Competition Entry

Winner

Ink Stained Fingertips

You should see me when I’m alone
& I’m unaware of how long my nails have grown
so when I scratch my neck
I am pulling out the seeds of lust
& the coronation of lies you have planted.
Four sugars. No cream.
Don’t let it wash over your tongue after our heated kisses,
that sparks like a dripping constellation.
Because really, it should never have happened.
You are like a poem –
you live inside the letters.
Your freckles are full stops.
Your smiles are commas.
But,
The words smudge against my fingertips,
because I write too quickly to let it dry.
So you are left smudged & messy.
But I prefer you with tousled hair
and rain spattered clothes,
your shoes stuck to the weeds that grow
like limbs between the cracks in the pavement.

Winner

I Ain’t Got Rhythm

I looked everywhere
And yes I looked under my chair,

In half an hour I have to sing at the school fair!
Who, who would dare…

To take away my singing, dancing, tapping
my jumping, clapping, rapping
my stomping, napping, snap,snap snapping
flair for rhythm?

I ain’t got rhythm! Look high and low,
but soon we have to go,
oh no!

But I hear a song on the radio,
and I groove to the beat and I keep

Singing, dancing, tapping
my jumping, clapping, rapping
my stomping, napping, snap,snap snapping

I have got rhythm,
Yes, I have rhythm

Winner

When Friendship Fails

It’s not an object,
Nor a thing,
She’s my best friend,
For everything,

The one who tells me secrets,
The one who paints my toes,
The one who is special to me,
The one who only I know.

She’s always nice,
Never spiteful,
And she always shares,
Her strawberry trifle.

Then someone better came along,
I really don’t know what went wrong,
All I know is that my heart felt dark,
I had nobody to replace our spark.

All alone in my empty home,
No one to call my own,
No one to tell me secrets,
No one to paint my toes,
No one who is special to me,
Nobody to know.

Now I look back on her day of leaving,
And I’m glad I didn’t stop believing,
For I have found someone new,
And as it turns out,
She’s better than you!

I’ve ascended into adulthood
with shock at my own success.
Living my life today
is an act no one seemed to expect.
On this insightful journey
I’ve lost my way more times than not.
Turning down a daunting alley
and then returning to that fateful spot.
But on every path to discovery
there’s the risk of a wrong turn.
Though from experience I can say
that those mistakes I now prefer.

Winner

Lost My Way

I may have taken every detour
and needed every map.
But my eyes have been opened
as a result of those mishaps.
I’ve experienced others’ dreams
including their nightmares and fears.
And determined that happiness is stronger
than even struggles and tears.
I’ve gotten lost numerous times
but I’ve always made it back.
No matter the twists in the road,
I’ve shown I can find the right track.

Winner

Old Football Boots

Tattered and worn and electric blue
Old football boots where are you?

Not under my bed
Nor in the shed

Come out, come out wherever you are
For tonight I need to be a superstar

You see, she will be there tonight, Emma Poole
And she thinks Footballers are oh so cool!

Winner

Lost Trust

The guiles and lies form a web,
And we are all the spider,
An innocent fly or two fumble around,
As if they have drunk too much cider.
If you have conscience and,
People fall to your searing wit,
You will master verbal combat
Every word a direct hit.
Yet some don not their verbal armour
Let their swords of irony rust,
For they have the almighty weapon,
A weapon, many call trust.
Trust has great power,
A power you must wisely use,
For though it’s hard to gain it
It’s something you easily lose.
If you want to find out to whom,
I give my trust add a letter ‘e’,
I give my trust to those,
Who are truest to me.

Winner

Losing

Continents are lost
Islands are drowned
Countries wiped away
You lose your shelter, your home

You lose history
To the ravages of time
Kingdoms and power
Life and security.

You lose your culture
Your language
Your religion
And even your voice.

You lose your identity
Your individuality
Money, job, wealth
Your health to death.

You can lose your faith
Your trust, honour and humour
You lose in translation
You lose in communication.

You lose to childhood, to youth
My Great Grandma lost her memory
My Grandpa, his mobility
My Grandma, her confidence.

A girl in my class lost her friendship
The child lost his innocence
Many lose love and to time
The world is losing tolerance.

You can lose almost anything
All things last long enough
Only to be lost.

Winner

Death is Calling

All about him the battle rages.
Cannon-shot rents the air.
His body broken, all hope gone,
He wearily waves, still screaming.
He is near death, but still,
Still he will not surrender.
As his arm waves in futile salute,
I ask you only this:
If you were I, who saw him die,
Would you still believe that old lie,
That I don’t need to say.
For War is a game that cannot be won-
And the only victor is Pain.

My voice was lost, I checked everywhere.
In the kitchen, in the bathroom and even in the toilet!
Without my voice I couldn’t speak a word!
I felt I couldn’t remember a single word I’d learned!
But however a day or two ago, my voice reappeared out of nowhere!
Now I feel like never before!

I went to see my hamster
Oh no, he wasn’t there.
Where is he?
He must be on holiday

My hamster’s gone on holiday
and left me behind
I really miss him

I just keep on looking for his holiday place
Bathroom? No
Up the sofa? No
Kitchen? No
My bedroom? No
Dining room? No

Hmm… well we will have to find out
when he comes home

He came home today
He said, “I went up the sink.”
I just couldn’t believe it
But now he is not on holiday
so he’s not alone