Jonathan Humphrey — Touchstone Award for Individual Poems — Winner 2025

Jonathan Humphrey is the recipient of a Touchstone Award for Individual Poems for 2025, for the poem:

dusk
fine tuning the dark
around a cello

— Jonathan Humphrey, NOON: Journal of the Short Poem, Issue 27, April 2025.

Commentary from the Panel:

Through the poet’s artful use of synesthesia, this beautiful and evocative poem doesn’t quite make rational sense, but we intuitively understand the interplay of sight and sound. We hear the deep, earthy cello notes as dusk, as darkness. We see the cellist bowing with sensitivity and care to match the music to the moment. Perhaps his or her playing is changing as twilight turns to night.

Dusk, especially autumn dusk, is a traditional kigo, or season word, that can evoke the bittersweet melancholy of fall. Though this poem does not specify the time of year, it conjures an autumnal mood of quiet contemplation and shifting into darkness. The choice of “dusk” on its own for the first line, plus the prominent placement of “dark” at the end of line two, deepen the sense of sorrow and loss amid the exquisite beauty of the music.

To tune a cello, one makes major adjustments with the four large pegs on the scroll and more subtle adjustments using the four fine tuners on the tailpiece. In fine-tuning his or her instrument, the musician also fine-tunes the space around it as the notes vibrate the air molecules and ripple outwards. At the same time, the cellist fine-tunes our emotions through the rich and resonant music that pours from the instrument.

During the depths of the COVID pandemic, renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma received a COVID shot at a Massachusetts vaccination clinic. To give thanks and to provide comfort to the workers and patients in a difficult time, he performed Bach and Schubert pieces on his cello in the waiting area. Fine-tuning the dark indeed!

The poet has made skillful use of sonic devices. Starting and ending with the same consonants, the words “dusk” and “dark” go beyond alliteration to echo and emphasize each other. While lines one and two end with a short, sharp “k,” the poem concludes with a long “o” like the last note of a cello piece, fading into twilight. This is a poem to see, hear, and savor on multiple readings.

Touchstone winners receive a crystal award to commemorate their selection. See the complete list of winners of both Individual Poem Awards and Distinguished Books Awards in the Touchstone Archives.

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