Poetry winners announced!
Organiser Belinda Wilkins was delighted that more than 50 competitors sent in more than 100 poems from as far away as Jersey and Windermere. Planned as a fund-raising event for Cruse Bereavement Care, it raised £500 for the West Sussex branch.
Judge Sara Hutton Potts and Belinda spent hours reading and re-reading the varied collection covering a multitude of subjects. They then had the hard task of choosing the winners.
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Hide AdBelinda said: “The age range was immense from nine to 93. Sadly only two juniors entered and so the spare section prize money enabled a new section to be formed with the theme of Grief. All the prize winners can be read on Cruse Lines Poetry Competition webpage and Facebook Page.
“A number of other poems that caught the eye of the judges will be posted on the sites during the next few months.”
Sara said: “The standard was extremely high, and it was so hard to come to the final decisions. Poetry is such a personal and subjective genre in all its varied forms and structures, but it was great to see many very confident and original ideas conveyed in a variety of forms and structures, free verse, rhyming couplets and stanzas – for those of you thinking of entering next year – be bold and brave with all the aspects of writing.
“Don’t be tricked into faithfully following a rhyme scheme. Sometimes this can be very restrictive. Repetition can also be restricting, but on the other hand it sometimes has impact. Finally, find a couple of guinea-pigs to read your work aloud to, and before submitting, leave it aside for several days before returning to it and proof-reading several times.”
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Hide AdThe organisers are planning a poetry day when all poems will be on display and a number being read out loud. Competitors will be forwarded the details at a later date.
Belinda added: “For those who enjoyed entering this year’s Cruse Lines Poetry Competition or those who missed out and would like to take part next year the theme for the sections will be Nature, Grief, Humour and Any Subject. There is plenty of time for the closing date is not until February 1. All results and details of next year will be on the web page www.cruselinespoetrycompetition.com
CRUSE LINES POETRY COMPETITION 2017 Prize Winners
SECTION 1: Any Subject
1st Threads: Mrs Beryl Flemming (Worthing)
2nd Below the CCTV Mr Keith Livingstone (Royston)
3rd Roche Court Sculpture Park Mrs Miranda Bentinck (Fordingbridge)
SECTION 2: HOME:
1st The Shoe Box: Mrs Maureen Judson (Windermere)
2nd Home Ms Tamsim Cottis (E11 London)
3rd A Kind of Homeless Mrs Pauline Harrowell (Addingham)
SECTION 3: GRIEF SECTION:
1st After: Mrs Isobel Thrilling (Skipton)
2nd Quiet Light Mr Jan Zienkiewicz (Worthing)
3rd Parting Shots Mrs Linda Manley (Pulborough)
JUNIOR SECTION:
1st Perfect piece of paper: Millie Marie Timns Aged 10 (Waterlooville)
2nd Shipwreck: Cecily Taylor Aged 9 (SW1 London)
THE SHOE BOX
There’s a box of photos
Upstairs in a drawer
A shoe box , tied up with string
A box tired of moving store
But in this box is home.
They never made the album
Gilt edged and leather bound
Now faded, creased, in disarray
Still capturing a life in a day
For in this box is home
Once on the shelf
In gilded frame
now surpassed by colour and gloss
a school blazer, a team a race just won
And in this box is home
A day on the beach
a youthful gaze
a summer of sunshine and dreams
a future that has long passed
and in this box is home
Now sorted, listed tidied up,
Interleaved with acid-free
But none removed and none replaced
For this box is home to me
…..Mrs Maureen Judson
AFTER
Grief is not the enemy of sleep,
it wearies bone,
wrings out the nerves
and fibres,
whitens the heart.
It’s morning-sky that falls
with a crack of glass,
rips open eyes
and all the bandages
of the dark are stripped away,
fresh light spills blood,
and yet
after ghosts of time,
light will settle quiet flakes.
………Isobel Thrilling
THREADS
A gossamer thread, womb-spun -
spiralling, drifting, gently guiding
the path I tread:
binding, yet loving and free -
I am part of her - and she of me
Within the mysterious womb-warm dark
the thread,
twisting and turning,
played its invisible part;
and when she cried aloud to give me birth
the thread fell free
and wound itself about my heart.
I was part of her - and she of me.
Unbroken, the thread spins on -
I spin for my child and,
when my course is run,
she must the spinner be.
Thus each is joined and bound -
down, down,
down endless corridors of unrecorded time:
I am part of her and she of me.
When we are spirits,
formless, floating, free -
with each new birth the thread will spin
and every she
who holds a babe against her heart
lets fall the thread she cannot see.
And I for all eternity will be
a womb-spun part of her - and she of me.
…Beryl Flemming
PERFECT PIECE OF PAPER
O majestic, marvellous piece of paper
How your smooth skin is as smooth as butter
How gently you cascade across my desk
How you let my pencil run upon you
How your skin is as white as a blanket of snow.
O majestic, marvellous piece of paper
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Hide AdHow your knife-like edges slit open my skin, leaving a track of rosy red blood
It’s as painful as cutting yourself with a piercing knife
You leave me in despair as I rush to get a plaster
It’s critical, it may well be torture
At least its’ not as bad as being demolished by towering giant.
O majestic, marvellous piece of paper
You’re a dance floor for my pencil as he traces my thoughts
It’s as graceful as a ballerina who’s been dancing all her life
It’s as fascinating as pouring flour to make a cake.
O majestic, marvellous piece of paper
How you let me cut shapes out of your slender body
How you give me the gift of freedom to do what I would like to do with you.
……….. Millie Marie Timns