The inspiration for "To Live Through the Day" came from the murder of educator, poet, and activist Renee Good. As I learned more about her death, I imagined the final seconds of an otherwise ordinary day--before Renee became the face of a cause. Rather than giving violence the final word, I wanted the poem to end with something brilliant and blooming—something they couldn't take from her.

Dr. Alene Terzian-Zeitounian is a Lebanese-Armenian poet whose work is rooted in questions of identity and self-determinism. She is the Humanities Department Chair at College of the Canyons where she teaches creative writing. She is also the faculty advisor for cul-de-sac, COC’s literary and arts magazine. Her works have appeared in the Bellevue Literary Review, Colorado Review, Mizna, and Wasafiri among others. Recently, her book Until One of Us Is Dead was selected as a finalist for the Cardinal Poetry Prize. She lives in Torrance, California with her husband and daughter.

Judge Alison Tanik’s Comments:
This heart-breaking and highly immersive poem approaches a well-known subject with poetic flare which immediately draws the reader in to a very particular scene from a highly-innovative angle. It takes great skill and control for a poet to be able to address a well-documented event with originality, to make the reader pause and think, even when the outcome is known before we even reach the first line. The approach to the subject is superb and would be enough alone on which to praise  the poem, however, the craft with which the poet then proceeds to tell the story is something else. The body as a  'slippery seal', the body becoming 'impractical', and the 'sunburst' of the shot are all outstanding images which attest to the strength of the writer's skill.  The poet's genius is twofold—originality of narrative, coupled with uncomfortable yet equally original imagery. A truly outstanding poem.