2022 FALL ADULT CONTEST RESULTS
SPANISH LANGUAGE: JUDGE: AMELIA DIAZ ETTINGER
1st Place — La luna del mediodÃa, Anna Jasinska
2nd Place — Duraznos de Sangre India, Jabez W. Churchill
No Honorable Mentions selected.
Judge’s Comments: none.
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La luna del mediodÃa – 1st Place, Anna Jasinska
Al mediodÃa
camino insomne
bajo la luna brillante—
rostro medio oculto, medio iluminado,
colgado encima de las palmeras
de Ocean Avenue.
Ambos deambulamos
pálido y fuera de lugar,
trastornados por el disco solar desnudo.
En su cenit, arroja
una niebla lúcida
y los contornos nÃtidos se derriten.
Suenan cascabeles
bajo la sombrilla roja y blanca
de un carrito de helados.
Al sonido de las campanas
la gente, hasta ahora ajena e inconsciente,
escucha y se levanta.
Como vestido con zapatos rojos,
ellos caen
en un desfile de baile delirante.
Empiezan a marchar
al ritmo solar y bailan un vals
de distancia.
Una mascarada loca corre
por las calles,
al parque, a la playa
cuanto más rápido, más alegre,
y más profundo en un trance
de carnaval.
Mientras, miro,
distante y curiosa,
bajo la luna del mediodÃa,
suspendida en algún lugar
entre el azul
y el cobalto.
Midday Moon (English translation)
I walk sleepless
at midday
under the lustrous moon,
face half hidden, half lit,
hung overhead
of Ocean Avenue palms.
We both wander
pale and out of place, upset
by the naked solar disc.
At its zenith,
it casts a bright noontime mist
and crisp contours melt.
Jingle bells ring
under the red-and-white umbrella
of an ice-cream cart.
At the sound of the chimes,
a crowd, so far oblivious, listens
and rises.
Like dressed in red shoes,
they fall
into a delirious dance parade.
They start to march
to the solar tune and swing
in a distancing waltz.
An insane masquerade streams
through the streets,
to the park, to the beach—
the faster the cheerer
deeper and deeper
in a carnival trance.
While I watch,
distant and curious,
under the midday moon,
suspended
somewhere between azure
and cobalt.
Anna Jasinska is a Polish-American poet and molecular geneticist specializing in the molecular basis of brain functions, behavior, and viral diseases. Her poems appeared or are forthcoming in the California Quarterly, Cardinal Points, Oddball, Passengers Journal, and Cordite Poetry Review.
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Duraznos de Sangre India – 2nd Place, Jabez W. Churchill
Sé un poco de muchas cosas:
cuando podar y cuando sembrar,
cuanto tenta,
tarda en dar fruto
el durazno de sangre india.
Sólo sé lo que no debo hacer,
que flechas:
palabras dichas y no lanzadas,
actos cometidos y ometidos,
no importa sin voluntad,
a uno le dejan marca,
cicatriz encima del alma,
pozo negro en la de uno mismo.
El misterio mas insondable
todavÃa se me despliegue.
¿Cómo brota la afección?
y a pesar de escarchada, sequÃa y de plaga
¿Cómo florezca?
al fruto más raro,
más carnoso de todos
el amor.
Cherokee Peaches (English translation)
I know a little about a lot of things:
when to prune and when to sow,
how delicious-long it takes
for blood peaches to bear fruit.
I only know what not to do,
what arrows:
words said and left unspoken,
acts committed and of omission,
no matter unintended,
leave a mark,
a scar upon another’s soul,
a sink hole in one’s own.
The greatest mystery still unfolds,
how affection buds,
despite frost and drought and infestation,
how it blooms,
into the rarest,
most succulent of fruit,
love.
Jabez W. Churchill is the first bilingual poet laureate of Ukiah, CA, a poet teacher in California Poets in the Public Schools since 1998, and a member of the Ina Coolbrith Poetry Circle of Berkeley, CA for over 40 years.
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JUDGE Amelia Diaz Ettinger is a self-described ‘Mexi-Rican,’ born in Mexico but raised in Puerto Rico. As a BIPOC poet and writer, she has two full-length poetry books published: Learning to Love a Western Sky by Airlie Press, and a bilingual poetry book, Speaking at a Time / Hablando a la Vez by Red Bat Press, and a poetry chapbook, Fossils in a Red Flag by Finishing Line Press.Her poetry and short stories have appeared in literary journals and anthologies and have received honors and awards. A new full collection of poetry will be released by Red Bat Press in the fall.
She has an MFA in creative writing from Eastern Oregon University. Presently,
she and her partner reside in Summerville, Oregon with two dogs, two cats, and too many chickens.