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RESULTS OF THE POETRY KIT EKPHRASTIC POETRY COMPETITION 2023
1st Place
Runner-up
MONA LISA – Jane Edmonds (Beaconsfield)
Commended
Response to Misery by Joe Troughton
(Gawthorpe)
Lady Jane by Scott Elder (France)
The Last Man… by Robin Gilbert (Cheltenham)
Sunflowers by Rita Carter (Ireland)
Nightfall, Luxor by Stephen Percival
(Liverpool)
'Corporation Street Birmingham March 1914'
by steve Harrison (Shropshire)
When I Say You I Mean Me by Suzanna
Fitzpatrick (Orpington)
Fetus by Georgina Titmus (Truro)
A judges report will be published here as soon as we have
it.
Intercessor By Glen Wilson
After ‘A special pleader’ by Charles Burton Barber
They must have posted this out in the eighties
to all the homes in our area, it was that familiar.
In neighbours and friends house hung various sun-bleached
copies,
the girl against the wall, the collie, one protective leg
lifted,
ears bent to appease some authority figure out of frame,
the exact offence unexplained. We filled in many blanks.
Our copy was mounted in the landing, outside the
bathroom,
while in the frame the scene led to a lounge with a
piano,
I had never associated it with music or silence until
now,
If this picture, or any picture has sound, it was the
dog’s pleading.
The wallpaper in the painting was fancier than the
wallpaper
it rested upon, though we did have curtains the same
Olive green.
I only notice now the doll in the teal dress and yellow
sash
passed out on the hardwood, no one ever came to lift her.
I always recollected that the girl was crying
but now face half-turned I see no tears
only a blush of an unknown shame.
We had a dog just like that collie,
I never got to say goodbye to her.
RUSULTS OF THE POETRY KIT SPRING COMPETITION 2023
1st
place
Underlay by Rachel Goodman (Hindringham, UK)
Runner-up
A Last Walk Along the Strand by Chris Raetschus (Hexham, UK)
Highly Commended
Nells House by Nancy Tinnell (Louisville, USA)
The universe by Mitali Parewa (London, UK)
Mistakes by Anna Kenyon (UK)
Ink by Anna Whitehouse (Birmingham, UK)
Communication by A C Clarke (Glasgow, UK)
Give me a Second by Gemma Barnett (UK)
Excarnation by Dan Mountain (Cheltenham, UK)
.
The poems
for this year’s open Spring competition were varied. Dealing with diverse
subjects from a train journey over the Rockies to a visit to the supermarket.
A longlist was selected from the entries and from this came the shortlist and
the eventual winners. The winning poem Underlay by Rachel Goodman was
chosen because it is a unique poem, in some ways a meta poem, and one that moves
through elements of a relationship and through time, through loss and
generations, containing the stories of those relationships and dealing with
loss. its use of the device of printing out the draft of a poem onto a
previously used piece of paper works very well and allows us a glimpse of
"Nancy" who we can assume is the person being referred to in other parts of the
poem. This use of revelation and the episodic way we see her and the
viewpoint character works well and the result is an poem that at no time does
this poem become mawkish but deals with its painful subjects in a matter of fact
way, engaging the reader and drawing us along with these carefully presented
snapshots. This poem with its imagery and metaphor left an impression that
tipped the balance for me in selecting it as the winning poem.
Underlay
March 2022. In the garage I find offcuts of carpet
from before the ones she has now –
the carpets that would see her out. In
Paradisum. Snowdrops.
The printer ink is running low, but I’m only at
first draft stage. I print drafts on
Nancy’s Daily Care
Plan
the backside of used paper; other people’s poems,
earlier drafts, her last will and testament.
My font is sans serif.
Nancy’s
She used to call it the Curse. Each month,
hormones with their hammers pounded her brain. Sometimes at weekends too.
We learnt not to resent her absence. Afternoon rest:
Yes/No
Are we heading for a Third World War?
It’s too late to prune the wisteria. The solicitor says I needn’t apply for
probate. The charity shop only wants summer clothes.
Nancy does her own Beconase nasal spray every AM & PM
____________________
The days are threadbare. I’m only at first draft stage.
I’ve had too many coffees and the printer ink is
running low.
Care Plan
The faint lines of the tick boxes showing through are mildly
irritating.
I prefer Calibri (Body) – no nonsense. We had to
play quietly on migraine days.
My sister wears her elder child crown of thorns and
is too wounded to discuss the practicalities.
Should I, could I, house some refugees? I
have the room, but not the space. The lady in the butcher’s says perhaps
they could help pick cabbages. I think of engineers and poets bent double
in the fields.
I try to recycle. Sometimes the printer takes up
two or ten pages at once and then gets stuck. It doesn’t do it with new
paper. Her dying has made me surly and old.
_____________________
She wasn’t there when I started bleeding.
Care I waited for the migraine. My
sister got that gene – and the wedding ring – she cried.
Plan
I got the arthritis. Sapphires and diamonds.
Nancy’s
avec serif
1/
She said the carpets would see her out, but there
were bald patches where her feet had been. She put rugs down. I said
they were a trip hazard. My sister agreed.
The days are threadbare. You can almost see
the underlay. I would have picked daffodils for her about now. Seven
black sacks of birthday cards.
Catheter night bag: Clarity? Capacity? Concerns?
Too many sandals.
It was something we would have to accept, as girls.
She married once. I married twice.
My sister married someone in 1985 so she could get
her green card. Did Nancy ever know?
There’s a Bra Bank outside Tesco. Her
underwear drawer is full of empty Jo Malone bottles and lavender bags that smell
of nothing.
____________________
The policeman was embarrassed, told us to take off
her jewellery, just in case. Her earrings were clogged with face powder. I
cleaned them, but I can’t wear them.
I showed my daughter how to put a tampon in.
Supervise & Assist
sans serif
The ink is running low. I’ll print out this
version on a clean sheet. The next version on its backside, so you will see the
underlay. English Pear & Freesia. Five nail clippers.
Hairpins.
Oil of Olay. A heart cushion – I love
Grandma. Tena Lady. Tiger balm. Oramorph.