Melanie Henderson received a nomination from I. Giraffe Press/Iris G. Press/Fledgling Rag for the 2013 Pushcart Prize along with the following writers:
YONA HARVEY/”Cutthroat :: The Rising Cost of Fuel”
HIRAM LAREW/”Out Here”
MELANIE HENDERSON/”Nostalgia”
ALAN KING/”Freeze”
AMANDA NEWELL/”Vacation Photo, Gulf of Mexico”
DAINA SAVAGE/”Separation”
“Nostalgia” is a section of a 4-part poem entitled BONES written after the discovery of old African burial sites in Georgetown, D.C., September 2012)
Nostalgia
It’s not any different
than Southwest Washington,
or any other old black hood.
Georgetown is marble and
brick over blood and bone.
The tragedy is not its newness
—or even its color. It’s a failure
of courtesy not to speak to us:
ghosts on lampposts, right brown
shoes sturdy on left knees,
elbows propping up hatted heads
from the chin; it’s a failure
to remember we built those old
rock churches, and monuments,
those houses crumbled to erect
condos that block out light.
Take off your hat when entering
this city; there are spirits around you.
A Note from Mel 
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