2007 Drevniok Award—Haiku CanadaFirst written in April of 2008, and published in the 2007 contest results flyer in May 2008. Also published in Playing a Lullaby: The Betty Drevniok Awards 1998–2011 (Ottawa, Ontario: Éditions des petits nuages, 2012), compiled and edited by Mike Montreuil. +
Michael Dylan Welch, judge
First Prizethe paramedic feeling for a pulse fireflies
Francine Banwarth Dubuque, Iowa
Such a contrast of emotions here. The trauma of an accident rakes against the contemplative tranquility of noticing fireflies. We may wonder if the paramedic detects no pulse, and then notices the fireflies. Or maybe, just as the paramedic notices the fireflies, he or she also feels a pulse. Or perhaps the paramedic merely notices the fireflies, but still doesn’t know if the victim is alive or not. The fireflies may symbolize the victim’s life that continues despite an accident, or perhaps the ephemerality of fireflies echoes the loss of the victim’s life. Either way, how does it feel to be that paramedic caught between these two extremes? This poem shows us, and as readers we oscillate between these two meanings, caught between living and loss.
Second Prizein her hand the downed branch dancing again
Carol Pearce New York, New York
This poem has a lovely ambiguity. The last line can refer not only to the branch but also to the person who picks up the branch. We may wonder if some sadness or loss has afflicted the woman in the poem, keeping her from dancing—or from feeling like it. And then, despite the loss of the downed branch, the woman picks it up and not only helps the branch to “dance” as it once did in the wind, but also dances again herself. This spring, where I live, we had a surprise late snowstorm that damaged many blossoming cherry trees. It was particularly poignant to see cracked and downed branches that were already in full bloom. The joy of this poem inspires me to dance with one of those branches.
Third Prizewhite ice on the willows my hand slipping into yours
Lin Geary Paris, Ontario
I seem to have a weakness for poems about hands. One hand slipping into another indicates affection and also, in this poem, perhaps a need for safety or the offering of safety. We normally think of willows in spring and summer as protective and romantic, but here ice threatens them. That ice also makes walking difficult. The simple act of joining hands brings together both love and safety, and the safety is both physical and emotional. The protective nature of the willow may remind the observer in the poem to offer his or her partner the extra safety of a held hand, or perhaps, on seeing the willow, the observer fears the danger of ice, and seeks that hand to hold. The ice in this poem takes the romance of holding hands under a willow deftly from summer into a freshly different season.
|