Poetry winners
- Under 11 Winner
- Under 11 Runner Up
- Age 12-17 Winner
- Age 12-17 Runner up
- Over 18 Winner
- Over 18 Runner up
Under 11 Winner
The Real Rainbow by Eleanor
I’m sad to say,
The real rainbow is grey.
Nobody has a clue
What to do.
In a tough time like this,
To make you feel bliss,
Create your own rainbow.
Be your own star,
we are all beautiful pieces of art.
Stay at home, be your own party,
Because 2020 can be fun,
And NEVER let anyone tell you otherwise…
Under 11 Runner Up
2020 Environment by Sarah
The environment has suffered many years
Through raging storms with horns and ears
but 2020 could save it all if we carry on not driving to school
Walking, cycling, on the bus with masks
The fresh air of walks and talking over the internet
Might be a way out of this ghastly storm
People driving less and home more
not leaving plastic on the beach ready to be swallowed up by the waves of ribbon and pushed to the surface
Could have an effect on us all
Could stop climate change
Could save it all
The trees have to stay
The ice can’t melt
Snow can’t go away forever
What would the people in the future say?
Oh I haven’t seen any of that
I wish people changed their ways for the lives of the environment
for me to see
for us to see
for generations to come to see
we helped the environment
We started it then we finished it in 2020 and in the future they say it’s been over for a thousand years.
Age 12-17 Winner
The Calendar of Chaos by April-Louise
January:
It’s 2020! The year of new beginnings, new resolutions, time for a change! The new school term starts after a long Christmas holiday, but are you aware of the cries heard beyond the UK? You haven’t heard? Australia’s ablaze, people are losing their homes, as we speak.
What a ‘great’ way to start the year.
February:
Uh-oh. What’s this? Panic has begun to up rise; the coughs and sniffles are spreading like butter on a knife. Should I be worried too? Words echo around, but one grabs my attention:
Virus.
March:
It’s getting worse. The year I was most looking forward to, I now despise,
We’re locked inside the houses we once lover, and we’re running low on supplies.
Why is toilet paper now a luxury? This year is full of jokes,
But should I be concerned? Rumours say it’s all a hoax…
I’m like a container of pills, I’ve been prescribed all this information, but what dosage do I take?
April, May, June & July all made the same mistake:
Stuck seeing the same faces every day, as the months are going by faster and faster,
What was once a small virus has become a world-wide disaster,
Working on my assignments, they’re due in tomorrow!
When will it end? There’s a pain in my voice; I’m struck by the sorrow.
Black Lives Matter, they have from the very start.
But it’s racism and hatred that’s tearing the world apart.
Protest after protest, but still no peace,
And when there’s no justice, the violence will increase.
August, September, October:
The days are passing by as the country slowly unlocks,
But please still wear a mask so your sicknesses don’t interlock.
It’s getting warmer but doesn’t feel like summer
It’s no big deal, just a bit of a bummer.
Everyone’s back at school while staying in their bubbles,
This is 2020: a year full of troubles.
Age 12-17 Runner up
Untitled by Alex
Throughout villages and towns,
There was no drought.
Rivers burst and water flows,
Washing signs and cars about.
Far away, as warm as the sun,
Crying fire as they shout,
Big open fires,
Burning down a large house.
Trees were burnt to ashes,
And rivers turned to drought,
Kangaroos, koalas, mice and birds,
All dying- put the fire out.
As warm as a bath,
And as quiet as a mouse,
No one was here,
They stayed in without a doubt.
Keep your 3ply masks on,
And stay safe in the house,
It would be a while until it’s gone,
So let’s squash Covid till it is nowt.
Over 18 Winner
The Tale of Two Parallel Epochs by Florence Hayles
‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’
The fatalistic carpet of typhoid coating organs exhausted up chimneys
While the rampant rash of rubella made sandpaper of the carpenter’s own skin -
His young boy with slapped cheeks at work just down the lane,
Their redness undefinable by scarlet fever or the factory owner’s sharp hand.
All the while the city was more alive than ever –
Its veins pumping vivaciously with canal boat trade,
Its lungs exhaling pollution strongly from the factory funnels,
Its eyes absorbing every piece of newly acquired knowledge
To boost the industrial revolution further.
Human weakness feeding commercial strength.
In the Tale of Two Parallel Epochs,
We see much the same of the worst.
Dickensian cholera replaced by Covid-19.
A dry continuous cough replaces the tin can rattle of tuberculosis,
Same fever though – a time old classic.
But what of that loss of taste and smell?
A whole new worst of times for us!
We have an entire world of flavours
Delivered to our door with one click of a button,
But Corona obstructs the trade from country to sea to tongue to brain.
Everything halts but the screens;
Perpetual motion of eyes and ears everywhere.
So desperate were we to just see and hear a loved one
That we did not care who was watching.
And again,
Human weakness feeds commercial strength.
But what of those best of times?
There were indeed plenty,
We fed our souls with simple pleasures and goods;
With a glance upwards to jet trails carving out smiles in a blue sky,
By taking the time to eat proper home cooked foods,
By holding a whole conversation without attention flying awry,
We even taught our children important life skills,
Such a pleasure to finally walk the distance of the hills.
Nature force-fed us some human strength –
And what of the differences in colour too?
Those neutral homes,
Finally brightened by rainbow paintings;
A symbol of gratitude towards the keyworkers in the crisis.
Children were seen AND heard once again,
Rising up from sterile laminate flooring
Kept clean too long by overtime at work and school.
Imperfect paintings and children playing in the garden,
A neighbour leaving a used book on the doorstep,
Heavy footfall in the dusty village shop – finally!
Humans fed one another strength.
In the worst of times, we can still be the best of people.
Over 18 Runner up
An Ode to 2020 by Helen Dalgleish
Year of death and distress.
Year of chaos and anger.
Life on our plastic bound Planet Earth
where even the air is now stale.
Wildlife are disappearing.
The poor and the old are ignored.
The vulnerable forgotten.
Black lives are trampled.
Hollow idols revered and worshipped.
Greed and selfishness prevail.
But the kaleidoscope has been shaken
and a new picture emerging.
Perhaps a dawn of enlightenment.
A bold awareness is rising.
Is Corona a Black Death leveller
in our unbalanced world?
A tiny virus changing the lives of all
altered forever in man’s careless reign.
However, in this time of grave despair
a spiritual few are bonding and work to help others.
Crystalline energies are stirring
on the Malvern Hills of ancient rock.
Elgar’s music still streams in the clear air,
the pulsating heart of a fresh world.
To those who are welcoming change
the Beacon sends out rays of hope and love.
Corona could be a rare blessing to humanity
if we learn its message.
Despite his arrogance man is feeble and fallible.
Only humility and resilience will save us now.
