Poetry highlights of 2011
| January 2, 2012 | Posted by Georgie Tindale under features, poetry |
(Please note: These poems were chosen by an independent judge, and not by the editor. I hope you enjoy them!)
BEST ORIGINAL POEMS
Underground
We are down in the earth
In the burial mounds and medieval crypts
With the naked bodies and their skeletons dancing,
Dancing in their stone and dirt graves
Why do we commemorate, we remember
The pale faces of the dead in their deaths?
We are down in the earth singing
To the tune of faintly echoed heartbeats
And pulses at the wrist, blood spurting out
The carotids and carpal tunnels of the slain
Your face is etched, like mine in one of these columns;
Where have you disappeared to? Others just like you
Have come down laughing and not gone back up but if you
Mean something to me you’ll etch my face in a pillar too
Next to the crosses and scythes and rusted swords, the tattered
Tapestries hanging off the walls draping the dead like duvets
For refugees off to a new world we will never see
And never hear and never touch and never feel
We are down in the earth
Facing each other, two faces, two single pieces
Living in the cracked stone with the rest of the thousands, the millions
Of souls engraved in cold marble and Portland
Watching each other, mouths open and laughing
At our frozen eyes locked, watching, always watching
By Joshua Teo
Memories
I am surrounded by familiar strangers, each with their disconcertingly
Reassuring voices, saying “you
Remember me don’t you?”
The pieces of my life have been shuffled, rearranged in the
Wrong order with no instructions on how to put them back.
Sixty years is within easy reach, but sixty minutes?
Another world, another lifetime.
My mind wants to return to the Navy, the war, but my body is struggling with its own conflict.
People come and go, and so do I, my bubble of
Confusion occasionally punctured by flashes of clarity yet as my mind
Fades away, so do they.
I’ve heard it said, forget the past, just look forward
But how can I contemplate my future when the present is such a mystery?
I may be old, yet I still have a brain.
I still have a mind
I still have a heart
I may no longer be steering my life on its continuing voyage, its route I do not know, but the ship’s records, its history, my history, lies much
Deeper than any Depth Charge could ever reach.
By Jamie Green
BEST POEM IDEA
All at once
A child builds a sandcastle on the beach
While an old man puts in his first false teeth,
Countless letters go through the shredder,
The first bite to eat enters the mouth of a beggar.
A newborn child opens its eyes to the world,
As a flower’s petals slowly unfurl.
Millions of moments all happening together,
A binding, yet independent matter.
By Zahra-Claire Bahrani Peacock
BEST POEMS OF FEELING
When Passion Turns
A burst of emotion like colours
On a white piece of paper.
Cherry red
Lemon yellow
Grass green
Sky blue
Blackberry purple.
Like a fruit salad in the sunshine.
Standing there,
Tempting me to eat its juicy content
And let the tastes overwhelm me.
The burst of adrenaline
Unstoppable.
It rushes through my blood as light as a bird.
It lifts me high.
It makes me fly.
I look in a mirror,
Left standing alone
Where a home used to be.
What has it done?
This supposed passion has driven me
And I have nothing left.
By Zahra-Claire Bahrani Peacock
Enraptured
O, to be in love!
Had I but known this
Ecstasy before I would
Never have spoken
A cross word to anyone.
The day is too clear
The stars too bright
To cast gloom on whatever
Pointless and trivial circumstances
Are thrown at us.
For those that are loved
Show their love to others
Less fortunate than themselves
On this unpredictable Earth.
By Lizzy Copley
BEST USE OF RHYME
The Knight
One gloomy day at close of year,
A man rode up with shield and spear.
His mare was strong, his sword was long,
His very name caused foes to fear.
His armour flashed in days last light,
He looked up at the coming night.
There, on the hill, beside a rill,
A standing stone was clear in sight.
Fearing naught, The Knight rode on.
Planning to camp beside the stone,
The night was cold, The Knight, though bold,
Was glad how bright the firelight shone.
The time wore on, The Knight he slept,
While creeping things around him crept.
his mare, she neighed, her halter frayed,
And to the darkness ‘round she leapt.
The Knight awoke, his sword flashed out,
From his lips arose a great shout.
The things he faced, forwards they paced.
His heart it grew a seed of doubt.
The things that creeped and crept around,
The things that slimed without a sound,
A Wraith, a Wight, slid into sight.
The three of them, circled around.
For hours they fought and clashed in vain.
Striving, the upper hand, to gain.
First good, then bad, the worst of had.
The strength of good, began to wane.
The Knight strove on ‘gainst the dread foe,
Destroyed the Wraith with mighty blow.
A deathly yell, the sound of hell.
It shook the Knight from head to toe.
Double in strength, it did, the Wight.
At the sight of its foeman’s plight.
It came in fast, and breathed its last.
Upon the sword point of The Knight.
The Knight slumped down, chilled to the bone,
His back towards the standing stone.
There still, he lies, sightless his eyes,
Ready for foes from realms unknown.
By Barney Taylor
Pictures of the good times
The pictures tell a story
Of how things used to be
Of children playing pick up sticks
Of adults drinking tea
In some of them there’s laughter
In some of them there’s tears
In a few there’s a cheeky face
In some there’s scary leers
The pictures are the physical way
Of looking backwards to the past
Respect them, look at them, treat them well
Try to make them last
For when you are old and withered
And sat without your mind
Photos are what will brighten your day
In them, happiness you’ll find
By Robyn Whitehead
BEST DESCRIPTIVE POEMS
Comprehending space
If you ever want to feel small,
Not just small in the normal
Mouse, elephant comparison
But properly minute.
Then stand on a normal street,
Wait until dark
And crane your neck upwards
Imagine a light year being
A thumbnail length.
Multiply by infinity and remember
The billions of years before you existed
Before we ever even partially existed
Realise how space is but a deep black ocean
With nothing.
But rocks being dragged towards other rocks
By unknown forces.
Think what little would change
If the Earth vanished.
Think about 12 billion years.
Think about 77 years
But remember, fellow thinkers
As you bathe in the light
Of the big dipper
Orion’s belt
And a single, glowing red dwarf
That it is our time to stop and look
Remember the nuance of your presence
And repeat after me
“I am made of stardust”
By Georgie Tindale
Sonnet 26/11/95
Lumbering in from the snow drifts, I stamp,
Dislodging the flakes, then through to the kettle;
Fill up, switch on, touch my hair that’s still damp
Then with a cup in my hand, upstairs a settle.
As pixel-colours glide across my screen,
Feeling comes back to frostbitten fingers,
My palms round a mug, the sides are unclean;
The grime from the bowl. Euch! It still lingers…
Raising mug to my lips, disaster hit!
The gums and roof of my mouth are on fire!
I choke on the drink, gag and then spit,
Then sigh, as brew spatters screen, desk and attire.
The moral you all can take from this,
Is never to trust a coffee’s sweet kiss.”
By Robyn Whitehead
HUMOUR
Limerick
There once were some Quakers from Ealing
Who didn’t find riots appealing
They countered the violence
With periods of silence
Much better than looting or stealing
4
A bloke tried to drive to the station
Using satellite navigation
He drove in the river
And said with a shiver
“It must have been somewhat mistaken”
By Jamie Green
Each week The Student Review publishes a collection of poems about a particular topic or theme. For this week’s theme, or to submit a poem, go here.
