2nd Place Winner of the Poetry Contest: Mandorla - Deborah Bennett

“(The) almond-shaped segment…signifies nothing less than the overlap of opposites…the overlap of heaven and earth” 
— Robert A. Johnson

That is where you told us about Buster. Do you remember? 
Strange, the rickety playground 
equipment, bark dust a rough scatter 
in a neighborhood we cannot afford. 
Why would I take them to the shabbiest 
park in the nicest suburb to say 
we killed their dog? Do they remember 
when I told them about my best friend who dove 
into a gulley, a hawk descending? Was it like that? 
A plummet of lead? A lowering lark? 
Do they remember the days 
when I made macaroni and cheese 
for myself, watched murder shows in the other 
room while their father plated a vegetable 
the oldest child would eat. Made them eat 
at the table because that is what you do. But Mama
can do whatever Mama needs to do. Yes, I remember 
the playground, the dog, dirty snow white
fur, brown eye patch like a kind of mascot 
for pets. And I remember the day. 
When I tried to make death 
real for children who knew letters and numbers, 
not sentences, equations. I remember the Center 
my friend’s family attended—two circles of grief, 
children and adults. An almond of common 
pain. Or was it a whole sphere? I am so dumb
when it comes to death. I try to remember the advice 
they gave in that place: tell the truth. 
Answer their questions plain
and true. Forever in our hearts, but we replaced 
Buster. Brown and black, Scout is a seasoned 
pan of a dog. My friend’s husband remarried, the new 
wife shorter, musically inclined, in need 
of glasses. My friend’s daughter has a dozen 
substitutes for mother. She called me. 
It was an anniversary. We saw each other 
through the slim windows 
of our phones. The daughter ate cake
crying. I don’t know why, but I could not. 
I think we would have been best friends. 
I have a daughter. I had a best friend. 
They are not the same. I tried 
to tell my friend true.





​Deep Time / A graduate of the Creative Writing program at Boston University, Deborah Bennett’s poems have appeared in Salamander, Sugar House, Portland Review and the San Antonio Review among others. Her prose has appeared on Only a Game, Cognoscenti and Edify. In addition, she recently attended the Bread Loaf’s Translators’ Conference and Colrain’s Poetry Manuscript Conference.