IMAGINATIVE thought and the ability to write creatively are alive and well in East Anglia. The entries in the Suffolk Young Poets Competition 2006 prove it beyond doubt.
IMAGINATIVE thought and the ability to write creatively are alive and well in East Anglia. The entries in the Suffolk Young Poets Competition 2006 prove it beyond doubt.
The winners enjoyed their moment on stage at the Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh, where they read their poems and received their prizes. The subjects that had motivated them ranged from schoolday memories and uninviting caravans to scary spiders and friendships grown cold.
The competition, run by Suffolk-based The Poetry Trust and sponsored by the East Anglian Daily Times, attracted more than 1,000 entries - of very high quality. The Peter Hardiman Scott Cup, for the best overall school entry, went to Parkway Middle School, Haverhill.
Michael Laskey, chairman of The Poetry Trust, said: “It's always a privilege to judge this competition. This year we had a particularly strong entry and we were struck by the variety and quality of the work.
“We had poems that rhyme and poems in free verse dealing with people and places important to the writers, their likes and dislikes, their difficulties and triumphs, painful realities and joyful celebrations.
“Above all we were impressed by the honesty of the poems, and their urgency - they weren't written to please teacher, but because the poet needed or wanted to explore the subject. We awarded a record number of 13 prizes to young poets aged five to 15.”
The presentation evening traditionally signals the start of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, which runs this weekend for the 18th successive year and whose record 44 events brings 30 poets to the coast.
After the young poets had returned to their seats with the applause ringing in their ears, prolific writer
Michael Morpurgo read from his new poetry anthology: Cock Crow.
The former Children's Laureate spent part of his childhood living on the Dengie Peninsula, near Maldon. He became a teacher, but was inspired to write by Ted Hughes's book Poetry in the Making and now has more than 100 books to his credit.
Michael has just finished presenting the 30-part BBC Radio 4 series The Invention of Childhood, which
examined the experiences of children in Britain over the last 1,000 years.
Chicken Shed
I like to be with my chickens in their black wooden shed
They run in all directions around the pen
Stretching their necks into a double chin
Opening their beaks to let out a crow.
Black and white bantams
And the cockerel with multicoloured feathers
Harry, the daddy of them all
Always chasing after the girls.
I like the smell of chickens and chicken food
As they peck from the feeder in the middle
One chicken with a wonky beak
Has to gulp his food down.
I've bought a book about looking after chickens
So I can keep an eye on them
Watching out for missing feathers and upset stomachs.
I enjoy watching them all together
My pets.
Sam Duchesne (8)
Lawshall School
Defeat
I will grasp the wind in a huge fist.
Whiten the skeletons of trees.
Stiffen the grass and make it sparkle.
Silver the lichened gravestones.
Turn clouds into bullets.
Pattern leaves to a crackle.
Freeze water to glass and icicle spikes.
Until Sun arrives.
Alex Davison (11)
Parkway Middle School,
Haverhill
I Need to Tell You
I need to tell you Dolphin,
I have stolen your elegant swim,
So now I too, can glide through water at high speeds,
And imagine that I am a current in the sea.
I need to tell you Eagle,
I have borrowed your flight,
So now I too, can stretch out my wings,
And swoop in the sky,
And feel as if I am the wind,
Whistling rapidly through the air.
I need to tell you Monkey,
I have possessed your ability to climb,
So now I too, can swing at great heights without fear,
And think that I am a shooting star,
Making my way through the trees.
I need to tell you Lion,
I have used your magnificent roar,
So now I too, can inform all animals that I am here,
And imagine that I am a loud speaker,
Shouting over the plains.
Leah Parolin (11)
All Saints Primary School,
Laxfield
My Dad Calls it Minimalist
My dad's mobile home
smells of stale smoke.
there's hard chewing gum stuck to the bedpost.
Under the sofas and chairs,
in the pokey, dark rooms,
are piles of newspapers,
old paperbacks,
polystyrene take-away food trays
crusted in Chinese sauce,
Mars Bar wrappers,
CDs you get free from newspapers
that he doesn't even listen to,
and odd socks, so he always asks me
“Where's that sock, the one with the red stripe?”
The only light is from a single fluorescent strip.
And when the meter runs out,
we rely on sunlight and candles.
The electricity runs out a lot.
The sofa, left by the man who used to live there,
smells of Wensleydale cheese and old men.
We use a saggy-seated dining chair for a TV stand.
We painted all the walls white
to create more light and to cover up
the dull, flowery wallpaper
(the sort you'd see in your grandma's house).
No shelves, no ornaments.
My dad calls it minimalist.
The back garden is a jungle of weeds
crammed with gravel and piles of cracked paving slabs.
There's a shed full of rusty tools and cobwebs.
To most people,
Dad's house is a grotty caravan,
But to me
It's my second home.
Jodie Hatton (13)
Parkway Middle School,
Haverhill
My Memories of School
I remember
the time when
we had tadpoles
in a small clear bowl
I wrote a diary about it
I remember
the time when
I was pinned to
the bench by a child a bit
older than me
outside the ks1 door
the teacher
came out and took no notice
I remember
the time when
me and Rochelle went
every play time and talked
in the play house we made
up secret signs one was
nodding your head once
meant you needed the
toilet at the time I needed
the toilet so I nodded
my head it took Rochelle a
while to understand
I remember
the time when
I thought I could not do the
crocodile pit and I did it
I was pleased and still am
Charlotte Matthews (9)
Bramfield Primary School,
Owen
When Mum says “bedtime”
He hangs on to his light, green lizard
Tightly
“Boo” he shouts
From his hiding place.
He adores shiny new shoes,
the garden,
slithering down his slide,
leaping, bouncing
until he is out of breath.
Angel Delight.
Sticking and glueing
At Sticky Steph's.
A lion's roar.
He's a fine little fellow
For a brother.
Georgia Nathan (8)
Saxmundham Primary School
Pain of Popularity
Pretty Girls
they have it all
their faces perfect
their lashes twirled
their tummies tiny
their skin sunkissed
their nails shiny
never dissed
They walk around from place to place
always perfect
pretty face
The scars left from family wars
the pain they feel
behind closed doors
the mask of their identity
will be held there for eternity
Lest they slip and reveal
who they really are
Lizzie Colvin (14)
Ditchingham
Red Ink and Pale Paper
You tell me just to write it down.
Every little thing,
In a journal or in poems,
Any way to win.
Because to you it's all a game,
Who can make me stop?
When I reach the very bottom,
Who can drag me to the top?
So I do what you say,
With just one little change,
I'm sorry, I just broke the rules,
But I won't play your games,
You told me just to write it down,
Every little thing,
But my pen is this blade,
And my paper is my skin.
Jennifer McCarthy (15)
St Alban's High School,
Ipswich
Right, I've Got to Do This!
From the safety of the amber light
outside the kitchen window,
I dread the shadow of the bay tree
half way down the garden.
Making sure my shoe laces are properly tied
I click my thumb joints. Ready.
Sprint through blowing shapes
and shadows to the damp gloom
at the bottom of the garden.
(But, why is the shed door already open?
I can't go back.
I have to go in.)
Avoid hanging tools
the spade, the fork, the long rake
and hoe poles and the heavy pick axe -
Step over the dark, boot-sized rat holes,
still full of poisonous blue pellets
into the musky petrol smell.
Chuck logs into bucket
speedily
haul it back to the house.
William Betts (11)
Parkway Middle School,
Haverhill
Spiders
I don't like spiders
sticky
cobwebs tickle me
crawl and creeping
round my room
in the dark
over my planes
my cars
my face
yuk
Ben Hartick (5)
St Edmunds School,
Bury St Edmunds
The Last Time I Saw You
The last time I saw you, you were getting off the train,
You just looked at me like you vaguely recognised me
And smiled.
You were with people I didn't know,
But I don't know you anymore.
And I don't think you know me,
Although we'd been together for so long before.
When we were younger, I could never imagine not knowing you.
Best friends forever, we said.
And when I left your school you cried
And gave me a special card;
It was supposed to be a surprise
But I knew you'd made it because
You never could hide things.
I knew you too well.
Do you remember the time you fell asleep on me in the car?
And when we used to play Mums & Babies with the Cabbage Patch kids?
And you always had to pretend to break your leg.
We used to watch the Parent Trap and we wished we were long-lost twins:
That's what we told people.
Remember when we were first allowed to go for a picnic
On our own
And you got stung by a wasp and we rushed home,
Scared you might die?
You must remember these things:
They mean so much.
When I left your school we wrote letters to each other,
Pen Pals forever, we said.
Ellen Ruffles (15)
Deben High School
Felixstowe
Elephants
Elephants
I like them.
Ask me why.
Because they have long stretchy trunks,
Because they are strong and fat,
Because they are bigger than a shed,
Because they have a short swishy tail,
Because they are grey and wrinkled,
Because they have nice big ears that flap,
Because that's why
I like elephants.
Sophie Richards (6)
Lawshall School
The Track Up to the Water-tower
It's where my little sister, Lotty, and I snuck out
early one morning, while our parents were asleep,
to go for a bike ride all on our own.
Where we did brilliant tyre-skids
on the dusty, cracked concrete.
It's where I first took the stabilizers off
my two wheeler bike, then fell
down into the ditch full of stingers and brambles.
It's where Lotty and I searched
for bugs and mini-beasts and small animals.
Where we found the stubby toad,
which Lotty held, but wouldn't give to me.
Where we stuck our arms down tunnels
searching for baby rabbits,
but only found their black, sticky droppings.
It's the field next to the track
where we played all day
building castles of straw bales,
on sun baked stubble, that got stuck down our socks,
and bits of prickly straw that poked through our jumpers.
It's the track with the steep slope
where we tobogganed on an old tray,
so fast we somersaulted into the ditch
full of snow and Lotty laughed
when she fell on top of me.
It's the track where we climbed into the branches
of the wishing tree. Where we had laughing fits
and told each other stories and secrets.
It's the track where we had to dodge the cracks
on the race home. And if we rode over one and fell
down the never ending drop,
we'd be lost forever.
It's the track where we never saw anyone,
(except the lady on the grey horse)
near the house,
where we used to live
when I was eight.
Evey Richardson (11)
Parkway Middle School,
Haverhill
Highly Commended
11 and under:
Morgan Ambrose (8),Lawshall School
Katie Barnes (11),Parkway Middle, Haverhill
Alice Bucksey (7),Lawshall School
Chiara Ciufo (6),St Mary's Primary, Woodbridge
Rory Hird (11), Blackbourne Middle, Stanton
Harvey Jolly (5),Honington Primary
Ellen Kibble (9), Palgrave Primary
Grace King (4), Lawshall School
Joe Kydd (6), Lawshall School
Tom Lamb (9), Lawshall School
Rosie Lloyd (10), Sandlings Primary, Woodbridge
Annabel Millward (6), Reydon Primary
Frances Mobbs (11), All Saints Primary, Laxfield
Elly Paton-Terry (10), All Saints Primary, Laxfield
Oliver Rackham (10), St Johns Primary, Ipswich
Sarah Stock (8), Elmsett Primary
Emily Wallace (8), Lawshall School
Freja Wright (9), St Helens Primary, Ipswich
12 and over:
Anya Bricknell (13), St Alban's High, Ipswich
Lizzie Cassidy (12), St Louis Middle, Bury St Edmunds
Matthew Cook (15), Chantry High, Ipswich
Bradley Cutts
Sasha El-Halwani (13), Parkway Middle, Haverhill
Ben Febvre (11), St Alban's High, Ipswich
Corinne Gallop, Great Cornard Upper
Alex Holmes (13), St Louis Middle, Bury St Edmunds
Hollie Johnson (15), Claydon High
Sophie Lockwood (15), Deben High, Felixstowe
Clare Rennard (17)
Nathan Tynan (12), St Alban's High, Ipswich
Jessica Warren (12), Blackbourne Middle, Stanton
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