A wonderful illustration of the maxim ‘And all things shall come to pass’. Narrative or story-telling was the staple of camp-fire entertainment as poetry developed as an essential human activity and this poem is both lively celebratory as well as hauntingly enigmatic, making its hearers provide a speculative response to the trauma or grieving of the mother and its impact on her family. She Starts Playing After Ten Years of Silence by Damen O’Brien (QLD). Another arrow delivered to the project of celebrating our past West Australian poets as part of our cultural basis. His poem celebrates Sally Clarke who was such a superb catalyst for the online CREATRIX magazine and delightful chapbooks of the gifted KSP group of Tuesday poets, in a uniquely counter pointing style, where he draws on the whinging winter weather to the heart-warming fireplace of the KSP WRITING CENTRE with its blazing mound of Mallee roots. Sadly, at that time ill health and other heavy demands led to Glen withdrawing from the project and now here he is scooping yet another local poetry award as he did with the recent Ros Spencer award by Ann Gilchrist. Recently for World Poetry Day a group of our more senior poets presented a session entitled TOWARDS A TRADITION OF WA POETRY as a cultural Heritage project.
What a pleasant surprise for the writer tor be revealed from the anonymous entry and its bearing on the aspect of West Australian cultural Heritage that the poem brings. Totally accessible, slightly cynical and ebulliently buoyant! I loved the personification as a hermit crab scurrying everywhere and the changing panel van’s rusting that leads to the next habitation and shift in lifestyle.
#2016 tor house prize for poetry full
Full of event and vigour with startling perceptions as the ‘air turning squid ink’ and the telling line of ‘tracks of love’ – the basis of the awards – with ‘stained seats, sheets, sand beds, upended masts.’ I have selected this poem because it resonates to the ideal picture of those attitudes that make us uniquely Australian and as identifiable as our accent globally. I have two sons in their fifties and they are still active surfers so what a delight to see one of my favourite poets reveal a ‘hippy’ side to her life. Right, dropping my school masterly manner and on to the awards and a highlighting of the element that led to its selection, With over four full-field culls this has been definitely the case in my assessment process. See my comment in regard to ‘stranieri’ in my comments on the Youth Incentive Award, and give me a veritable tsunami if you have to go that way, ugh!įinally realise that the poem you write does not really exist until it is read by somebody other than yourself, and paradoxically for the reader her/himself its meaning and their understanding of it can change on each further reading. I almost reached for my red pen when I saw another coming. Further, try to avoid over-used motifs such as ebb and flow of tide as a metaphor to the to and fro of love, which comes out as hackneyed and mundane as roses are red and the stars are above.
Interestingly this year saw many more prose poems /monologue meditations and calligraphic forays than in the past as a shift in genres and formats, be aware too that the modern tendency not to use punctuation can lead into unfortunate misreading. For example, do you read the poem aloud to self and others which is one of the speediest ways of finding any infelicities? My mentor Griff Watkins had his literal ‘butcher-baker-candlestick maker’ approach when he would show his poem to ten or more local people at all levels to make improvements and gauge its readiness for submission.īecause the average person reads poetic text rather than hears and sees oral presentation, candidates should pay scrupulous attention to their printed lay-outs and the reasons they have arranged it that way. As always, many entries literally missed out by a hairsbreadth but unfortunately there has to be a cut-off point.Īs judges before me I am amazed that many candidates do not use the checking devices available and submit very faulty entries that show a lack of respect for the seriousness of their attempt. With over 300 entries in this year’s Poetry d’Amour contest the candidate had a one in fifty chance of gaining the prize or an award, and to make infinitely sure I ran through the whole field again and again before making my final decisions. Damen O’Brien She Starts Playing After Ten Years of Silenceĭave drayton Epithalamium for William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck & Lady Dorothy Cavendish
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