The Second Prize in our 2025 member’s Folio Competition was awarded by judge Ella Frears to How To Catch Light by Veronica Beedham.
How To Catch Light
It was his trade above the clatter of the street,
among the town’s brewers and weavers and potters
to paint; call up those dark interiors where
nothing happens, but someone reads a letter
or pours milk into a bowl – the world made right
and luminous, for these are art’s illusions,
tricks, from nothing beads of gold and measured light.
Ah, Johannes, the master! See how he makes the eye
linger on such simple things, ceramic
or a spoon; a book left open on the table.
And then invites you in to sit, for just this moment’s
morning sun, feel a breeze from his high window
raise the hairs on your arm.
______________
Judge Ella Frears commented: A poem of great skill – this is a poet who knows how to break a line. I loved the excitement here. It’s an ekphrastic poem that really captures the magic of Vermeer’s paintings. A poem that sets up the busyness of life before holding us in the moment of the paintings – ‘from nothing beads of gold and measured light’. There’s an excellently placed exclamation mark, beautiful use of tercets and that final indented line ‘raise the hairs on your arm’ is thrilling.
The Kent & Sussex Poetry Society 