Judging this competition wasn’t easy. There were many interesting poems; some with intriguing local and historic information that had they been slightly
more poetic and to the point, would have been in contention for the prizes.
After much re-reading, the 156 entries were narrowed down 27 poems and the finer points of construction, subject matter, and inventiveness were scrutinised. In the end, I chose ‘Once Upon A Tiger’ in first place, because of its unusual and interesting content, its use of language, and its well-paced presentation.
Second was ‘Scafell,’ which is a full of atmosphere and some tension, in its description of a mountain climb. The metaphors are gently inserted but expertly selected to give maximum impact.
It wasn’t so easy to select third place, but after much deliberation, ‘Commuter Computer’ edged ahead. It is up to date, a social statement, and so well-written.
The two Highly Commended places were given to ‘Hurricane Rita’, with its on-the-spot descriptions, and the back to earth realisation that the roast is still in the oven after all the upheaval; and ‘Sun Street, Shelton,’ which dared to use dialect words in its intense description of a lost street. It was perhaps over-descriptive but had the energy and a love of the place that was infective.
I don’t go for prose poems, but there‘s always an exception that defeats one’s prejudices, and ‘Graffiti Artist, 37, seeks symbol with gsoh’ does just that in its female answer to scrawlings of male genitalia on public walls. It is included in my seven commended poems. The others are ‘Schubertaid’, a frozen description of Beethoven‘s funeral; three excellent nature poems in ‘Sunrise at Wainlode,’ ‘In the Key of Regret,’ and ‘News from Wales’; the humorous ‘Garden Pests,’ whose slugs and snails will never fail to leave a slimy, wicked trail, and the tightly-written ‘A Dorset Couple,’ whose cold stone effigies glow warmly in this fine description.
Thank you all for giving me such enjoyable poems to judge.
Geoff Stevens
