Beethoven Never Saw an Ocean
Colette Tennant
But he felt its pulse in his wild, salty blood,
so that’s the first thing he will do in heaven –
follow the breeze to where sand starts,
everything drifting down toward
adagio swells,
plagal cadence waves,
gulls’ glissando,
his coat tails unfurled
by the aleatoric wind,
the bright sky relative major to the
minor-keyed water’s dark counterpoint.
A scherzo of sandpipers
watch for their cue.
Sea stars hold fast
to the ocean’s percussion.
A pelican portamento
hovers just above a treble of cliffs.
A pizzicato of crabs watch when
he lifts a thin piece of driftwood,
clean and white as memory,
cradles it between his thumb and forefinger,
raises it high above his flying hair.
The waves remind him of his old heart.
He misses it until his feet warm
with the endless attentions
of the white-lipped sea.
Poet’s Bio
Colette Tennant has two poetry collections: Commotion of Wings (2010) and Eden and After (2015), and a commentary Religion in the Handmaid’s Tale: a brief guide (2019). Her poem “Rehearsals” was awarded third by Billy Collins in a 2019 contest. Most recently, her poem was accepted by Eavan Boland for Poetry Ireland Review’s Issue 129. She has a poem currently nominated for the Pushcart prize. Her poems have appeared in Rattle, Prairie Schooner, Southern Poetry Review, and others.
Judge’s Comments – John Brehm
Each of the top three poems for this year’s OPA contest has so much of what I love about poetry. I heard in each a sureness and freshness of voice that felt both original and strangely familiar, and that engaged my full attention from the first line to the last. Each has remarkable, memorable lines: “Beethoven Never Saw an Ocean //But he felt its pulse in his wild, salty blood.” And each was filled with surprises, large and small, that kept me on my toes and delivered the sense of unexpected delight that make poetry such a joy to read.