Rafferty Honored

By CT Poetry Society

The Connecticut Poetry Society has announced the winners of its latest Brodinsky/Brodine Poetry Competition.

First place has been awarded to Sandy Hook resident Charles Rafferty for his poem, “The Girl Who Didn’t Stay.” Mr Rafferty received $150 for his efforts.

Second place, a $100 cash prize, went to Billie Marsh, of Tulsa, Okla., for “My Son Marries the Woman Woman.” Third place ($50)went to Kathryn E. Clement, from Mesa, Arix., for her poem “Figures of Speech.”

The judge this year was Dr Dennis Barone, a professor of English at Saint Joseph College in West Hartford.

Connecticut Poetry Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and enjoyment of poetry. It conducts three annual contests and publishes Connecticut River Review, a national poetry journal.

Charles Rafferty was one of 28 state residents who received funding from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts late last year. CCA’s grants provide direct support to those who are seriously committed to their art form; Mr Rafferty was one of nine honorees selected for poetry. Over 150 residents applied for the grants, which are funded by the National Endowments for the Arts.

In 2000, he was also honored with the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Prize for Poetry for his poem “Crossing a Field of Bees After Being Recently Stung,” which appeared in A Darkness with Brighter Stars. The annual award imparted by The Tor House Foundation of Carmel, Calif., was accompanied by a $1,000 honorarium.

 Mr Rafferty has had three chapbooks and one full book of his poetry published to date.