It’s been a privilege to read and reread these poems, and to respond to each. I could say so much about the process, but I’ll keep general thoughts short, as I want individual poems to be the focus here.
I notice among this year’s poems a good number that speak of time and how we perceive time, also a number concerning colour/s, quite a few that refer to mouths, and to sheep (I love poems about sheep). I don’t know what causes these concentrations, nor what they might mean. There’s some kind of collective unconscious at work, perhaps.
In terms of approach, I’d say that poems with a narrative lean, and short poems, are both a la mode here in Kent and Sussex. I’ve been impressed by the short poems, bringing that intense dart-like focus, and even more impressed by how poets handle
extent as a vital tool in the toolbox. Finding the right length for a poem is as important as other technical aspects. Knowing what to cut, knowing where to extend; knowing how to start and when to stop.
Of course it was difficult to choose, but what an excellent problem to have! Your poems will be sounding in my ears and thoughts for a long while to come.
First Prize: ‘Shrink me’ by Sophia Bartleet
This poem grew and grew and GREW on me from the first reading (which is lovely, because it’s all about shrinking, but a kind of growth that comes with shrinking!) It’s clever, witty, surprising, and follows an epic journey. I love the fairy tale opening ‘There once was…’ which sets the reader up for a particular kind of story, and we trust the speaker from this point onwards. The speaker-storyteller’s voice is strong, confident, and underneath the matter-of-factness there is so much going on. The three stages / stanzas, a classic 3-act narrative – set up, challenge, change and resolution. Beautifully controlled language, pace and imagery. The length of the poem aptly reflects the labour and experiences of the big woman as she grows into the minute woman, and it’s an entirely rewarding read. Many memorable lines, and sound effects (especially assonance) that really underpin the journey and its meanings, such as ‘her splayed feet sank to their ankles in black spring mud’ or ‘with her new bright pinprick eyes / skilfully selected each twig, / hand over fist’… ‘the trick of hitching lifts’. And such a gorgeous ending – the minute woman flying off with the blackbird. Simply terrific, and each reading reveals more…
Second Prize: ‘buzz buzz’ by Alexis Deese
This poem celebrating bees is bursting with wild energy and joy. I love it. The approach to language is so unstoppably playful, and right from the start the speaker draws us in, makes us complicit, with that ‘did you know…’ The imagery is exotic, exciting, funny, the imaginative leaps are larger than life as the poem moves into the ‘nectar orgy’ at its heart. The climax comes with ‘i would accept, i would, if it weren’t for the bees on my lips, how / their violet love in the violent light syncs to the grave rave gamma ray chaotic crave / no masquerade’. A whirlwind of a poem, it sweeps the reader into its hum and buzz of beauty and urgent chaos.
Third Prize: ‘Crossing’ by Satya Bosman
The essence of both tenderness and understatement, this poem is deeply moving, speaking of the strange crossovers in perception that are gifts in dark times. This subtle 14-liner is wonderfully constructed with recurring half-rhymes that support the form in ‘find’, ‘wind’, ‘hand’ and the ‘grand’ in ‘grandfather’. So much in this poem is about what is between the lines, what is not said. Yet everything, every time, co- exists here, and this merging, this blurring of boundaries is brought to a brilliant conclusion in the final line. Stunning.
Highly Commended
‘I am Baba Ghanoush’ by Amal Garnham
So much luscious sensory detail here, so much care for nourishment of all kinds, and for the meticulous unpacking of the conceit of this ‘self-portrait’. I love the use of the
chiming words ending in ‘tion’ and then the break with that, for cocoon at the end. A very striking idea, skilfully executed.
‘Volunteer’ by Cathy Hills
I found this consistently shocking and can’t get it out of my head. Such raw power: the speaker’s approach feels authentic and honest in the story-telling, and in presenting the dilemma of the ‘expelled pellet’ of information the speaker carries. Readers now carry that too. Spare use of imagery is very effective, beginning and ending with stalks and sticks, and the ‘tall grey stilt of a dahlia lady’.
‘Glued to a pheasant’s throat’ by Clem Henricson
The (mostly) short lines of this poem capture the shock of the narrative, and the use of colour is most effective from the mid point, in contrast to the ‘camouflage shades’ of the first stanza. And then the declaration of ‘it was the white / I took away / from the scene’. Well observed, and a very well controlled poem.
‘Being Rothko’s Red’ by Fiona Williams
Fifteen lines of pure joy in colours, mostly reds, and the images around them! A terrific range of references and evocations here, and so much action and attitude. The poem actually feels like it’s somehow been made by flinging colour at the page. I like the way it’s written ‘on behalf of the colours red’ – that’s excellent.
‘Kindling’ by Mary Gurr
This poem swerves, keeps the reader guessing until the very satisfying ending, one of those that sends us back to read again from the beginning. Lovely transitions between stanzas. The atmosphere is deeply rooted in a sense of place. The verbs do all the heavy-lifting. I love the idea of ‘stepping into the memoir / my mother never wrote’.
‘Agnus Dei’ by Phil Vernon
A skilful, well-constructed, carefully argued poem. Admirable pacing. I like the combination of the chosen bird images (kestrel and skylark) alongside reflections about faith. The sense of search throughout the poem is moving and precise, and is perfectly resolved in the final lines. I like being able to read across the two columns of the poem as well.
‘Biography’ by Suzanne Cleary
I admire the extent of this poem – not simply its physical length (which feels right) but the exploration of what reading is, what writing is – the merging, overlapping worlds of minds and imaginations. Gorgeous painterly details in the observations of objects. I liked the return of the word ‘sturdy’ to describe the glass, after its use to describe shoes.
The Kent & Sussex Poetry Society 