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1st Place
“Asking For A Friend”
Ryan T. Miller
Have you ever felt you had to smile, to prove that you were there?
Have you ever felt you had to laugh so people wouldn’t stare?
Have you ever tried to reconcile the anger from the pain?
Have you ever fought to find the words in hopes you could explain
Asking for a friend of mine. Asking for relief.
Asking for a steady hand to walk through pain and grief
Asking for another soul who’s got some time to spend
How do you heal a broken heart?
Asking for a friend
Are there times you just can’t recognize how it got so bad?
Are there times it’s hard to count the days of happiness you had?
Are there times you’ve turned to something else to bury all your hurt?
Are there times you have had to dig it up and brush off all the dirt?
Asking for a friend of mine. Asking for relief.
Asking for a steady hand to walk through pain and grief
Asking for another soul who’s got some time to spend
How do you heal a broken heart?
Asking for a friend
Is there something that you need to say to make it seem alright?
Is there something you can drink today to heal you by tonight?
Is there something you can throw away, that you won’t really miss?
Is there someone you can hold onto to with magic in their kiss?
Asking for a friend of mine. Asking for relief.
Asking for a steady hand to walk through pain and grief
Asking for another soul who’s got some time to spend
How do you heal a broken heart?
Asking for a friend
How do you know just when to show your world is crashing down?
The perfect time to be resigned, can’t always play the clown
How can it be so difficult to let another in?
How do you heal a broken heart?
Asking for a friend
I can be a friend to you, if you can be mine too.
Brother you can cry with me and I will cry with you.
Life is hard enough to feel you have to make amends
How do you heal a broken heart?
Asking for a friend
I can be your friend
2nd Place
“Between The Heaven And The Ground”
Michael Ryan
Eight days shy of Christmas
Nineteen and aught three
On the coast of Carolina
My brother and me
We stood atop the sand hills
By the Albemarle Sound
With a mind to sail across the open sky
Between heaven and the ground
We hailed from Ohio
Working men of modest means
Folks said that we were crazy
Fooling with flying machines
They said remember poor old Icarus
How he came crashing down
God would have gave men wings if they belonged
Between heaven and the ground
CHORUS 1
But when I close my eyes at night
The vision is the same
I see a sleek machine take flight
And I hear the clouds whisper my name
Those who doubt our intentions
They will never understand
How it feels to burn with passion
To build a dream with your hands
The wind blew off the water
As on the hill we stood
Next to our winged invention
Made of wire, cloth, and wood
My brother cranked the engine
My heart began to pound
I climbed aboard and set a course
Between heaven and the ground
CHORUS 2
If I lived a thousand lifetimes
I could not forget the day
I rose up into the cool morning air
And I watched the earth fall away
There above the sand hills
By the Albemarle Sound
Two boys from Ohio touched the sky
Between Heaven and the ground
We proved that day the dreams could fly
Between Heaven and the ground
3rd Place
“The River”
Lyn Koonce
Bobby was a barber, some 50 years or more
He came back home to that river town, after fighting in the war
All his navy medals, hung above his chair
Hid the untold stories, he never used to share
A young stranger came into his shop on a Friday afternoon
Found himself unraveling, his life since Camp LeJeune.
All the ways he struggled, for a peace since he’d come home
Bobby nodded in the mirror, said “son you’re not alone.”
Chorus
He said the river keeps running, the current always flows
Just changes her direction, when pushed against the stones
As all questions find their answers, with a little faith and time
The river can teach you, how to heal your troubled mind
Bobby became a friend, like a father to the man
Countless conversations, helped him understand
That no matter what he’d seen or what he had been through
You can make it through the waters, when someone believes in you
Chorus
Bridge
And in that tiny town, people never change
When they laid him in the ground, everybody came
Bobby’s legacy lives on now, in the wisdom the young man shares
While he listens to the stories of the soldiers ….
Chorus
4th Place
Harry D’Agostino
“Patty’s Diner”
There’s a vacant billboard sign
Out by mile forty-nine
That I was sure by now somebody would’ve bought
‘Cause it’s a magnet to the eye
For all the traffic going by
And every time I get a glimpse I get the thought
That I ought to test my luck
Finally sell my sister’s truck
It’s just been sitting in the driveway since she died
The more that life starts wearing thin
The more her dreams start creeping in
And the image just gets brighter in my mind
(It says)
Come to Patty’s Diner
Where the coffee’s fine
But the comp’ny’s finer
With that picture of her grinning
While the oven’s catching fire
I can see it now
There’s a spot I’m looking at
Used to be a laundromat
But it’s all been boarded up since early May
Bill can’t stomach the idea
Says “Holly you’re not thinking clear
And you haven’t been since Patty passed away”
It might be that he’s right
‘Cause I’m sitting up at night
With her talking at our table late last year
When the radio comes on
And there’s an ad between the songs
It don’t take all that long
Until I hear
(Her pitching)
Come to Patty’s Diner
Where the food is fine
But the folks are finer
And she’s laughing while she does it
But she’s serious as hell
I can hear her now
I never did much dreaming on my own
Patty did the scheming for us both
And her eyes would get lit up and fly off like cannonballs
Now everybody’s living like she never lived at all
She was already pretty sick
And the treatment wouldn’t stick
You could tell by then what everybody knew
And I couldn’t understand
How she could keep on making plans
She’d say “Holly what else am I s’posed to do?”
It was hard to overlook
that she was such a lousy cook
She could hardly fry an egg to save her life
But if you harbored any doubts
She knew how to talk ‘em out
And make you certain that it all would sort out right
(and that we’d)
Open Patty’s diner
Where the coffee’s fine
And the company’s finer
The kids could wait the tables
While me and Bill pick up the slack
I can see it now
I can see it now
I can see it now
Honorable Mention
- “The Uninvited Mourner” by Roy Moats
- “Just A Man” by Ryan T. Miller
- “Christmas, Please Come Slowly (This Year)” by Peter Toutant
- “Faith In The Light” by Chad Mathews
- “Coal” by Matt Rogers
- “If I Were In A Novel” by Ben Bostick
- “Lie To Me” by Eric Weimerskirch
- “Tailgate” by David Spillett
- “The Coming Of Winter” by Judy Daigle
- “Redneck Divorce” by Christina Nielsen
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