The Winning poem in the formal / free verse category is :-

Clogs, (by Vincent Van Gogh, Arles 1888’)  by  Gill Learner, Reading  

It is an evocative, descriptive piece.  Even if you aren’t familiar with the painting, you can see these wooden shoes and practically smell them with that ‘midden ooze’ and ‘seasoned saddlery’.  And a lovely touch with the notion they might at night become animate.  The stars don’t just flash or twinkle – they Catherine-wheel.  Everyone who has ever looked at a Van Gogh sky will recognise that.

The Runner up  was ‘Penrhos’ by  Sheila Wild, Eccles, Manchester

It tells us of a magical, atmospheric summer night filled with a sense of waiting.  We don’t know what it is we are waiting for, but there is a holiness in ‘the telling over of beads’ and the mention of an annunciation.  At the same time there is a grounded-ness in ‘the big brown teapot waits for morning’. The final glimpse of the comet is transitory, like gossamer, yet we feel a completeness.

Shortlisted was ‘The Bells of Holy Trinity’ by Rod Riesco, Horwich, Bolton.

The metaphors in this poem were so effective!  Any campanologist will feel at home with this poem as the ringers ‘pray by numbers’ in their methods and call-changes.  And non-campanologists will easily visualise the mighty iron bells falling and rising within the tower as they are pulled from the ringing chamber below.
Shortlisted was ‘Presents’ by Elizabeth Bullen, Southampton.  
 
 This is a thoughtful modern treatment of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  Particularly poignant are the lines ‘This handful of rings / asks you one question, five times’.

The Winner of the humorous category is :-


 ‘The Poetry Diet – drop a stanza in just two weeks’  by Cathy Bryant,      Urmston, Manchester.  

This is a brilliant extended metaphor with the poetic forms transposed into a diet programme as foods.  You can almost taste that rondelet with cento can’t you?  And the fizzy limericks and chewy clerihews do sound naughtily tempting!  This is a poem for the connoisseur.

The Runner- up is ‘The Passionate Single-Father to his Commitment-Phobic Girlfriend’
by  Louise Wilford, Barnsley

This is a rollicking, rhyming plea, after Christopher Marlowe, with multiple promises to tempt his
reluctant mate.  Guaranteed to bring a smile to the reader’s face.

Shortlisted was ‘Summer Barbecue’ by Christine Webb, Swanley, Kent

Particularly apt in this our promised ‘barbecue summer’, we just know what’s going to happen, but this doesn’t stop the poem from being very funny because it is keenly observed, and we’ve all been there, haven’t we?

Shortlisted was ‘Folly of the Opera’ by June Drake, Plympton, Devon

This is a rhyming couplet romp of a Parisienne affaire where M. Le Plonk and his children’s nursemaid Mimi each wrestle their consciences – and lose!