In April one seldom feels cheerful; Dry stones, sun and dust make me fearful; Clairvoyantes distress me, Commuters depress me– Met Stetson and gave him an earful.
II
She sat on a mighty fine chair, Sparks flew as she tidied her hair; She asks many questions, I make few suggestions– Bad as Albert and Lil–what a pair!
III
The Thames runs, bones rattle, rats creep; Tiresias fancies a peep– A typist is laid, A record is played– Wei la la. After this it gets deep.
IV
A Phoenician named Phlebas forgot About birds and his business–the lot, Which is no surprise, Since he’d met his demise And been left in the ocean to rot.
V
No water. Dry rocks and dry throats, Then thunder, a shower of quotes From the Sanskrit and Dante. Da. Damyata. Shantih. I hope you’ll make sense of the notes.
I like Wendy Cope’s poems – fun, clever and this one rhymes. I also have a thing about “The Waste Land”, which I find overlong, over intellectual, clever in an annoying way. It may be a great 20th century work of art but frankly it leaves me cold. Wendy Cope’s parody put humour back into dry Eliot
The 2021 poetry competition is now OPEN! £1000 worth of prizes! Visit here to enter.
Poems can be on any subject/theme/topic/idea. As in the past the competition is open to everyone (UK and international) and there are Adult and Young Poet prizes, plus separate prizes for people who live, work or study in the London Borough of Waltham Forest.
We’ll hold an an award ceremony in November 2021 where all winners and commended poets will be invited to read their winning poem/s. If we are still subject to Covid restrictions that prevent us from holding the ceremony on a face-to-face basis, we will hold it on Zoom.
Judge: Joelle Taylor. A former UK slam champion, Joelle founded the national youth slam championships SLAMbassadors in 2001 for The Poetry Society and was its Artistic Director and National Coach until 2018. Joelle is an award-winning poet, playwright, author and editor. Her latest collection is C+nto: & Othered Poems. joelletaylor.co.uk
Joelle Taylor
Closing Date: Monday 11 October (midnight UK time)
ADULT COMPETITION (18 or over)
Entry fee: 1st poem £3, subsequent poems in the same submission £1 – up to 6 poems in total, 40 lines maximum per poem (not including title). Poets who live, work or study in Waltham Forest will automatically be included in the Local prize for no additional fee.
Main prize: 1st £400, 2nd £200, 3rd £100. Local prize: 1st £50, 2nd £30, and 3rd £20.
YOUNG POET COMPETITION (under 18)
No entry fee. Send up to 6 poems in total, 40 lines maximum per poem (not including title). Poets who live or study in Waltham Forest will automatically be included in the Local prize. Main Prize: 1st £50, 2nd £30, 3rd £20. Local prize: 1st £50, 2nd £30, and 3rd £20.
Got a favourite poem by someone else? Email barry.coidan@gmail.com with a reason for your choice and we’ll publish a selection here…
Miss J.Hunter Dunn, Miss J.Hunter Dunn, Furnish’d and burnish’d by Aldershot sun, What strenuous singles we played after tea, We in the tournament – you against me!
Love-thirty, love-forty, oh! weakness of joy, The speed of a swallow, the grace of a boy, With carefullest carelessness, gaily you won, I am weak from your loveliness, Joan Hunter Dunn
Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, How mad I am, sad I am, glad that you won, The warm-handled racket is back in its press, But my shock-headed victor, she loves me no less.
Her father’s euonymus shines as we walk, And swing past the summer-house, buried in talk, And cool the verandah that welcomes us in To the six-o’clock news and a lime-juice and gin.
The scent of the conifers, sound of the bath, The view from my bedroom of moss-dappled path, As I struggle with double-end evening tie, For we dance at the Golf Club, my victor and I.
On the floor of her bedroom lie blazer and shorts, And the cream-coloured walls are be-trophied with sports, And westering, questioning settles the sun, On your low-leaded window, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.
The Hillman is waiting, the light’s in the hall, The pictures of Egypt are bright on the wall, My sweet, I am standing beside the oak stair And there on the landing’s the light on your hair.
By roads “not adopted”, by woodlanded ways, She drove to the club in the late summer haze, Into nine-o’clock Camberley, heavy with bells And mushroomy, pine-woody, evergreen smells.
Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, I can hear from the car park the dance has begun, Oh! Surrey twilight! importunate band! Oh! strongly adorable tennis-girl’s hand!
Around us are Rovers and Austins afar, Above us the intimate roof of the car, And here on my right is the girl of my choice, With the tilt of her nose and the chime of her voice.
And the scent of her wrap, and the words never said, And the ominous, ominous dancing ahead. We sat in the car park till twenty to one And now I’m engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.
This is, for me, such an understated erotic poem as well as evoking so well middle class yearnings.
“What strenuous singles we played after tea, We in the tournament – you against me! ” and
“On the floor of her bedroom lie blazer and shorts, And the cream-coloured walls are be-trophied with sports, And westering, questioning settles the sun, On your low-leaded window, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.”
Gosh, how I wish I knew Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.
I asked a poetry friend for her favourite poem. She chose One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
“It’s written with such craft and such apparent ease, and takes us from the most trivial to the most fundamental of human losses. The inexorability of the verse form (a villanelle) matches the inexorability of loss and death, until it forces her to write the final word, ‘disaster’. There are two arts very clearly at play in this poem – the art of losing, and the art of poetry, at its height here.”
Yesterday at @OneHoeStreet Forest Poets held their second Poetry Competition prize giving. The competition theme was “Where I’m From”. And it was a success. Paul and Barry arrived early to set things up: they had the help of two lovely WF employees. After setting out the chairs for 10 people – they didn’t think it would be that popular- they went over to Tesco’s and bought wine for 30!
The competition’s judge @GrahamClifford arrived early. They were expecting a much older man – sort of Walter de la Mare, but no: Graham is a young looking head of a secondary school in Walthamstow. It’s a new job and his hair still has the colour he was born with. King Street Junior immediately sprang to mind.
Slowly, but surely people came, and chairs had to be put out and still they came. This was going to be a success!
The wine (red and white), along with crisps were set out, at a good distance from the main event – next to the loos. The collection box, £2 a glass – a bargain since the glasses kindly provided by the London Borough of Waltham Forest were huge – no doubt designed for Council meetings. But before anyone could uncork the Malbec and Aussie Red the programme started.
There were around 50 people in the audience as Paul introduced Graham. He writes a lot of poetry and he read from a wide selection. (Note: he has at least three published books of poems – if you’re an unpublished poet that hurts.) Graham was the warm up act.
Barry then introduced @kitch_official. Barry and Paul first came across Kitch in January at an opening event of the Borough of Culture. They were blown away by his rap poetry so they had to have him at the event. He did not disappoint; despite an bad sound system his virtuosity shone thro’.
And then onto the prize giving. Barry and Paul alternated introducing the prize winners and commended poets and Graham handed out the certificates. The poets read their entries. It was quite a range from bus rides thro’ Waltham Forest, houses poets grew up in, to bats.
There were local young poets, local poets and main prize winners along with commended poems. After all that prize giving and poetry reading it was time for a break and the wine went…so Barry scampered across to the local Tesco’s to buy more!
Paul had produced a lovely book of the winning and other poems which were given out at the break after the prize winners had been announced.
After the break poets featured in the book came up and read their work and after that there was an open mic. By that time most of the wine had gone.
The evening ended as people renewed acquaintances or struck up new friendships and Paul and Barry went across to the Bell to sober up.
The winner of the Waltham Forest Poetry Competition has been chosen and will be announced at our awards ceremony next week. Thursday 14 November, 7pm, One Hoe Street E17. Free entry. Find out more at https://www.facebook.com/events/407622983524058/
We’ll be awarding £900 to our winners who hail from Waltham Forest and beyond. Prizes will be given in three categories: Adult, Young Poet, and Waltham Forest poets. Our judge, Graham Clifford, will be dishing out the prizes and will perform alongside hip hop artist, Kitch www.kitchofficial.co.uk. All our winning poets will be reading their poems on the theme of ‘Where I’m From’, and there’s an open mic on the same theme for everyone to join in with (or just bring any poem to read, on any subject).
Graham Clifford: ” This was great fun. Oh, the power!!! As I suspect is often the way, the prize winning and commended poems all have remarkable qualities, making judging very difficult. Style, voice, humour, humanity and a different or nuanced way of seeing and communicating experience – be that actual or imagined – are all in evidence at a high level.”
There’s £900 to be won in our poetry competition on the theme of ‘Where I’m From’ – open to everyone, nationally and internationally, young and old. Enter here.
In the meantime, why not let us know your favourite poems by someone else on the theme of ‘Where I’m From’ and we’ll publish them here (or an extract if they’re out of copyright). Tell us why you like the poem and a little bit about you too. Email us at poetrycompetition@yahoo.com
To kick off, here’s Jackie Kay’s poem ‘In My Country’ of which Ruth Padel said in The Independent:
“Where do you come from? – is like the line of an old song, suggesting some unspoken answer (say, faeryland, or Hell, or Africa). But the last line shifts us into modern gear. In its understated way, the poem is about the claims of change. Songs have changed, Scotland has changed. It is “my country” too. Claiming the right to “these parts” – to punctuation, identity, capitals, an “honest river” not archaic “waters” of Babylon where exiles once wept – the poet is reminding you that poetry has moved forward, can play with folk form and move out of it, into new shape.”
In my country
walking by the waters
down where an honest river
shakes hands with the sea,
a woman passed round me
in a slow watchful circle
as if I were a superstition;
or the worst dregs of her imagination
so when she finally spoke
her words spliced into bars
of an old wheel. A segment of air.
Where do you come from?
“Here”, I said, “Here. These parts.”
Jackie Kay is Scots Makar and Chancellor of the University of Salford.
Our competition – this year’s theme is ‘Where I’m From’ – is open to everyone (UK and international) and there also separate prizes for people who live, work or study in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, and a Young Poets (under 18) section. Even if you don’t win, any poem that references a location in Waltham Forest has a chance of appearing in our poetry anthology ‘Where I’m From’ alongside the winners and Commended poems. We’ll also have an award ceremony where all winners and Commended poets will be invited to come and read their winning poem/s.
Theme: Where I’m From
Judge: Graham Clifford, published poet and head teacher in Waltham Forest. His latest collection is called Well, published by Against the Grain. grahamclifford.co.uk
Graham Clifford
Closing Date: Monday 7 October 2019 (midnight UK time)
Click here to enter online by Submittable (you’ll be asked to sign up if you haven’t used it before), but you can also enter poems by email or post – see below.
ADULT COMPETITION (18 or over)
Entry fee: 1st poem £3, subsequent poems in the same submission £1 – up to 6 poems in total. Poets who live, work or study in Waltham Forest will automatically be included in the Local prize for no additional fee.
Main prize: 1st £300, 2nd £200, 3rd £100. The overall winner will also be offered the choice of Poetry Society Membership (if they are not a Member already) or feedback on their poems via The Poetry Society’s Poetry Prescription/Poetry Surgery service.
Local prize: 1st £50, 2nd £30, and 3rd £20. The top 3 will also be offered a paid reading opportunity in the London Borough of Waltham Forest.
YOUNG POET COMPETITION (under 18)
No entry fee. Send up to 6 poems. Poets who live or study in Waltham Forest will automatically be included in the Local prize.
Main Prize: 1st £50, 2nd £30, 3rd £20.
Local prize: 1st £50, 2nd £30, and 3rd £20. The top three in the Local Prize will also receive Waterstones book tokens.
‘WHERE I’M FROM’ anthology: The top three poems in each of the Adult and Young Poet categories, plus a number of Commended poets as decided by the judge, will be published in our ‘Where I’m From’ anthology and on our website.
In addition, poems that reference specific locations in the London Borough of Waltham Forest will be considered for our ‘Where I’m From’ anthology even if they aren’t among the winning or Commended poems.
Awards Ceremony: Prize winners will be notified as soon as possible after the closing date and invited to read their winning poem/s at the award ceremony at One Hoe St, Walthamstow, London E17 4SD on the evening of Thursday 14 November.
After the success of our first ever Waltham Forest Poetry Competition last year, we’re doing it again! Our lovely judge this year is local poet Graham Clifford.
Graham lives in Waltham Forest with his partner and two daughters. As well as being a poet, he is a Head Teacher. His first book of poetry was Welcome Back to the Country, published by Seren, followed by The Hitting Game, in 2014, again published by Seren. His latest, Well, was published by Against The Grain in March 2019. grahamclifford.co.uk
Once again, there will be prizes for adults, young poets and local poets and our Awards Ceremony will be held at One Hoe Street, Walthamstow, on the evening of 14 November 2019.
We’re putting the final touches to the competition rules and will be announcing the launch very soon.
On Monday evening we held the award ceremony of our first Waltham Forest (Poets Corner) Poetry Competition. The theme was “A Bright Future”. A number of the prize winners and highly and commended poets attended – two of the three winners of the main prizes were overseas (USA and Novia Scotia). There were four catagories: Overall winners with prizes of £300, £200 and £100: Local Poet and Young Poet each with prizes of £50, £30, £20 and a special award for the Top Local Young Poet £10. Stow Bros sponsored the Local Poet prizes.
The competition was a success with over 400 poems from well over 200 poets from across the Globe. We intend to run it again next year as part of Waltham Forest’s “Borough of Culture 2019” programme . If you have any idea for its format or competition theme we’d love to hear from you. Do keep an eye out for announcements, ideas etc on this site.
On Monday 29 October, from 7.30pm, join Meryl Pugh and the winners of the inaugural Waltham Forest Poetry Competition.
There will be readings from Meryl as well as winners and commended poets, plus an open mic on the competition theme of ‘A Bright Future’ – or just bring your poems. If you would like to read, sign up on the night.
Prize-winning readers expected to include:
Main competition prize-winners Jane Wilkinson and Jenny Mitchell
Local prize-winners Tim Scott, Angelena Demaria and Sarala Estruch
Young poet prize-winner Kate Lucas
Yesterday at @OneHoeStreet Forest Poets held their second Poetry Competition prize giving. The competition theme was “Where I’m From”. And it was a success. Paul and Barry arrived early to set things up: they had the help of two lovely WF employees. After setting out the chairs for 10 people – they didn’t think it would be that popular- they went over to Tesco’s and bought wine for 30!
