Winners of the 2010 poetry competition
A wide range of poems was submitted;
rhyming, free verse, covering all the subjects under the sun. It’s
good to see so many people enthusiastic about creative writing –
poetry in particular – and it was a difficult job to judge.
In the end, I looked at poems which
worked on several levels; poems with depth. They lingered in my
head after reading and encouraged me to go back to them.
Sarah Mclennan - competiton judge and
Liverpool poet
Adult 1st Prize - Andrew Wilson
Tapestry
How to paint the buzz of bees
and catch in voiding, straightening stitch
the yellow-brown and fur
with a brilliance, needle-specked in red
over knees and furry ankles
and catch busy thread like busy bee
across the splendid stretch
of greens and grasses and sunlit beech-
to embroider-fast the dancing patterns of
come and go to gaudy-painted hive
to know the precise, pricked-out point of landing home,
and climb to dark recessed combs and
paper nests?
Fly fated bee from hive to splendid
flower
to darn the distances of life’s
weave of work and death
and all that’s in-between.
Adult 2nd Prize - Ian Cragg
The Lark
Ascending
(For my brother Rob, with love)
Go back, go back
Go back in time
To an endless future
And an endless summer.
Freckled noses and bare brown
arms
We wandered, innocent and curious
To seek, discover or maybe just to be
And found ourselves, brothers and friends,
In an endless field under a
boundless sky-
A blue so clear it broke your heart,
A blue so near and yet so far
Holding a sun of smiling warmth.
Lay back, lay back
Lay back in the grass
And lose yourself
In that endless sky.
Tousled heads rest back on bare
arms
And cornflower eyes search the sky
Scanning without seeing, then – Hearing!
That joyous song, that distillation of summer and boyhood
A sound that flutters, a sight that
flickers
-like memories-and then! Your eyes fix upon the lark
So stupendously free, its heart bursting with joy-
Our hearts bursting with a summer sweetness we know must end.
Way back, way back
Way back in our past I lose myself
In that timeless song
She holds, she dips she hovers, yet
climbs ever higher
And still her song calls to us, earthbound,
“Fly! Fly! Soar! Sing”…and we cannot answer, but watch
The diminishing speck that holds summer in her breast.
She sees- though we are irrelevant-
the watching boys
And she holds sway over land and sky and time.
Her soaring voice casts the summer song across the years…
She sings and I yearn…
Come back, come back
Come back to the men
We think we are
With endless life
Bring back, bring back
Bring back those boys
Who basked in sun and,
Unknowing, in love.
Adult 3rd Prize - Eoghan Brennan
Circles of Hell
The circles of hell are all around
us,
They’re mass-produced and they surround us,
Hell is other people, friend,
Abandon every hope.
Why is it when I watch TV,
Some dimwit’s staring back at me?
Get back to that obscurity!
Your fifteen minutes is up!
Down at the store a magazine,
Promotes a lifestyle that’s obscene,
For folks who got to Carnegie,
By simply turning up,
Shoot your mouth off –You’ll go
far,
Kiss and tell – That’s on a par,
Mime a cover- Superstar!
Just make sure you’re on camera.
Love is good but love is pure,
Don’t spread it ‘round like it’s manure,
No wonder your love won’t endure,
When you show it no respect.
The F-lister who’s paid a bale
Of cash each time she tells her tale,
Of whale to stick then back to whale,
Then back to stick and so on…
Massive breasts and narrow
hips,
The sculptor sucks, the surgeon rips,
Steal from the ass to pay the lips,
I’m sure Rome fell for less.
So what will tomorrow hold?
How will the great unknown unfold?
A cultural void is what I’m told,
But yet I dare to dream.
Hope’s not abandoned- don’t you
fret,
The future’s not been written yet,
Against the odds I’ll take a bet,
That we can do much better.
Teenage 1st Prize - Shannon Doyle
Home is where the heart
is
If home is where the heart is;
My heart will never be lost.
Encased behind muscle and bone,
With lungs and a kidney- destined never to be alone.
My heart is not
indestructible,
My heart is not ‘safe as houses’,
-Such a stupid contradiction-
It can be entered but only with your participation.
My home is not a lime green
house
Near the train station, or on the bend
My home is with acquaintances, family and friends
All those who mean so much to me,
I have a welcome mat waiting just for you.
Teenage 2nd Prize - Abbie Flaherty
Making a House a
Home
A house isn’t a home without the
ingredients
A handful of family and friends are needed
Warmth, happiness and a spoonful of joy
And a sprinkling of trust from every girl to every boy
Soft voices, just loud enough for
you to hear
All the sounds you love, dancing in your ear
Love and laughter all around
Comfy and cosy, not a single sound
Enough hugs just to taste
Everywhere you look a smiling face
A cup of life and a hint of tranquillity
Mix this together for the perfect homely recipe.
Teenage Third Prize - Chloe
Clark
Please Adopt Me
Please give me a home that’s really
great.
Please give me food on a clean plate
Please read me stories every night
Please always keep me in your sight.
Please hug and kiss me
everyday
Please tell me the right and wrong way
Please, if I can’t speak, tell me what to say.
Please help me learn for my sats in May.
Please support me in school
races
Please tell me how to tie my laces
Please teach me how to sing and write and dance
Please take me somewhere nice like France.
Please be a good family,
Please always love me
Please help me learn my ABC’s
But mostly, please take good care of me.
Under 12 1st Prize - Zarah Ashraf and Jordan Quinn
The Spooky
When I moved to my new house I was
scared to death,
I wondered is there a threat?
Some people say that this town was a spooky town,
Those people have made me have a frown,
I whine every night in case some ghost comes or a witch,
My Mum says I’m just a worrier,
Splatter, splash the dark treacle mixture
Of blood and bones poured from the crack
In the ceiling,
I had just found out that there is a headless creature in my
loft,
Bump Bang Splish Splosh,
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Under 12 Second Prize - Jade Thorold
I Don’t Know
I just try to make it stop but it
won't.
I call a doctor, an ambulance, a hospital
oa I don't know what to do now.
It is complicated,
I just don't know how to get it out the way.
I throw it in the dust bin
I crush it with a truck
I rip it up in pieces
I melt it in a fire
I just don't know!
Under 12 Third Prize - Jacob Harrison Stillings
Bonfire Night
A hog crackling and roasting over an
open fire
While the moon gazes her mimicked light over the sodden
field.
Children and adults, left, right and centre gather for the
show,
Gather for the excitement.
The monster roars in yellow, orange
and red,
Flames danced over the old sofas and wood.
He cries and whines before spitting sparks into the air,
The warmth hits your noses, huddles you together
While green shoots into the air,
racing,
Climbing, seeing who will be first;
It explodes into gold and blue,
Their beauty falling over the wet ground.
Returning home with a whine.
The colour ends its shift with a
sigh,
they all arrive back.
They try to resist, flames and light,
But they can’t rival the pull,
They hit Earth sadly and, once again, darkness reigns.