polishing
the apple on my jeans
I know
my mother-in-law
still has something to say
Honorable Mention, 2018 Sanford Goldstein International Contest
Christine L. Villa
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
使用我的牛仔褲
擦亮蘋果
我知道
我的婆婆
還有話要說
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
使用我的牛仔裤
擦亮苹果
我知道
我的婆婆
还有话要说
Bio Sketch
An
animated story teller and an artist by nature, Christine L. Villa
dabbles in children's writing, Japanese short-form poetry, and
photography. She is the founder and editor of Frameless Sky
-- a video journal showcasing poets, artists, and musicians in
collaborative projects. She blogs her haiku, tanka, and haiga at Blossom Rain.
As sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, and each of us who navigate the road of family, this poem is filled with perfect imagery—the fallen apple. The apple is an archetypal image for fairy tales such as Snow White and told in religion tales like the apple of Adam and Eve. The apple carries a plethora of childhood memories: apple pies, bobbing for apples, worms hidden deep, star seeds, health, sweetness, bitterness, and so on. Even more, the poet mentions polishing off the dirt to make the apple shine, and the absence of mother-in-law’s words. What more would she say? What is she saying in the unsaid? We were struck by the ease of how the poem read and the depth of its story. This made our minds swirl with perspective and intrigue, something well done by this poet...
ReplyDelete-- excerpted from the judges' commentary, accessed at http://www.tankasocietyofamerica.org/tsa-contest/winners-and-judges-comments/2018-sanford-goldstein-international-tanka-contest-winners