapbooks include Inertia: A Study and Hewn. She was previously a tenured associate professor of English at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, and is the editor of the recently released anthology Troublesome Rising: A Thousand-Year Flood in Eastern Kentucky published by University Press of Kentucky.
1st Place: Kevin Nance “Cat’s Cradle”
Cat’s Cradle
The packhouse bulging in early September,
my mother took over, checking our work
as we stripped the tobacco leaves off the sticks
they’d been lashed to & cured on,
each length of twine unstrung by hand
like pulling out stitches, each leaf laid
inside a big cardboard mold like her springform
cake pan, the bundles rising on burlap sheets
& tied at the top like a hobo’s sack.
On breaks over Sun Drop or Nehi Grape,
Mama used loops of castoff twine
to teach us the old cat’s cradle tricks:
Crow’s Feet, Cut Your Head Off, Fish in a Dish
& my favorite, Jacob’s Ladder—twelve
quick motions, ring-finger-middle-finger-thumb,
a flourish at the end & there: heaven’s
rickety staircase, my hands on the banister,
at the top of it my inheritance.
Kevin Nance is a poet, photographer and arts journalist in Lexington, Kentucky. His two collections of photographs and haiku are EVEN IF (University of Kentucky Arts in HealthCare, 2020) and MIDNIGHT (Act of Power Press, 2022). His collection of photographs, GENEVA’S GARDEN: FOUR SEASONS OF BEAUTY IN LEXINGTON’S GRATZ PARK, appeared in 2024. His poetry collection SMOKE is forthcoming from Accents Publishing next year.
2nd Place: Roberta Schultz “Cedar Triptych”
Cedar Triptych
We stand shoulder to shoulder above the whine of sirens
along the highway hills, like empaneled judges we watch the traffic river
green witness to rush— we hold silent court as judgment passes slowly
our roots tuck sideways edge the Bradford Pears here on this steep bluff
between loose rocks (who never wait their turn) where we set our bond
Roberta Schultz, author of Asking Price and Underscore, is a maker of songs, poems and drum circles. She writes some of her songs on a mountain in North Carolina, and is co-founder of the Poet & Song Series with her trio, Raison D’Etre. You can find out more at RobertaSchultz.com.
3rd Place: “A Douse of Purple” by Sylvia Ahrens (writing as: Allison Thorpe)
A Douse of Purple
A Douse of Purple
“I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.”
Emily Dickinson
Get out the lanterns! I have lost myself again.
Surrounded by war, mad men, hate, the icicles
that hang from my eaves and imprison me,
I am greedy for spring.
I have stuffed a dismal winter with music and books,
but my brain itches the world and all its follies,
refusing the soothe of Mozart or romance.
Meditation has offered me my navel.
My 10,000 steps, a room to room wandering.
The jigsaw corpse lies forgotten on the kitchen table.
Cabin fever dreams wallow from coffee pot to pillow,
life beyond these walls, but dangers dwell outside:
slick concrete tempts a broken hip,
arctic air a frostbit feasting.
Today, I undress the curtains early, expecting the white
and grey monotony of snow, ice, somber clouds,
but my eyes scurry toward the unexpected,
the seduction of color—purple crocus defying snow.
The flowers and I peek out at the world,
our hearts opening to gather whatever light we can.
Sylvia Ahrens is the author of several collections of poetry and The Family Tree Cozy Mystery series. She adores lilacs, would love to travel the world playing poker, and writes under the name Allison Thorpe.
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