competitions
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PRIZES: 1st: £300 2nd: £150 3rd: £75
and Merit Prizes of One Year's subscription to
POETRY NOTTINGHAM
Adjudicator: Julia Copus
Closing Date: 8th September 2008
1. The competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over.
2. Poems should be in English, unpublished, not accepted or submitted for publication elsewhere, and must be your original work.
3. Poems should not be entered in any other competition, or have previously been a prizewinner in any other competition.
4. Poems should be no longer than 40 lines.
5. Each poem should be typed on a separate sheet of A4 paper, and must not bear your name or any other form of identification. On a separate sheet of paper list your name, address, titles of poems submitted, and where you heard about this competition. No application form necessary.
6. Entry fee: £3.00 per poem or £10.00 for 4 poems.
7. Any number of poems can be submitted on payment of the appropriate fee. Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to Nottingham Poetry Society. No stamps, foreign currency or Irish P.O's accepted
8.Winners will be notified by post in October 2008
9. Prizes will be presented at a public adjudication in Nottingham on 24th November 2008. All prizewinning poems will be published in Poetry Nottingham and a selection on this website. The decision of the adjudicator is final.
10. Entries should be addressed to: The Competition Secretary, 38 Harrow Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 7DU
To request further details, please contact us .
RESULTS OF THE NOTTINGHAM OPEN COMPETITION 2007
Adjudicated by Bernard O'Donoghue
1st: Grey Mullet - John W. Clarke
2nd: Villanelle for Pat - Janice Fox
3rd: And So To Bed - Fay Garrison
Merit Winners: C.J.Allen, Carl Chamberlain, A.F.Harrold, Wendy Klein,
Gillian Knibbs, Diana Pooley, Daphne Schiller, Michael Swan, Anna Wigley,
Michael J. Woods
Runners Up: Norman Bissett, Tom Dowling, David Olsen
PRIZE WINNING POEMS FROM 2007 NOTTINGHAM OPEN COMPETITION
First Prize
GREY MULLET
by John W. Clarke
Their mouths were too small, lips too soft
to tether their run, or bear their weight
when hoisted up by hook alone.
I never owned a landing net, but read the book
and rolled the crumb of bread
into a seed of dough that hid the hook.
Sometimes the bait would dance
like a table at a seance, until it fell away,
eclipsed. More often, they just hovered
by the granite steps, around green chains,
scaling the distance between boat and shadow,
oblivious, as if they listened out, waited
for someone to arrive, enthralled
by a sound on the edge of their hearing.
************************************
Second Prize:
VILLANELLE FOR PAT
by Janice Fox
'They've put me on this ship. I'm all at sea.'
White faced against white pillows she lay flat.
'I don't know why they've done this thing to me.'
She'd lost her deaf aid. It got swept away
In the confusion of clean sheets. She spat,
'They've put me on this ship. I'm all at sea.'
Her eyesight, bad for years, meant that she lay
Guessing at names as she lay calling out.
'I don't know why they've done this thing to me,'
Was her refrain, as they wheeled the trolley
Of pills, propped her so that she sat.
'They've put me on this ship, I'm all at sea,'
She told a passing nurse, her face grey
With dizziness and effort. 'I'll tell you what,
I don't know why they've done this thing to me.'
Her teeth were boxed, the hospital nightie
Her only clothes, her deaf aid lost. She thought,
'They've put me in this ship. I'm all at sea
And don't know why. They've done this thing to me.'
************************************
Third Prize:
AND SO TO BED
by Fay Garrison
Turn the bedsheets down, mother,
Turn the bedsheets down.
The curlew's call grows fainter
And a shadow hides the moon.
The fire glows dim upon the hearth,
The linen's crisp and neat;
The cover's stitched with colours bright,
While close by someone weeps.
D'you hear the sound of lovers' sighs,
A new-born baby's cry?
There's blood upon the pillow
And a voice whispers 'Goodbye'.
For maids must forfeit maidenheads
And kings secede their crowns;
So turn the bedsheets down, mother,
Turn the bedsheets down.
All the poems together with the merits and runners up are featured in 'Poetry Nottingham' Vol 61/3, available from 11 Orkney Close, Stenson Fields, Derbyshire DE24 3LW. Price £4.00 inc p&p
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