from River Heron Poetry Prize final judge, Shankar Narayan:  “This ekphrastic poem charmed me with its clever use of language and structure, its spare aesthetic, and its evocation not only of new and unseen worlds, but of the power of art to speak those worlds into existence.  The structured experience of the poem’s four parts takes us through a creation process that mirrors its core project, holding the reader’s attention and curiosity throughout.  Each part is fresh, inventive, and original, yet all echo and build on the others.  Beautiful surprises (“the bull’s blue breath”) abound.  The result is a new kind of creation myth—and we are all along for the ride, to the place “where golden light surrounds/and the gathering never ends”.

Julie Cooper-Fratrik is the author of three collections of poetry and poetic prose: The Space of Appearances, Breathing Lessons: a remembering,. and Further Lovely Lettuce Lore. Two chapters from her book, Beyond the Objects of Affection (The Space of the Poet in the Space of the World) have been published in Tupelo Quarterly ("Words in Intercourse: wave, The Waves, woman") and in Under the Sun ("Bodies in Intercourse: (Within the Jouisspace)." Her essay, "Crossing Over," appeared in The Leap Years: Women Reflect on Love, Loss, and Change (Beacon Press). She lives with her spouse, conceptual artist Nura Petrov, in Upper Bucks County, PA.