Broadsheet Contest 2022 Winner: The Hollow Tree by Anna Yin

Congrats to Anna Yin, winner of the 2022 Broadsheet Contest.

 

Poem name: The Hollow Tree Poet name: Anna Yin Poem begins: There are days we live as if death were nowhere in the background; from joy to joy to joy, from wing to wing, from blossom to blossom to impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom. ─“From Blossoms,” Li-Young Lee You stand at the threshold to the west coast forest. In the sky, wild geese align south-bound flight; on the ground, wind gusts thresh dried leaves. Hesitating, I shake free my windbreaker and flesh your hollow with my warmth. My foolhardy intention can only bar the cold fleetingly, I wonder what would save you from the bitterness of blizzards after late autumn. The sunlight softly strokes you, deepening our shivering shadow. In my dream I return to a red cedar tree, as hollow as you. I fill in stardust with the moss and dew of myself─ the hot harsh skin of my despair cooling─ I lay down worldly deliberate disguises, lips whispering to leaves of grass in the twilight kingdom. Trembling with tenderness, the cedar embraces me instilling womb-warmth. From joy to joy, from wing to wing, at dawn, we break into blossom. Note: words in italics in line 20, 21, 22 are from “The Hollow Men” by T. S. Eliot End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Anna Yin Anna Yin immigrated to Canada in 1999, authored five poetry collections and edited/translated Mirrors and Windows (Guernica Editions) in 2021. Anna won the 2005 Ted Plantos Memorial Award, two MARTYs, two scholarships from USA and three grants from Ontario Arts Council. Anna was appointed to be Mississauga’s Inaugural Poet Laureate in 2015. Her poems/translations have appeared at Queen’s Quarterly, ARC Poetry, New York Times, China Daily, CBC Radio, World Journal. She performed on Parliament Hill, at Austin International Poetry Festival, Edmonton Poetry Festival and universities in China, USA and Bangladesh. She teaches Poetry Alive. Her website: www.annapoetry.com

Listen to “The Hollow Tree” by Anna Yin:

Anna Yin immigrated to Canada in 1999, authored five poetry collections and edited/translated Mirrors and Windows (Guernica Editions) in 2021. Anna won the 2005 Ted Plantos Memorial Award, two MARTYs, two scholarships from USA and three grants from Ontario Arts Council. Anna was appointed to be Mississauga’s Inaugural Poet Laureate in 2015. Her poems/translations have appeared at Queen’s Quarterly, ARC Poetry, New York Times, China Daily, CBC Radio, World Journal. She performed on Parliament Hill, at Austin International Poetry Festival, Edmonton Poetry Festival and universities in China, USA and Bangladesh.  She teaches Poetry Alive. Her website: www.annapoetry.com

Anna Yin has won $300, publication in the 2022 Poem In Your Pocket Day Booklet, and a special broadsheet of their poem handcrafted by artist Briar Craig. 


The juror for the 2022 Broadsheet Contest was Kim Fahner.

Kim Fahner lives and writes in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. She has published five books of poetry, You Must Imagine The Cold Here (1997), braille on water (2001), The Narcoleptic Madonna (2012), Some Other Sky (2017), & These Wings (2019).  Kim is the Ontario Representative for The Writers’ Union of Canada (2020-22), a full member of the League of Canadian Poets, and a supporting member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada. She was Poet Laureate for the City of Greater Sudbury from 2016-18. At present, Kim is working on a new novel. She is always writing and reading poetry, and blogs regularly at The Republic of Poetry. She loves trees, backyard swings, Irish music, yoga, lake swimming, ceili dances, walking by water, witty conversation, hiking, canoeing, and silent spaces out in the Northern woods. During her term as Poet Laureate, Kim advocated for increased awareness of mental health, palliative care, and literacy initiatives. She continues to believe that all of these things can be supported with poetry and creative writing. In March 2021, Kim’s poem, “Beekeeping,” won first place in the League of Canadian Poets’ National Broadsheet Competition. She has written poetry book reviews that have been published in Prairie Fire, ARC Poetry Magazine, Herizons, The Fiddlehead, & periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics. Visit her at www.kimfahner.com.

Meet the Broadsheet Artist

Briar Craig is a printmaking professor at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus.  He has an MFA in printmaking from the University of Alberta.  His recent work focuses on the interplay between imagery and text.  Taking Roland Barthes’ Death of the Author as a starting point he plays with the idea that we are all the authors of the works we see by juxtaposing a number of disparate elements in order to create narrative, interpretive opportunities for the viewer.