The officials in charge have searched through all the records:
they have combed the email in- and outboxes;
they have retrieved the text messages;
they have reviewed the transcripts of all the conversations that they recorded,
and they have recorded them all;
they have requested and received all the records pertaining to the matter;
they have sent in their auditors who submitted their several findings;
they have done all this — expending all of their known resources,
utilizing their most skilled and experienced operatives —
and each report confirms the allegations that have been circulating,
so that even to them the conclusion appears ever more probable,
that, despite the training and warnings,

one thing is missing,
one thing cannot be found,
and so I may as well confess to you,
my sweet sweet girl,
that the rumors are true,
that in all my plans concerning you
I have utterly failed to produce
even the merest idea,
much less a complete plan,
for an exit strategy.

Judge’s Comments:
It has been a privilege to read and re-read and re-read again all these entries because of their strong feeling and memories. There are not enough awards to honor poem after poem rendering life experiences with careful attention to poetic craft. Having to single out only a few, I am choosing this poem because of its control of diction, its surprise, and its playfulness. One of the many strengths of this poem is the contrast in line length in the two stanzas, a contrast that mirrors the turn in direction of the poem as it builds to the end, using a fine combination of humor and passion.