T
2006 Poetry Winners http://www.canadianpoetryassoc.com/cpacontest.html
1st Place Award: war musket grasses (Bay of Fundy) Donna Allard, Moncton N.B. Canada
I see no soldier’s uniform as I walk along these shores but I do see the red blood cliffs and musket grasses and dry puzzle clay remnants but I have yet put all the pieces together to see the whole picture when the English and French bore arms for this Bay a little known fact told me by a local a few weeks ago he said to follow the water trails or streams with one of those magnetic things and see what the past will bring forward, he said many have found muskets beneath the red clay graves instead I prefer to walk, feel the clay between my toes get my jeans red with the dye so I can at least feel some connection with the soldiers who walked these trails now cattle and a few horses roam here in the Fundy sun safe and secure they keep a watchful eye on me and I wonder if the stories were ever passed down to their newborn, I can’t believe stories are for humans only, if you look closely at domestic animals and wildlife you can sense a presence, a feeling, that maybe their memories passed down through the ages are holding the last unwritten entry of lost lives along these grassy shores and red cliffs well I must get back, the sun is setting and I fear the ghosts may not like my curious nature as I walk through this unmarked graveyard
Judges Comment: To me this was the outstanding submission to the contest. The highest compliment I can pay it is "Purdyesque"! I felt engaged in the poet's ramble among relics on a battlefield from Canada's past. The language is casual but poetic - the poet isn't "trying too hard" to impress - & ironically this makes their observations stronger & more believable. The casual self-deprecation of the short final stanza - "I fear the ghosts may not like my curious nature" added a welcome humorous touch to this stroll on the old Canadian battlefield. EXCELLENT!
2nd Place Award: Julio’s Pencil Debbie Okun Hill, Ontario Canada
at my desk I hear you scratching like a rodent trapped between two walls, paper thin blackboard dust, chalk ghost telepathic cry from foreign land loose leaf, your whispers escaping through windows without glass thin shudders shuttering rusty screens screaming in Monte Bonito your home near Santiago a place where tourists fly in, pass by ignore your hunger ignore your pain you were my daughter’s brother adopted, fostered skin shadowed dark your real mother Maria still a student your father somewhere drifting in heat, humidity we sent you cheques to pay for school we wrote you letters and slipped in gifts we waited, waited, waited for your reply in Spanish but you never used your pencil they broke it, left you without words threw the lead of war back in my face used your eraser like your father did to whip you out Judges Comment: (finally something political)
3rd Place Award: Ravens’ Cry Tribute to Canada’s Peoples Poet Milton Acorn Donna Allard, NB Canada
there was a man named Acorn who was adored by a few now a written outcast by a tittered latent Isle an indigo literary vision of ol’ Charlottetown’s Victorian Row I was young, too young to know, why a man chose a life so wretched in most people’s eyes cornered once during a walk, he looked me eye to eye, but I still could not see… this thirst for knowledge he wished to share with me but thanks to people, unlike me who judged and theorized, saw within those eyes and let it not be forgotten… a certain Acorn had fallen from a Red Oak Tree picking up from its earthy base a privileged wisdom many will never see… passing an indigo Raven cry’s a silent tears journey rain bowed upon silken blue Island sky’s Judges Comment: As a longtime friend & acolyte of Milton Acorn, I couldn't resist including a poem subtitled "Tribute to Canada's Peoples Poet" ... The poem is short enough to almost qualify as one of Acorn's creations, a Jack pine sonnet. The language is clean but creative ("a tittered latent Isle" is a great neologism & accurate description of Prince Edward Island). Milton visits my friends & me often in his crow & raven incarnations, and I'm pleased to see his memory kept alive and vital in the CPA!
Honourable Mentions: #1: "Starfire" Frank Threlkeld Judges Comment: Loved this poem, & wrote my own version of it about a quarter century ago - I believe in another life I was an Arcturean : ) It is so difficult to write a truly cosmic poem without sounding cliched, & in my opinion this poet accomplishes this. The poet's knowledge of the cosmos is appealing, & altho the language is sometimes a bit high blown, with "cerulean-cold" and "saffron-tinged", in this case these colourful descriptions are required, & they work! A beautiful piece which makes me want to play the Stones' "Their Satanic Majesties Request" over & over. The rhyme scheme is also done well, & it adds to the sense of macrocosmic order, just as the fractal design of a seashell replicates intergalactic star swirls. #2: “On The Evening News” Peggy Fletcher #3: "Pinned by Your Image on the Web" Debbie Okun Hill #4: "Whatever We Believe In" K.V. Skene #5: "Chestnuts At Greenwich" Marion Beck #6: “And Death Does What It Can” K.V. Skene #7: “Watching Fireworks over the Atlantic Ocean Looking East on New Year’s Eve from the Ninth Floor Balcony of a Tall Building John B. Lee #8: “Insomniac” K.V. Skene #9: “In Spite of your Confusion” Linda Lee Crosfield #10: “Solar Collectors At Marieval” Marion Beck
© 2008 CPA. All rights reserved.