2nd, Open Category 2010 - Marcus Smith
The Anonymous Guest
The search called off, the furniture
luminously in place, the pot luck
of welcoming neighbours, fall fires
and bright dinner parties to follow,
the kids playing with kids on the block,
the new school a spire of smiles,
this time more laughter in the sky,
this time this life shining through
that black mist now gathering inside
and out as the anonymous guest,
a perfect look-alike, arrives again,
heavy bags empty, eyes packed.
This house now made of straw,
the framed photos of someone else
impersonating her, this time the days
forget to remind this life to dance
and night leaves no trace of dreams,
life without spring and this view
all year of the same withering oak.
It's time - yes, again - for a new guest,
someone with familiar eyes watching
her reflection in bare windows,
watching a greening tree discard
the last of its shrivelled leaves.
Judge's comment:
This powerfully moody poem hovers somewhere between the domestic evocation of loss and the mythic or biblically inspired creation of vague hoped-for returns of our loved ones. The lyric uses repetition to moving effect as the poet conjures cyclical patterns of order being restored by the literal or metaphorical rerun of the lost one. The poem is effectively vague and keeps the reader at a distance about the Guest. The strong regular rhythms create an insistent and hypnotic feel which is very affecting.
Daljit Nagra