| InterBoard Poetry Competition | |
GUERNICA BY PICASSO
Christopher T. George
(Desert Moon Review)
Even after all these years, the women are still screaming,
fingers transmuted into sausages or sardines
that won’t stop the babies from falling.
Body parts mix with those of bull and stallion:
eyes flared, hooves, horns, teeth, faces ripped in two.
The bellows of animals become human.
Judge Mark Yakich’s comment: “Short poems are difficult to pull off because they every word counts. I realize that sounds silly since in all poems every word should count, but you’d be surprised how often that doesn’t happen. In this poem, the penultimate line is a bit received but I can forgive that because of the fingers as sardines. I suppose I also like this poem because it is timely and because Picasso’s painting still resonates after all these years. One last thing: the first line of this poem works because it’s true and not true at the same time. I apologize that my commentary is longer than the poem.”
About the InterBoard Poetry Competition
Archive of IBPC Winners
3rd Place Winner, April 2003
