The CNW / SALC micropoem competition drew 94 entries: the judges met yesterday with the unenviable task of picking just 3 poems for prizes and here is their verdict:
‘We thought Andrew McMillan‘s ‘train, backwards’, the winning micropoem, made every syllable count and created an amazingly rich visual world in such a small space. Its fluent rhythm and mixture of ordinary and extraordinary details were very impressive.
We liked many of the other micropems too: Simon Barraclough‘s ‘Zed’ was witty and precise and span intriguing variations from its title while David Milligan-Croft‘s ‘The stone’ used a single strong image very effectively.
While we enjoyed reading all of the entries, we found it hard to leave out the good images of Valerie Sirr’s ‘Wild Geese’, Angie Holden’s ‘Meet me…’ , David Borrott’s ‘Pair’ and Martin Kratz’s ‘Morning’, the narratives of Fielding Ronshaugen’s ‘They say a bird in the house’ and Peter Viggers’ ‘Leaving’, and the lovely sonic patterns of Rebecca Perry’s ‘A Rhopalic’, Tony Vowles’ ‘Remotely’ and Alison Lock’s ‘Himalayan Balsam’.
Thanks to everyone for taking part, and we hope you’ll enjoy reading the Manchester Review and can join us at CNW events at the Martin Harris Centre next academic year.
Janet, John and Simon’
1st
train, backwards through town/river/the long, unbroken thought of it/red kite / chest burning/phoenix rising from the ash trees
Andrew McMillan
2nd
ZED
Knee-bent bookend,
door stop, blood clot,
blind spot, dead drop,
halting the alphabet
in its tracks.
Simon Barraclough
3rd
The stone
Meets its reflection
As it skims across the lake.
David Milligan-Croft