| InterBoard Poetry Competition | |
WINTERING
Laurel K. Dodge
(The Writer’s Block)
The hearth is always dark--
I initially left the second h off,
a Freudian slip, an (un)intended typo.
All this kindling, and yet
between us we can’t seem to build
a fire to warm this chilled house.
No home, this. I read his poem out loud
because I know you hate poetry.
You interrupt, devil’s advocating:
A bridge isn’t a stringed
instrument--but picture the Brooklyn
bridge, I almost say, how it looks
like a viola tipped on its side--
and winter’s not long enough to describe
the heart’s Ice Age--oh, but honey,
what of the thaw?. I wouldn’t anthropmorphize
night--why not?--stars aren’t lidless eyes--
but they are! can’t you feel them watching?--
the moon’s just light, not a wound
in the sky that keeps pulling
out its stitches--no, that’s me,
that thread is mine. And the owl’s constant
hoot is not a lamentative question--
you’re wrong--I’ve listened
to it mourn my lonely hours.
We don’t have to give night false
life; we know how hopeless the dark is--
and yet it’s the bright light of day
that’s always stripped me faithless.
I give up, put the book back on the shelf,
and look out at the crocuses poking
through the snow. I think of a woolly
mammoth’s bones, buried deep in the hard
ground where no one can see them
and doubt anything could withstand
such coldness. Later, I come back and tag
on the real ending: and doubt love,
like that massive animal, ever existed.
Judge C.J. Sage’s comments: “For second place I’ve chosen ‘Wintering.’ Although the beginnings and movements of this poem feel just a bit more contrived than those of ‘Grassland’ (if ‘Wintering’ were mine, I would reconsider line three which feels too explanatory, overanalyzed), still its contents feel freer than much of what I see by beginning poets -- and although it is not stanzaic, the physical form is fairly consistent so provides a nice counterbalance. I also appreciate the apparent literary allusion given by the reference to the bridge poem.”
About the InterBoard Poetry Competition
Archive of IBPC Winners
3rd Place Winner, July 2004
