Love Vermont? Love to read?
Water Mist, the author’ s second novel, is engaging and historically accurate while delivering actions with authentic emotion. It sheds light on events and people in Rutland County, Vermont, heretofore unknown, and does so with candor and courage.
Coming in early 2027: World Music, the last of the WM trilogy
“ Water Mist, the second book by author Mona Barton Benson is a must read! The author completely pulls you in touching your heart from the beginning to the end. The story line takes you from love and loss to embarking on a journey that at times will shake you to your core. The perseverance of the main character shines through in the places he travels to, the folks he meets along the way and the life long relationships he builds. The story comes
full circle bringing him home once again to fulfill his destiny. You won’ t be disappointed!” via Amazon
Don’ t forget Mona’ s first book, Witness Mark! ISBN #: 979-8-88763-125-7 monabartonbenson. com
Sugarhouse Steel By Laura Kujawa( Poetry Winner)
What is it like, living there? Someone with a keyboard writes. They attach a screenshot of the map, manacling us in a red circle drawn with a finger. Three times a week, I drive the midriff of my state. I roll through the valley, fog collecting in its basket.
Summer cooks this rural country, and come autumn its prime days are preserved in amber for next year. Young green leaves mature richer, bolder: ochres and garnets and citrines. They caramelize themselves under a cooling sun.
Think of stomping through color, so crisp that there might as well be potato chips underfoot. Think of your fingers, roping through featherweight dunes of dead things and setting them loose. Think of hiding, submerged in their sweet vegetal scent.
I follow the old quarries and their stonecutters on the highway, their marks left in solid granite; their cemeteries: legacies left in legacy. I pass spectral cows at graze between the windows of the woods. Their grasses brown and then dry altogether, but they continue to eat.
You will weather this, I think to the trees when the snow comes. To the blue-black skies, washed with drifts of white; to the car skating on luck, shadowing the plows. To myself, and to tomorrow: the first signs of spring bud through the ice.
MAKER OF ARTISAN CHOCOLATES AND CAKES
Famous Buttercrunch • Truffles • Brittles Birthday & Occasion Cakes
Laura Beth Kujawa is a writer and proud Vermonter. Born and raised in South Burlington, she earned her BA in English from Saint Michael’ s College and MFA in Writing & Publishing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her poetry and fiction have been published by Empty House Press and Washington Square Review, among other publications.
She is deeply grateful for the encouragement of her fleet of friends, teachers, and mentors— past and present. Steeped in the culture, histories, and landscape of Vermont, Laura credits much of her inspiration to the Green Mountain State, and to her remarkable and endlessly supportive family. Sugarhouse Steel was written in fragments while commuting between South Burlington and South Royalton.
To see the goodies at our retail store:
mothermyricks-store. com
4367 Main Street, Manchester, VT 802-362-1560 mothermyricks. com
WE SHIP!
Honorable Mention, Poetry: Irene by Gordon Korstange Honorable Mention, Prose: Farewell, Jack by Tyler Baker
Visit vtmag. com to read their entries!
32 VERMONT MAGAZINE