Poetry competition winners for 2013

We have the winners of our National Poetry Day poetry competition! Congratulations to Irena Tojcic and Daniel Bartlett. The judge said:

We had an overwhelming response to the poetry competition and every single entry was outstanding. It was a hugely difficult task to pick a winner out of the nearly 130 poems entered. It was even more difficult to pick a winner out of the top 10 shortlisted poems as each one was moving and/or thought provoking. I kept coming back to two poems in particular and after much angst chose this one as the overall winner.

Here are the winning poems:

Untitled by Irena Tojcic (Winner)

I touched the ground

Underneath your shadow,

Warm it was.

I turned around and

Met your name,

Familiar it was.

Yet,

I kept silent,

Holding tightly

A pulsating fish of my heart,

Not letting it escape

Into your river.

Birthday Party by Daniel Barlett (Runner up)

It’s pretty dark
And only getting darker
So put on your parka
And close your front door

You’re looking great
And I’m a mess
But nevertheless
I’ll be trying my best
To keep it together

And keep you interested
For at least
The next ten minutes

And when we get to town
When we get to your friend’s house
As I’m sure we will

I’ll let go of your hand
As you push ahead

And I’ll want to say your name
But instead
I’ll say nothing

I’ll just wait
For the security light
To click on

Letting your shadow

Measure the distance between us