cutting reeds
piece by piece
the backwater turns blue
ścinanie trzciny
stopniowo błękitnieje
SHARPENING THE GREEN PENCIL 2016 RESULTS
The poem does not need kireji since it frames a meaningful story whose meaning skids by itself, unexpectedly, from a practical matter to a symbolical, almost exemplary, result. The characteristic charm and tension of the poem consists in a contextual ellipsis whose hint is only given with its last word. The hard work (done by just one individual or perhaps by us all) turns out to be a kind of escape, release, patient purification of the water which reflects the blue sky. Piece by piece, as a result of our labour, the sky changes the backwater’s colour.
comment by Corneliu Traian ATANASIU, President of the Jury
translation by Ana DROBOT