KAREN OSNEY BROWNSTEIN WRITING PRIZE
(1991) Awarded to a graduating senior in Columbia College who has written a single piece or a body of work so distinguished in its originality of concept and excellence of execution that it fairly demands the award, support, and recognition the prize intends.
We decided to write a body of work that fairly demands the award.
Poem 1: Variation on a theme by T. S. Eliot
April is the cruellest month!
Unless it is the month in which
You give me the Karen Osney Brownstein Writing Prize!
Poem 1a: Variation on a different theme by T. S. Eliot
Let us go, then, you and I,
To the bank to cash my check.
Poem 2: Variation on a theme by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I...
I took the one that was more likely to get me this prize.
Poem 2a: Variation on a different theme by Robert Frost
Whose prize this is I think I know.
It is mine.
Poem 3: Variation on a theme by Dr. William Carlos Williams
so much depends upon
me getting this
award
Poem 4: Variation on a theme by Emily Dickinson
I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you -- the awards committee?
In that case -- I am somebody.
Poem 5: Variation on a theme by e. e. cummings
i carry your award with me
(i carry it in my trophy case)
Poem 6: Variation on a theme by William Shakespeare
Oh, what a piece of work is a man!
Oh, what a body of work is this!
I would vouchsafe to say that it fairly demands the award!
