Poetry Competition 2006
Bideford Folk Festival
in association with
Walter Henry’s Bookshop
The results of the Festival Poetry Competition 2006:
First Prize: Geoff Norman – smoke signals
Second: Joyce Moon - Catching Glimpses
Third: Mo Evans – Stones in Her Pockets
Highly commended by the judge Frances Thompson (but not placed in any order were)
- Miranda Cox – Angry Tree
- Keith Perryman – with two poems Word Hungry and Strong Hands
- Cathie Peters – For James Ravilious (1939-1999)
The above poets came from; Okehampton, Fremington, Northampton, Bideford and Frithelstock Stone.
Bideford Folk Festival would like to thank the Plough Poets and Musicians who organised the Poetry Event, particularly, Martin Parker and thanks also to our expert judge Frances Thompson.
Geoff Norman -smoke signals
we too wonder about our father and his story and history
and wonder if he might have pursued his blaze of glory harder and farther
and wonder what the cost and gain might have been
and how hard and how far he went
and wonder
we too more than a man when seated on a horse
we too are sometimes more and sometimes less than a man
but sometime more
or less
more or less
we too have our sense of place and loss and loss of place
and place of loss
have our sense
we too see the place names that say we used to be here and of here
we too used to be here and of here
and hear
and they are not where we are
where are we
we too would want what’s left of us after we have left to rustle in leaves
that are elsewhere or not at all
and perhaps never were or never were there
and never were there such leaves
or leaves
we too weep as we drag these words from somewhere unknown
perhaps within perhaps without
perhaps without reason
we too never apologise
are sorry that we never apologise in time
will be sorry that we never apologise in time
in time
we too have days when we are warriors
we too have days when we are not warriors
have days when we are not
we too have days
have days when
we to have the drum in our ears
hear the drum
here and here
we too
we two
Joyce Moon - Catching Glimpses
I notice them because
they interrupt my view,
the elderly ladies.
They sit each side of the window
heads bobbing together
as their conversation
becomes intimate with ailments.
They sit back to sip coffee,
nibble at biscuits.
Now I can see the estuary:
today, it has swallowed the calm
blueness of the sky,
an easy ingestion of cerulean.
The stretch of sand, across Instow,
is the colour of yellow pollen,
where clusters of small boats cling
like sleepy bees with rounded bellies
waiting the tide’s nudge.
Along the front at Appledore,
rows of white houses,
like loaves of bread,
mop up the juices of fish.
Here and there a splash of pink
from a careless colour-wash of sunset.
Seagulls, tiny specs in the distance,
rise like ash from a bonfire.
The elderly ladies
are blocking my view again,
their heads locked together,
dug in for a long haul.
I watch a flitter of ash,
from somewhere distant,
swoop and sway on thermals,
stray, through an open window,
settle, like miniature seagulls,
on strands of grey hair
Mo Evans -STONES IN HER POCKETS
It is said that
she is sometimes
seen at dawn
rising from
the ocean,
and the shore
is hushed,
the rush
of surf stilled.
She is shrouded
in white,
green weeds
interweaving her hair.
Bare footed
she walks at
the water’s lip,
leaving no print.
She holds
small bottle
marked ‘poison’.
Crouches, dips, sips,
then weights
her pockets
with
collected stones.
Arms outstretched
she faces the tide,
slides back
into the depths.
Only then do
waves wash
and gulls switch
and screech
breaching the silence.
That is what is said.
A Poetry Competition
Become our Folk Festival Poet for 2006
First Prize: £50 BOOK TOKEN
and the David Wyre
‘Tappit Hen Tankard’
Second Prize: £25 Book Token
Third Prize: £10 Book Token
The winner of the competition will be declared at the
Folk Festival Poetry Evening
Burton Art Gallery
Thursday August 17th 2006
Rules of entry:
1] Maximum of 40 lines of poetry per poem.
2] Entries should be typed, single spaced on one side of a sheet of A4 paper in plain font, with a left margin of 1” (2.5cms), with no poet identification. If you don’t have access to a typewriter/computer please print neatly on A4 ruled paper with similar left margin.
3] Poets name, address and telephone number/email address with poem title(s) on a separate A4 sheet of paper.
4] Poems must be an original work, unpublished and must not have won a prize in any other poetry competition.
5] Please keep a copy of your entered work as we cannot be responsible for the return of entries. Unfortunately the organisers cannot enter into any correspondence.
6] Copyright remains with the author however Bideford Folk Festival reserves the right to display the winning entries on Bideford Folk Festival website.
7] Last date for receipt of entries is; Monday 31st July 2006.
8] The Judges decision will be final.
9] There is no limit to the number of poems you may submit but the Judges will only award one prize per person.
Cost of entry
Per poem £2.00. The entry fee can be paid by cheque or postal order. Please make cheques made payable to: Bideford Folk Festival
Entries should be sent to:
Bideford Folk Festival Poetry Competition, 15 Geneva Place, Bideford Devon EX39 3BS (01237 - 473931)
The ethic of Bideford Folk festival is participation.
We will ask short-listed poets to read their poem at the Festival Poetry Evening, Entrance to this event is free. We will notify all short listed poets in advance. If you are not available at that time to read we will arrange a reader on your behalf. Please bring a copy of your poem with you.
The results of the competition will be posted on the festival website
Poetry Page, in September 2006
Stop Press! Poetry Workshop, Thursday 17th August at 2.30pm Baptist Church, Mill Street £2 Entry
Frances Thompson
Reading at the Poetry Event will be Frances Thompson, Frances is a poet of outstanding talent. She is Irish and lives here in Devon. Her work appears in poetry magazines and anthologies in the UK, USA and Ireland. She reads regularly at the Arts Centres in Exeter and Torrington. Other UK venues have included Coleridge Cottage, Somerset, and the Oxford Poetry Festival. Frances has read at literary festivals in Ireland as well as at the Yeats Summer School. She has been guest poet at university conferences in Ireland , Scotland , Canada and the USA . Frances recently completed a Poetry MA at Exeter University, gaining a distinction and a School Commendation. She writes about Ireland, about Devon, about people, about life.
Frances will be judging and announcing the winner of the Festival Poetry Competition 2006 at the Burton Art Gallery on Thursday 17th August, the evening hosted by the Plough Poets and Musicians begins at 8pm.
The Poetry Workshop, will be suitable for those who have never written a word of poetry but will still encompass the experienced poet. This is a marvellous opportunity to talk to and learn from a very fine poet. Bring along a poem you have written or are working on and of course a pen and paper.
