Dr. Tina Barr, contest judge.
Dr. Barr teaches in the Great Smokies Program, out of UNCA, as well as one on one: via phone and Skype. She supports those who write for personal reasons, as well as published writers. Dr. Barr has an MFA from Columbia University’s School of the Arts (NYC), a Ph.D. and an M.A. in the study of English Literature from Temple University.
Judge Tina Barr said this about my poem:
This poet makes an ABC poem, beginning each line with a sequential letter of the alphabet. The writer’s strategy takes me back to the delight we all experience in nursery rhymes, in the satisfactions of language itself. At the same time, the poet has grouped the poem’s lines in stanzas of four lines each, with a closing couplet, making use of a loose aabb pattern. The writer manages to navigate these requirements without making the language convoluted. I especially like the line “Cocoa is reflected on the sand,” because I can smell cocoa, I can see its color, and it gives me a new way of seeing sand as a certain color. The poem is all about landscape, but conflates the way in which artists “see” land: “X marks the spot where color is the best.” So the poem is more sophisticated than it first appears, and it is gratifying to read.
Amber is a color that shines
Blue is what paints our skies
Cocoa is reflected on the sand
Dandelions grow on sacred land
Echoes are found in red canyons
Fuchsia is a plant easy to imagine
Grapes make a variety of wines
Honey is the relief that satisfies
Ice cycles glimmer in the dark
Junipers thrive in nations far
Karma can be an artist’s palette
Lively paintings are only a habit
Maps allow us to see the earth
Night is when glow is rebirthed
Oceans fill our mind with hope
Possibilities a painter only knows
Quoting every poet that lived
Reaching out with a story to give
Scenery that is driven by talent
Treasuring God’s rainbow as valid
Unfurling every canvas is a shade
Variety in its tint will never fade
While the artist continues to express
X marks the spot where color is the best
Yield to those who won’t see art greater
Zeal is what you need to embrace its creator