| InterBoard Poetry Competition | |
THE EMPEROR OF CHINA
Paul Madden
(Enter the Muse)
There was little more in the world she wanted
at that moment, than for her body to turn
into the twelve white pigeons flying above,
whilst he, the bedded chrysanthemum, would watch her.
Judge Mark Yakich’s comment: “Again, a very nice short poem. Aside from the ‘whilst’ instead of ‘while’ in the last line, I wouldn’t change a word. Think of how important it is that the ‘bedded’ is there in that last line and how less of a poem on the whole it would be were that word not there. Also, consider why this poem is in two couplets. One experiment, if you will, on a short poem is to mix up its lines and see what happens, what new juxtapositions take shape. For example, read the poem like this: lines 1, 4, 2, 3.”
About the InterBoard Poetry Competition
Archive of IBPC Winners
Honorable Mentions, April 2003
