Earth Day and Poetry Event Recap

Judge's Comments, "Fish Eyes"

“Fish Eyes” is a clear, insightful, and accomplished poem that goes after deep questions and addresses serious ecological concerns.  The images are visual, sharp, a bit unsettling; the language clear and immediate.  Images of geologic deposition, deep time, ruins, and radioactivity evoke a complex landscape that the poet navigates effortlessly with intelligence and wit.  The cross-cultural reference to Coyote the trickster deepens the conversation within the poem.  And the poem closes with two provocative images that give keen insight into humans' uneasy relationship with the natural world.  At the end the poet poses a question and an invitation that moves beyond the poem into the reader's personal response to living in the world.

 One judge called "Fish Eyes" "...a very intriguing poem that I can’t avert my eyes from."  Another wrote " I feel like I’m in the hands of a skilled poet with something to say."  We all agreed that the poet delivered masterfully.

Judge's Comments:

With its rich, sensory language and playful use of personification, “6:21 a.m Turmeric Tea at the Kitchen Window” wakes us up, reminding us to pay attention to the earth changing outside our window.

The title of this delightful poem invites the reader in, giving us a whiff of the sensory riches ahead.  In the first of three quatrains, the poet throws open the metaphorical window to watch spring arrive “on its mission of mercy.”   Using personification, the poet describes earth’s inhabitants  as they wake to a new season:  “Forsythia yells;”   Robins twitter “I’m home; Quail chants “it’s safe here, it’s safe here.”   In the last stanza, chickens introduce a comic note, and we’re reminded what we’ve left behind as the earth keeps turning:  “chickens/ dash in the field, squabbling over/walnuts cracked open by winter’s cold.”     Here’s what the other judges had to say: 

• “It lives up to the title’s promise directly and with genuine gladness.”
• “I’m standing right there next to the poet. All my senses engaged, the new day, winter cracked open, spring arriving, all of it entering my every cell.”

Kudos to this poet for taking an everyday ritual—morning tea—and reminding us that poems can be found wherever we look closely and observe carefully with our full imagination; these habits lie at the heart of good writing—and good activism.