The Friends of Polish Art held their Annual Szopka Competition. The competition winners were announced during Wigilia dinner on December 17, 2022. Brian Malski and Iwona Jedrzejczak presented the winners:
1st place: Carolyn Meleski
2nd place: Jan Mordenski
Jan Mordenski wrote the poem about Szopka, first time it was published in SPIRIT magazine in 1983.
During Wigilia’s event, Jan read her poem:
Szopka
At Christmas,
a cardboard cathedral:
three-spired, wired
with tiny lights for effect.
Gilded, glazed,
exoteric suspect, it’s gaudy
but we know its secret
appeal.
One year
Uncle Martin carved the figures,
colored them with
Tester paints:
bright blue eyes on Mary
and her man,
tomato-cheeked angels,
and swarthy slightly
leaning kings,
animals and shepherds,
all from some unwritten
storybook land.
Jesus was born in a stable
and we put him in a
play-palace,
reverently unrealistic.
We lie a little bit,
my Aunt Cesia says,
but so long as they’re good
lies, what’s the harm?
we always
knew God
deserved better.
