by Colette Bryce
For this month’s poetry box, we’re pleased to present the winning poems from the ‘Vision’ poetry competition. Over fifty writers sent in poems around the ‘Vision’ theme and the judging process was an enjoyable one for Dr Jodi-Anne George from the English department, Carol Pope, head of press and publications, and myself as writer in residence. I’d like to thank everyone who submitted poems to the competition and to say that it was heartening to discover the range of voices and visions present here in the university community.
The winning poems rose to the surface naturally, as they were all included in the short lists drawn up by each of the judges. Altered Visions, by Cathy Whitfield, impressed us with its insightful handling of a current social issue, reminding us of how our ways of seeing each other can be manipulated by political events and agendas. Choice, by Judith Taylor, we admired for its successful conjuring of the visual trick of mirrors through sound and rhythm; and Andy Jackson’s Hypermetropia made us all smile with its fraught scenario and formal (visual) inventiveness. Cathy Whitfield receives the first prize of a £50 book token, courtesy of John Smith’s University Bookshop, and Judith Taylor and Andy Jackson each receive a bottle of champagne.
Congratulations to all three winners. Readings of the prizewinning poems were staged last week at a lunchtime award giving ceremony in John Smith’s bookshop. The poems are among those expected to feature at a poetry slam or "open mic" event being planned in the tented village as part of this year’s graduation programme... watch this space!
Ist Prize: Cathy Whitfield
Altered Vision
You get on the bus as usual,
But I see you differently these days,
And you are no longer merely exotic.
Your skin is darker than mine,
Your eyes more brilliant,
And I know now why you wear that veil:
To hide the hair that inflames desire
In my brothers and cousins.
But are we enemies, you and I?
Or sisters under the skin?
With the same impatience of our faiths,
Paying lip-service for convenience,
Standing by, embarrassed,
While they burn witches,
Or infidels?
2nd Prize: Judith Taylor
Choice
This
mirror shows you the picture in
that
mirror, which shows you the picture in
this
mirror, showing you
that
mirror showing you
this.
And soon there are corridors opening
out
on every side of you, leading you
out
through repetitions that hurry you
out
through what you have chosen
back
to your place;
between
the imprisonments offered in
this
mirror, and
this
mirror, and
that
mirror, and
this.
3rd Prize: Andy Jackson
Hypermetropia
‘Sit down’ you said
Nodding at the hump of leatherette
Crouching in red against a
mustard wall
A mercy seat or a barber’s chair?
It still tingles with the warm spoor of
Another patient.
Your tests should be simple
Should I make my eyes work
Or make the blindness bigger?
But I cannot blink the blur away
‘Your tears are thick’ you said.
But I was not crying.
You bend in to me
And my eyes become glass
Your breath hisses hot against
my cheek,
A brutal scorchmark
Now you are as close as a lover
Come closer. Is this where we kiss?
Your instrument clicks thinly
As you peer into every corner of me
And I pray in the twilight
You will not see your image in there
As I see it.
Delirious in passion above me
I read the letters on the chart
Over your smooth shoulder.
W
H A
T H A
P P E N
S N O W ?