Winner of the 2020 Magpie Award for Poetry for ‘they say you will teach me more than I will ever teach you’, Charlene Kwiatkowski has a knowing finger on the pulse of family.
Magpie judge Renée Sarojini Saklikar had this to say: “Kudos to the writer of this sweet sonnet: great tone and rhythm, and wonderful unity of voice and focus. Iambic pentameter(ish) is a true poet’s feat and one of my favourites.” You can read the prize-winning poem in Pulp Literature Issue 28, Autumn 2020.
Ekphrastic? Fantastic!
Charlene has generously gifted us with another of her beautiful pieces. ‘How far the apple falls’ is an ekphrastic poem inspired by the poignant surrealist sculpture Father and Son.
As Charlene tells, us: “When I saw Father and Son by Louise Bourgeois in Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park, I was so struck by the narrative quality of this piece that I had to try and transcribe it as a poem.” Visit Charlene’s blog to learn more about the sculpture and the reactions it has evoked. ‘How far the apple falls’ originally appeared in Long Exposure Magazine.
Father and Son
How far the apple falls
by Charlene Kwiatkowski
Measure the distance between father and son—
a history of growth, tectonic shifts, multiplication
of islands with alternating springs,
unsyncopated offerings. Despite the applause
of man-made waterfalls, they thirst
for an answer to their question
misheard as an echo across the chasm:
Will you come to me?
They are the split image of each other:
hands outstretched, clothes jettisoned,
tired of water’s weight on everything.
A rare scene of exposure
veiled by rain and wind—
so much comes down to timing.
To read Charlene’s winning poem and for more from Issue 28, visit our bookstore!
Charlene Kwiatkowski often writes about art and place from her home in Vancouver, BC. Her debut poetry chapbook Let Us Go Then is forthcoming this year with The Alfred Gustav Press. She has been published in The Ekphrastic Review, June 2020: A Pandemic Anthology (845 Press), PRISM international, Maisonneuve, and elsewhere. Charlene has a Master’s degree in English Literature and works at an art gallery. You can find her occasionally blogging (when new motherhood allows) at textingthecity.wordpress.com.
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