Broken Dream

[Trần Phương My (pucca0love)]

There is something
Different in her smile
Something sad
Something lost
Something unspoken
Hidden deep behind
Her smile


I can feel it
Invisible
Silence
Heavily weighted on my shoulder
When she opens her mouth
Big, round
Shape into
The word ‘Bye.’


On that cold winter night,
My mother walks out of my life
As fast as the wind
As quiet as the air
Shrink my dreams into darkness.
I stand
And stare into space
With a heart broken
Into million pieces.

Tran Phuong My

 

[Nguyễn Vân Mai (nvanmai)]

Comments from the Writing Board of Examiners:

“The feelings are genuine yet hard to relate to at first. The tone is appropriate and effective. There are some minor grammatical errors but overall, the poem flows smoothly.”

“Concise yet very telling, this poem did a good job in sketching a child hood tragedy. I like the way the writer emphasizes her mom's actions and movements before she left, it is like a close-up scene, very cinematographic.”