Daffodil Day Poem by Janine

Each year Daffodil Day promotes awareness of cancer and one of my friends, Janine wrote this beautiful poem which was awarded 2006 Poetry Outstanding Entry.
W.

Janine McGinness-Whyte
On seeing your chair

That huge green recliner
You could fall asleep in

Drink an afternoon beer
And study the form guide

A memory rouses-
Of shifting the furniture

To find shards of glass born
From your hand’s broken clasp

You hid the evidence
Like a guilty child

My honest father, lying,
That he had bitten his tongue

Denying the tumour
That slurred speech

And allowed cups of amber
To smash on the tiles

Judge's CommentsProust once said that writing is like a telescope, bringing the distant close. In general, this is true of memory, and I think it is specifically true of Janine McGinness-Whyte’s poem. Recalling a domestic incident, the poet enlarges, and brings into clear focus, the character of the father who is mourned. The short rather sharp lines, and diction, enhance the shard-like properties of loss, shattered glass and memory. Judge Jennifer Harrison.