The Writers Bureau Short Story Competition 2019
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The Winner of this year’s Poetry Competition

1st Prize – Margaret Eddershaw with:

Bones

On an exhibit in Nafplion Archaeological Museum

I’m drawn
to the translucent skeleton
of a new-born
buried seven thousand years ago
in a neolithic cave,
foetally displayed
in a shallow, wooden tray,
tiny bones feathered
into a womb of sand.

The skull large for the body,
as with most infants,
its frail eggshell
marked by tectonic plates
for the earthquake of birth;
the spine laid out –
a thread of delicate pearls –
bird’s claws for feet and hands.

Was this an ordinary child –
interred with a miniature marble dish
polished inside,
an earthenware scoop
its handle pierced for hanging up,
and a small necklace
of coloured beads?

Tenderness gathers here,
parental sorrow salved
by the precision of ritual,
no evidence of violence –
unlike remains in mass graves –
no hatred
to be inhaled from this dust,
nor bitterness held
in bone,
there’s no rictus of realisation,
nor terror
lurking in eye-sockets,
just the eternal simplicity
of unfleshed innocence.

 

Critique by Competition Adjudicator, Alison Chisholm

This was a challenging competition to judge, as many of the entries were imaginative in both content and use of language, and were carefully crafted to produce some real gems of poetry.

Although it was disappointing to find some hackneyed or under-explored themes, and technical problems in the construction of the poems, the overall standard was high and the winners outstanding.

In first place is Bones, a visual and moving poem about an exhibit in a Greek museum, which demonstrates how a poem can cross barriers of time, distance and culture to reach a universal source of pain and pity. Vocabulary, imagery and vision combine to make this a very special poem.

The second prize is awarded to Noli Me Tangere, ‘touch me not’, an unsentimental view of the Ressurection seen through the eyes of Mary of Bethany (also recognised in some traditions as Mary Magdalene). The imagery is vivid, and the simplicity of the last two lines resonant and compelling.

Third place goes to Auntie Bob’s Feet, a poem that conjures a whole character simply by looking at the life and actions of her feet. This is clever and quirky, and makes taut and telling use of language.

Fourth prize is awarded to The Language of Toddlers, a beautifully observed piece that celebrates the glory of relishing the flavour of words in a way we lose too quickly. This is a neatly balanced poem with an irresistible message.

Thank you everyone who entered, and more power to your pens.

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