Tag: Poetry Comp

Suchita Senthil Kumar

---

My father taught me to touch fire
when I was younger as though
he knew I’d spend my whole life 
seeking something that would burn me.

He never taught me to heal
the charred and dead skin but always
reminded me to put the flame off –
the art of killing something that killed you.

---

Suchita Senthil Kumar is a writer creating chaos from Bangalore, India. Her work has been published in Live Wire India and Brave Voices Magazine, among others. She was a student of UNICEF’s Voices of Youth Mediathon ’21. She makes life decisions asking herself one question: Will Sirius Black be proud?

Halle George

---

at twelve
they tell Peter
fly
fly forever
take what you want boy

at twelve
they tell Wendy
be prepared to fall from the sky
you’re too old
take off your blue nightgown

---

Halle George is a writer who spends most of the day working in advertising. She’s previously been published in Midsummer’s Eve. She lives in Los Angeles with a ficus named Jim.

Beattie

---

I, having been bitten by an angel –
I am going through a lostness.

I am hoping to be done with it
before the mould on the window returns.

I am refusing everything. I am waiting for the room

to flood with trumpets. I am waiting for my hair
to grow and be grabbed by a man come to save me.

Fistfuls of nobody, parched and sweaty in the dark.

---

Beattie is a writer and lapsed drag queen from Merseyside. They were the winner of the Chester Cathedral Young Poets’ Competition and were longlisted for the Spelt Poetry Competition. Their work has appeared in Datableed and Travesties?!.

Al McClimens

---

Throw enough mud, they said,
and some of it will stick to the wall.

The wall? Why didn’t I think of that?
I’ve been throwing mud at nothing

in particular. And now they tell me,
now, when I have filthy hands

and a clean wall. My apologies.
Mind your fingers turning the page.

---

Al McClimens is a Sheffield-based writer who is old enough to know better. An unemployed waster, Scrabble fan and lapsed socialist, he reads a novel a week and writes a poem a day. His literary ambition is to replace Don ‘Dundee’ Paterson as UK sonnet king.

Ellen Clayton

---

It’s 35 degrees, a burning July day
and the metallic, coppery stench is overpowering
as I stand in the shower, pressing the ball of my foot
onto black fabric and watching my blood seep
out, washing away. Another month, cycle, shedding.
It is a kind of cleanse, a small sense
of renewal as I keep pushing
my toes to watch more blood
drain away, drain away, drain away.

---

Ellen Clayton is a poet from Suffolk, England. Her poetry has been published in various online and print publications, including Capsule Stories, Nightingale & Sparrow and Brave Voices magazine. Her debut chapbook, Home Baked, was published in April 2022 by Bent Key Publishing. More of her work can be found on Instagram (@ellen_writes_poems).

Galia Admoni

---

He would like me better
if I wrote about trees
or lamented on leaves
or mused on moss.

When you grow up
in a city
you don’t have the language
to show fervour for forests.

I like a crunchy leaf as much as the next person.
But that’s not enough.

---

Galia Admoni is Head of English at a school in London. She has poems in Bad Lilies, Anthropocene, Atrium, Streetcake and others. She is forthcoming in both Under your Pillow and Sex Tape Digest anthologies. She has lectured at Shakespeare Institute, BFI, British Library and is committee member for the London Association-Teaching of English. Her debut pamphlet will be published in 2024. Follow her on Twitter (@galiamelon).

Jennie E. Owen

---

I can’t stop looking at the naked
shape of his head. Ghosts
of curls collect in his
collar. For a moment I think I can see
the outline of the man he will become,
in the twist of his mouth as he concentrates
on the scissors snick of his reflection.
I hold my breath, all the time
trying not to grab handfuls of cuttings,
to fill my pockets with blond.

---

Jennie E. Owen’s writing has been widely published online, in literary journals and anthologies. She teaches Creative Writing for The Open University and lives in Lancashire with her husband and three children. She is a PhD student at Manchester Metropolitan University, focusing on poetry and place.

Aimee R. Cervenka

---

I want to lie on bare concrete, spread
arms and fingers, and once more
inhale the mingled smells of your
menthol cigarettes and motor oil,
hold still until my limbs turn cold,
until I hear the clatter of billiard balls
across a felted table. And when I get up,
I will be eight years old, running for coffee.
Mugs balanced carefully, I’ll tiptoe
down the narrow stairs.

---

Aimee R. Cervenka is a writer, climate activist, and professional baker. Her poetry has appeared in Poet Lore, Ascent, Slab, and others, and was selected as a runner up in Headway Quarterly’s Winter 2020 Writing Contest. She currently lives in Spokane, Washington, with her husband, dog, and two rabbits.

Poetry is the gift that keeps on giving.

Judging the Briefly Write Poetry Prize 2022 was a joy, a delight, an inspiration… and a headache.

In every poem is a little piece of the self; in every stanza, a light that illuminates a life. Every word is an opening to new worlds. We read, re-read and re-read every poem submitted to the Poetry Prize because every entry was worthy of careful re-reading.

Popular themes this year included love, hope, loneliness and revenge. Flowers, friends and poetry all played starring roles; trees, coffee and the sky at night were close behind. Every voice added something unique.

Poetry is a conversation and we hope our choices spark discussion. We hope you’ll agree with some of our picks… and would love to hear what you think in the comments below. Feel free to reflect on the poems and congratulate the winning poets!

We are so grateful for the support and love shown to our little literary space. Thank you… and you and you and you.

Thank you,

Daniel & Elinor

---

FIRST

Aimee R. Cervenka, ‘Thinking of Basements’

---

SECOND

Jennie E. Owen, ‘Haircut’

---

THIRD

Galia Admoni, ‘Crow Boy’

Ellen Clayton, ‘Synodic’

Al McClimens, ‘Wattle & Daub’

---

SHORTLIST

Beattie, ‘I, Having Been Bitten by an Angel’

Halle George, ‘The Lost Girls’

Suchita Senthil Kumar, ‘My Father Taught Me To Touch Fire’

Tehnuka, ‘We, too, in summer sun’

Laura Theis, ‘sapling’

Sherre Vernon, ‘My Daughter Asks Me If I Was Happy’

---

LONGLIST

Gaynor Beesley * Creana Bosac * Jonathan Chan * Ion Corcos * Jennifer R. Edwards * Carl Farrell * Donna Faulkner (née Miller) * Lindsey Harrington * Kerry J Heckman * Jennifer Ruth Jackson * Helen Kay * Keith Li-Bouchard * Mina Malik * Miruna Marin * Tony Maude * Ed Meek * Emily Munro * Muiz Opeyemi Ajayi * Aly Rhodes * Shana Ross * Abdulrazaq Salihu * Nnadi Samuel * Kay Sfictos * Hibah Shabkhez * Ana C. H. Silva * Jenniska Small * Sally Jane Tate * Chidiebere Udeokechukwu * Candace J. Williams * Angela Zimmerling

---