reveille
the bugler’s last note lingers
in the silence
as far as eye can see
rows of white crosses
Third Place, 2025 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest
Tracy Davidson
Commentary by judges: We can’t help but hear “reveille,” the familiar military bugle call for all soldiers and other personnel to start their regimented day. With the bugle’s lively sound, we would expect lots of activity after the morning call. But then in line two, the word “lingers” catches our attention. With the next line, “in the silence,” the poet wants us to stop and think—setting us up for metaphorical wordplay, “as far as eye can see.” The word “eye” has a double meaning, both as “I” the poet, and “eye,” as witness of the vividly solemn “rows of white crosses.” The endless rows found in national cemeteries remind us of the fallen. Do we see the irony? Is there no end to the rows of white crosses disappearing on the sightline? Is “reveille” a wake-up call for us, the people, to remember, all over the world, the lasting effects of war? There are numerous eye-opening meanings in the poet’s affecting tanka.
The strongest feature of this tanka is the progression from sound → silence → visual expanse → death. L2, “the bugler’s last note lingers,” also gives L1, “reveille,” an unsettling ambiguity: a call to awaken followed by rows of graves.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, L4, “as far as eye can see,” is familiar phrasing, but here its familiarity helps make the stark final image feel almost photographic.