POETRY
£100 winner
The Wound
Ashleigh Symms, Alloa, Clackmannanshire
Two old fabric recliners
sit side-by-side,
the blue arms worn
and dirty, springs and lever broken
on the empty one.
His chair remains unused
and unattended, slowly bleeding
echoes that are soaked
up by stacks of Manchester Evening News
dating back to September 30, 2007.
They cover the cold cushions completely,
like tightly wrapped bandages on lacerations.
She sits in the other
with the cat on her knee,
and a full glass of her £4.19 ALDI rosé
in her chapped, veiny hand.
The room remains silent
other than the crackly breathing of old lungs
and the white noise
from the TV.
About the poet Ashleigh, 23, is studying English at the
University of Stirling. The poem is dedicated to her grandma
and was inspired by the death of her grandfather in 2014 and
observing her grandmother’s life afterwards.I
n the winning poem by Ashleigh Symms, the narrator makes
a list of statements. Calmly and without fuss, the narrator
describes the room; shows the reader the scene and makes
no attempt to explain what might or might not be happening.
The narrator draws the reader’s attention to specifi c details (eg
Manchester Evening News; September 30, 2007; £4.19 ALDI rosé),
then leaves the reader to interpret them as they think fi t.
This is a technique that appears easy when done well but have
a go yourself and you may fi nd that creating a narrator who
simply shows detail and expresses no opinion at all directly is
harder than you think.Highly Commended
Wounds
Diane McKee, Glasgow
Soft handle, hard metal,
cradle its cold weight,
palms slick with sweat.
It will do a job.Offer an arm, a slender wrist.
A blue-white hue,
freckle at the centre
of criss-cross memories.Wash the crimson blade
to pale pink, then clear.
No damning spots,
no trace, no clue.Fresh wounds swaddled.
Long sleeves collude,
keep the secret
under wraps.But night-time fi ngers reach,
rest on furrows.
There is calm.
Sleep descends.While the winning poem is about two old fabric recliners, Diane
McKee’s poem is about youth. Diane says: ‘I was inspired to write
this poem by the number of young people around us feeling
wounded, both physically and mentally, but with wounds that are
either hidden or invisible.’
What issues do you think aff ect young people today? Does
being young depend on how many birthdays you have had or is it
an attitude, a type of spirit, an outlook, a level of energy? Can you
have a young body and and old mind or the other way round?
If you have time this month be brave and explore this topic in a
poem; not in generalities but by revealing specifi c details that will
engage and inform the reader about the narrator of the poem’s
personal experience.Poetry comp results
with poetry judge Sue Butler