1st Prize – Rex Andrews with:

Earth

I am the clay between the potter’s hands:
obedient, devoid of shape or skill,
I yield submissive to her fond caress
as subtle fingers bend me to her will.

I am the ochre loam cloaking rich fields
Where hopeful farmers plant the dormant seeds
that suck refreshment from my willing breast.
I am the bed that harvests human needs.

I am the compost at the garden’s end,
sordid corrution, ordure and decay,
discreetly hidden from the flowers I feed
whose blossoms are my resurrection day.

I am the lava from volcanic depths,
flaming and fuming from the planet’s womb.
I scour and scourge the living mountainside
and make of it a monumental tomb.

I am the mud that clings to marching boots
as ravaging armies range to spread their bounds.
I am the crumbling dust of martial hopes:
destruction’s debris, conquest’s burial grounds.

I am the Earth, the ancient goddess Gaia,
mother of mountains, of the seas and skies;
the living planet, source of all that breathes,
takes shape, awakes, evolves and multiplies.

Mankind is clay shaped by my timeless power,
evolved through aeons, not for mindless strife
But to enjoy a little passing hour,
a miracle of stardust tasting life.

Critique by Competition Adjudicator, Alison Chisholm

Having the opportunity to read the entries in a poetry competition is rather like being presented with all the knowledge, concerns, reactions and emotions that demonstrate what it is to be human. The gift is precious, so it must be handled with respect and care.

The same respect and care go into the crafting of the best poems. If poets write with fidelity to their understanding and appreciation of the poem’s theme, precision of approach and image, accuracy of the technicalities of grammar, syntax and punctuation, and with the indefinable flair that will inspire the reader, the poem’s a winner. All those qualities were demonstrated in the four brilliant poems awarded prizes this year.

The first prize goes to Earth, a poem which reads with apparent simplicity because it uses language and image lucidly and accurately, but which communicates its powerful message through a finely wrought and logical sequence of ideas. The reaction ‘I’d never thought of it like that’ is the response all poets seek. This one has earned it.

Expecting wins second prize. This is a poem about the arrival of a baby and the reactions of mother and child – a subject that has been covered countless times in the past. Here, however, we see an original, daring and insightful account, written with confidence and clarity, that lingers in the memory.

The poem gaining third place again follows a familiar route. In Canaletto – The stonemason’s yard we see both the picture and its links with the life of the artist. Here, too, originality of expression gives the poem something new, while the sonnet form is handled with skill and panache, and enough confidence to allow subtle varients in rhyme without weakening the dynamic of the form.

Fourth prize is awarded to another poem on the theme of art, Pencil drawing of a girl, circa 1912, partially erased. In this beautifully controlled and balanced poem, we are given the chance to contemplate what would usually be seen as an afterthought – the artist’s decision to remove part of the picture. The significance of this act becomes a metaphor for how we look back on our life; and again, the poem fixes itself in the reader’s mind.

Thank you, thank you everyone who allowed me the privilege of reading your poems.