by HarryHill
I thought it would be a finalist when I first read it. It's musical and has a wonderful narrative. I think you have a talent for poetry. I don't know what those two really long lines are doing for the poem, but maybe it's a preference thing.
use of language flip-flop between the devil and the devine, good story, good poetics, I assume the long lines are a formatting mistake,
"There's one more furrow to plow."
cracks me up, in '39 it would have been a cliche, and you had the good sense to put it in someone else's mouth.
Not sure what all the fuss about this is. Seems kind of f'd up. Preacher gets drunk and then goes to have sex with a member of congregation. Even if they were in love and he couldn't get the courage up to go to her. Honestly, ladies out there, I know I wouldn't have wanted my first time to be with someone drunk off his ass, no matter how much I loved him. Just my opinion.