2005 poetry competition winners

The winners of the 2005 University Poetry Competition were presented with their prizes at the final ‘Poetry Tuesdays’ event at Dundee Rep.

First prize of £100 was presented to former science lecturer Dawn Wood for her poem 'Apprentices'. Second prize, a £50 book voucher donated by John Smith's University bookshop, went to postgraduate student Jane Barrett for her poem 'Kinnordy'; and third prize, a bottle of champagne, went to librarian Andy Jackson for his poem 'Affy Stourie'.

The winners also read their poems to the audience that had gathered at the Rep to hear readings from London poets Greta Stoddart and John Stammers.

The competition was judged by Colette Bryce with the help of Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie, who is based at the University of St Andrews. "The judging process was surprisingly straightforward," said Colette. "Although there were a number of other accomplished pieces that caught our eye as well, the winning poems stood out early on and we were in full agreement."

Now in its third year, the competition has gone from strength to strength, and attracted more than a hundred entries this year. Colette, who is reaching the end of her fellowship in creative writing, expressed her hope that the competition will continue to be a part of the cultural life of the University after she leaves. She said, "Along with the poetry events we have been running at Dundee Rep, the competition creates a space for writing poetry in the busy academic year, and that's a good thing".

1st Prize
Dawn Wood
Apprentices

I smiled at the last flutter of confetti
when I lifted his Hardy pipes from their box,
to restore them with wads of Silvo,
linseed oil, beeswax; I sliced through twine
that smelt of old spare room, replaced that treacle-
crystalled, animal-skin that used to slime.
Now we have rigged our drones and tied our stocks,
we're a fairy ring of pipers on his lawn,
from as far a-field as Dundee and Nanchang;
our teachers are making encouraging eyebrows
as we stutter through Hot Punch, elbowing
our Gortex bags with zips, pretending
we see Mull across the Minch, for our fathers,
mothers, sisters and anyone who knows us.

2nd Prize
Jane Barrett
Kinnordy

In the audible silence of autumn's first days,
you balance,
ballerina of secret lochs and moorland
unmapped like myth.
Lone silhouette on a fallen tree
half blanched to white bone
by a summer storm,
half dark, intact.

With the arc of your arms you follow the land,
twinning its intimate beauty.
Glen and horizon,
held for a moment,
contours of hills you will never forget.

As a smir of rain falls, like grace,
a skein of geese rise from Kinnordy,
becoming the chevron of memory
they will write and re-write on your mind.

3rd Prize
Andy Jackson
Affy stourie

An artisan came to destroy
a wall in my peaceful home.
His coldest chisel sending rough
rusks of brick zooming.
No shelter from the jarring
of bones with each hammer-smack,
demolition, darting round corners,
up through groaning pipework.

After his infernal symphony,
he looked for my collusion
in his going away. Filling his toolbox,
he passed the moments with me.
"Affy stourie...". Yes.
"Eh'm a wee bittie clarty..."
But I was dumb, already
seeing him into his van.

That funny Fife diminution,
turning bad to better,
making a mouse out of a monster.
He sounded a cheery horn,
as I stood in the ruins of
a wee axe-murderie,
a wee bloodbathie,
a wee holocaustie.