Poetry Competition 2007
Silver Wyvern
Sudden Jazz after Interesting Paperback - Christopher North, Alicante (Spain)
2nd Prize: Paris - Mario Petrucci, Enfield (UK)
3rd Prize: Wild Child - Marcus Smith, San Francisco (USA)
4th Prize : Drawing Blood - Roger Elkin, Stoke-on-Trent (UK)
Highly Commended
5th Wilderness Looms - Elisabeth Rowe, Devon (UK)
6th Hangover Hotel - Rob Mackenzie, Edinburgh
7th Blod and Goronwy in Cornwall - Zeeba Ansari, Truro (UK)
Commended/Shortlisted
8th We Move to Railway Street - Kaye Lee, London (UK)
9th Dragonfly Dogfight - Peter Wyton, Gloucester (UK)
10th Pantoum of a Wild Retirement - Don Nixon, Albrighton (UK)
11th Playing Religious Table-Tennis with Robert - James Armstrong, Eastbourne (UK)
12th St Davids - Victoria Field, Falmouth (UK)ù
13th Flying High - Susi Clare, Travedona Monate (Italy)
14th Unnatural selection - Susie Gibson, Amesbury (UK)
15th Bull Rider - Thelma Laycock, Leeds (UK)
16th Crow - Jane Lovell,Kenilworth (UK)
17th Conversation with William - Christopher North, Alicante
18th Now and Now again - Christopher North, Alicante
19th The Loons on Halls Lake - Anne Ballard, London (UK)
20th Challenge - Zeeba Ansari, Truro (UK)
BILL WINTER 2007 RESULTS
adjudicated by Kevin Bailey
Winner:
Chris Considine, Richmond, Yorkshire : Coming Home
Highly Commended:
Kate Noakes, Caversham, Reading : Salamander Wife
Daniel Healy , Cambridge : Thirst
Commended
Steve Allen, Milton Keynes :Tamarind
Barry Tempest, Dorchester : Marabou Barracks
John Godfrey , Hitchin, Herts : Mercator Projection
Lynne Rees, Offham, Kent : haiku
Jerm Curtin, Lugo, Spain : Milk
Judge’s report:
I found a number of the contest poems pretty good – standard generally higher than last year. Difficult to select a ‘winner’ but after much scratching of vitals have come up with the following, though first three of equal merit really. All these eight are up to HQ inclusion standard.
Kevin Bailey
Results FORMAL CATEGORY
adjudicated by Gary BillsWINNER. Elsa Corbluth, Rodden, Dorset: Beach Sculpture. "Original, atavistic, human and moving". HIGHLY COMMENDED. Helen L. Bromley, Sedbergh, Cumbria:
The Children of Lot. "Superbly crafted and imaginative".
Alessio Zanelli, Cremona, Italy :
Dreamskimmer. "Intriguing, and a fine sense of rhythm". COMMENDED. Anne Ballard, London : Apology from a reluctant tortoise
Llyn Evans, Penzance, Cornwall : Troubadour.
Jacqueline Gabbitas, London : Maxwell's Otter
Maggie Norton, Ulverston, Cumbria : Stealing Tixall Wide from the Staffs and Worcester Canal. Judge's report: The number of villanelles submitted was remarkable, as was the number of pantoums and sestinas, to a lesser extent. Only one villanelle made it into the shortlist, - no pantoum and no sestina. Why so? Considering the villanelle as a form, for instance, I think it only really works when all the lines are very suitable or very strong. Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle.." remains, I think, the only great villanelle in English. Otherwise, the repetition can expose the weakness of an idea, in a sustained form, - in a way that a basic refrain does not, so long as it is well chosen. In other words, the danger of the villanelle form is that it can bore the reader or the listener and place faux significance, through repetition, on lines that do not deserve the repeating. The shortlisted villanelle, "Apology from a Reluctant Tortoise" escapes this pit-fall because the weariness of the physical hurt that is described actually matches the form, - the repetition is indicative of struggle to get about. On top of this, the language is well chosen and there is some striking imagery too. A well deserved commended. Elsewhere, I was looking for confident formal lines with that instinctive grasp of the language which Robert Frost called "the sound of sense". If rhyme was used, - and I raised no objection to either full or half-rhyme, I wanted it to be unobtrusive, not slotted in. Most important, I found myself shunning any rhyme that attemped to rhyme on the "wrong" syllable, or where the rhythm of the first line, - the one setting up the rhyme, did not echo the rhythm of the second, - the one where the rhyme should be revealed. I was looking for contemporary language and watchful for any that lapsed into archaic language or syntax. But, this said, the winning poem - the Shakespearean sonnet, "Beach Sculpture", contains what may be termed Miltonic inversions in some of the syntax. I forgave this, not least because there are some thunderously fine lines of true poetry, and also because there is a "biblical" feel to the whole of of the poem. I had to judge the poem contextually, - as a whole, - and taken as a whole, it is the clear winner. GARY BILLS Number of entries: Silver Wyvern 300 + - ; Bill Winter 120 + - ; Formal 90 + -
Awards & Celebration
12th - 14th October 2007
Possible anthology publication with Italian translation facing for winning and selected poems – authors contacted first for permission & receive complimentary copy (For past anthologies please contact). Line illustrations welcomed. Competition awards 2006
The anthology of poems from the 2006 competition, "Stranger" , is now available, £9.50 including p/p.
Results
Silver Wyvern Awards 2006. theme 'Stranger' Adjudicated by John F.Deane(see links page)
Silver Wyvern: Pat Borthwick (Coulton, Yorks) "Passing on the Tickle"; gently written, accurate language, nicely formed poem: sense of tradition and newness..
And a Special Commendation to Pat Borthwick for "Beech House"; delicately done, with a sense of humour matching a sense of sadness; a nice rhythmic flow. No intrusion by the author into the work.
2nd: Elisabeth Rowe(Yelverton, Devon) "Disillusion" ; the simplicity of this I like very much, a directness that is not maudlin nor falsely pushed, the movement from one section to the other is fluid and mirrors the development of the thought.
3rd: Andrew Robinson (Truro, Cornwall) "I have not slept soundly"; nicely formed, not sentimental and this was a danger; I like the ending with that quiet "I guess". A love poem with a difference.
4th: Ruth O’Callaghan (Mortlake, London) "Ways of Grieving" ; an excellent piece here, the modernist form a little distracting but otherwise strong and moving, well done.
Commended (in alphabetical order):
Virginia Astley (Maiden Newton, Dorset) "Practised in Weather"; I like the lyrical side of this, it is short and intense; the only drawback is that the first stanza does not clarify its reasoning.
Caroline Carver (Flushing, Cornwall) "Yukon: Summer 1967"; again the story thing dominates and here and there, in spite of good development and some good language moments, it slips into prose too often.
Oz Hardwick (York) "Stormcrow" ; well formed piece, good rhythm, good language here but some of that language is cliched and this distracts from the piece; like the fourth last line...
Lyn Moir (St Andrews, Fife) "Rambling" ; a nice development, a not quite expected end. . . gentle and well worked with linguistic skills; unfortunately a little too worked for the sentiment expressed.
Elisabeth Rowe (Yelverton, Devon)"St Columba's Arrival" ; this is exemplary of a great many of the pieces offered, the need to tell a story; many of these would be better served in prose form, poetry being a more intense experience and depending on music etc somewhat more than narrative, as a general rule; but this poem is gentle and reasonably successful, though slight and there is no sense of the writer's involvement in the moment.
Elisabeth Rowe (Yelverton, Devon) "Stranger than Fiction" ; a sense of humour here and a good sense of linguistic values; the sorry thing again here is a lack of a sense of rhythm; too much like prose.
Michael Swan (Chilton, Oxfordshire) "Lance-Corporal Ellis"; a loss of rhythm to this piece, but otherwise a tough poem, well crafted, leading to a strong climax.
Barry Tempest (Dorchester, Dorset) "Journey" begins "I felt the shilling in my trouser-pocket..." again tells a yarn for which the poetic form is not, in so many cases like this, necessary. The language is not rich enough to carry it as a poem.
John Whitworth (Canterbury) "Stranger" first line "If you were not the one who brought the milk..." Unusual to find good rhyming; the piece is a little too incantatory and therefore reads as over manipulated rather than urgent, the sonnet form not essential because each line is not essential.
John F. Deane, recent poetry:"Manhandling the Deity" and "The Instruments of Art" .Latest book "In Dogged Loyalty" see Columba.ie
Formal Category
1st : Joan Fry (Bridport,Dorset) "Autograph-Hunters and the English Celebrity " (terza rima)
2nd : Patrick Osada (Warfield, Berkshire) "Rome" (Shakespearean sonnet)
3rd : Pat Earnshaw "I Reflect" (Rondel)
4th : Michael Swan "To Hold a Man" (Villanelle)
Commended Charlotte Brewer "Bank of Secrets"
adjudicated by Kevin Bailey ( “I looked for poems that held my attention”). And the formal rhyme schemes had to flow smoothly and seem natural, the rhymes not forced.
The Bill Winter Results:
Bill Winter to: "Playing Along" by Michael Swan
2nd: "Island mortality" by Keith Francis
and in alphabetical order
Highly Commended:
"One-two-three..." by Gary Bills; "Love "by Charles Evans : "November" by Victoria Field;
Commended:
"Boats in winter" by Mary Hodgson; "Childhood" by Cornelia Hoogland; "The only time I tried to give the kiss of life" by Valerie Josephs; "Picnic at Versailles" by Kathleen Kummer; "Pristine" by Anne Stewart; "Quarrelling again" by Michael Swan;
Judged by Robert Morley and Gabriel Griffin
They comment:
‘Bob and I agreed to read all and draw up our short lists separately (Bob had six on his, I had seven). Two poems: "Love" and "November" appeared on both our lists’ (Gabriel).
‘Island mortality’ is a powerful elegy, which encompasses both the deeply personal and the universal, it is one of the few really well-crafted poems in this year’s offering.’ (Robert)
‘Agreed but read out loud Island mortality’s last line is out of metric step with the rest of the poem – maybe that is intentional (?) but it jarred with me.’ (Gabriel) ‘Island mortality's last line also struck me as clumsy the first time I read it, but on rereading, I thought the jarring clumsiness of it was fitting.’ (Robert) Playing along and One-two-three. They have something in common: a sense of mystery, a strong and uneasy awareness of danger and being manouvred by unseen powers. Playing along reflects our consciousness of this but also the fact that we are unable to do more than be very careful and Play Along , while One-two-three is more urgent, tells us to take a leap into the unknown , whatever the consequences, “or else we’ll never know what’s there...” but I have a nasty suspicion that Playing Along has, sadly for us all, the right of it. And I liked the extreme simplicity of language behind which lurks a frightening reality.’ (Gabriel) Both Bob and Gabriel were struck with the haunting and intriguing image of the floating glass balls. 'Playing Along: I liked it a lot for the mysterious glass globes, and it's mood of desperate anxiety, whereas 'One-two-three' struck me as fay and whimsical. (Robert). ‘Love: I like the off-beat humour, the way it flirts with cliché and the absurd, as well as the strong ending.’ (Robert)
All awards were presented at the 6th Poetry on the Lake Festival on Lake Orta, 22nd –24th September.
The authors of winning and commended poems to read at the 6th Poetry on the Lake Festival on Lake Orta 22-24 September.
6th Poetry on the Lake Festival and Competition Awards, 22nd -24th September
with
John F.Deane
Programme included
Workshop Contemporary Poetry and the Sacred led by Leslie Tate
Northern Voices - Ian Horn
Poetry and dance from the USA with poet Alan Bern (California)
Barbara Villanova (Italy) and the ballerina Lucinda Weaver (New York)
Info on reaching/staying in Orta: www.orta.net
Further info: Gabriel Griffin, Poetry on the Lake, Isola San Giulio,28016 Orta NO, Italy. email : poetryonthelake@yahoo.co.uk
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