First Place Winner, April 2009 InterBoard Poetry Competition

Poetry

InterBoard Poetry Competition

First Place Winner, April 2009

CZAMY POLEWKA (BLACK SOUP) *Emily Brink* (The Writer’s Block) I heard the crack of his boots in the snow. My heart rabbit-swift because “No” was under my tongue. He is a coward blowing his foul kielbasa breath and weeping to the Beatles. I knew he would never make a faithful husband. I watched my mother in the slimness of the dusk make Black Soup. I watched her chop the duck and drain its blood. The blood dripped into a pan, black as all mortal sin. Next, chopped plums, like a smashed thumb, color of the priest’s robe on Passion Friday. A little vinegar and honey together because every curse contains a blessing. Comments by judge Duncan Mercredi: “I especially love the imagery in this piece. My mind attempts to picture the visage of this man but his face keeps changing and I am unable to capture his true face. The memory of the mother also plays into this piece and I am left wondering just what is the author really cooking. Reads beautifully but also leaves one with a sense of danger but not really comprehending what that sense of doom is and I suspect there is more to this piece.”