 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
“Things I’ve Left Behind” by Rose Swartz has been chosen as the winner of 2008’s Karen Fredericks and
Frances Willitts Memorial Prize. Her work stands out as poetry with it’s own unique voice which endowed
the simplicity of life with great meaning and the greatness of life with simplicity. There is an attitude of
defiance and a leap of great faith in the power of poetry.
She writes with a style which forces the reader to imagine and create a continuity of image with a meaning
which becomes more poignant because it is abstract. This is not easy work but greatly satisfying once her
"language" is learned. It becomes the secret heart....
--Carolina
Rose Swartz' “Things I left Behind” is like the French Surrealist painter, Marguerite . The images make the
common things in the world become strange and interesting. She might have lost these things so we could
find them. Even the poems have lost their titles. This is a miniature world that “hums in uncertain keys”,
where “the admission to this show is admission”, and the lost can be found where she left them like prizes
intended to be found.
Martin Willitts, Jr.
Frances Willitts Memorial Prize. Her work stands out as poetry with it’s own unique voice which endowed
the simplicity of life with great meaning and the greatness of life with simplicity. There is an attitude of
defiance and a leap of great faith in the power of poetry.
She writes with a style which forces the reader to imagine and create a continuity of image with a meaning
which becomes more poignant because it is abstract. This is not easy work but greatly satisfying once her
"language" is learned. It becomes the secret heart....
--Carolina
Rose Swartz' “Things I left Behind” is like the French Surrealist painter, Marguerite . The images make the
common things in the world become strange and interesting. She might have lost these things so we could
find them. Even the poems have lost their titles. This is a miniature world that “hums in uncertain keys”,
where “the admission to this show is admission”, and the lost can be found where she left them like prizes
intended to be found.
Martin Willitts, Jr.
| Rose Swartz Winner of the 2008 Karen Fredericks and Frances Willitts Memorial Prize |
Rose Swartz was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her favorite things
are rust, mud, trains, trees, bicycles, water, and travel. She writes poetry and
makes visual art. She has bachelor’s degrees in English and Visual Art from
Western Michigan University. In 2007 she received a fellowship to study poetry
in the MFA program at Arizona State University. Currently, she is doing just that.
are rust, mud, trains, trees, bicycles, water, and travel. She writes poetry and
makes visual art. She has bachelor’s degrees in English and Visual Art from
Western Michigan University. In 2007 she received a fellowship to study poetry
in the MFA program at Arizona State University. Currently, she is doing just that.
I like to collect most machines,
their nectarine nerves uprooted.
A giant paces Crater Lake,
kisses his fingers tomorrow.
Along the avenues my weaknesses bat their lashes,
the whale outruns the riverbed,
the possum outsleeps the moon.
A chandelier crashes
on the beach of broken dishes.
Exploded light, minor emergency.
I threw cake over his shoulder
long before the wedding began.
The rain and rocks I am stealing
are to build this monument:
to all the forests I’ve known.
That’s what the crinkled paper bags represent,
glue igloo mountains,
bungalow of toothpicks,
burnt marshmallow dress.
Oasis of fish print,
scales on my boots.
I cut birds from fabric,
too limp to sing.