Monthly Archives: July 2016

Owl

I have lain awake listening for the owl’s cry.
A note that chills
Thrills
Then does die.

One day
This bird of prey
Will carry my soul away,
Or so the supersticious say.

Mice hide
While I, in my pride
Decide
The owl’s erie cry
Signifies that I will die.

The bird has no interest in me
So why can I not be free
From his cry
That to my window nigh
does rise, then, as suddenly, die?

International Poetry competition – one of the biggest and best

bridget whelan's avatarBRIDGET WHELAN writer

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One of the world’s biggest and most prestigious poetry contests, the National Poetry Competition is now open for previously unpublished poems of up to 40 lines on any subject. (Publication includes being posted on blogs, twitter etc etc)

The competition is judged by Moniza Alvi, Gerry Cambrige and Jack Underwood. Every entry will be read by at least two judges – they don’t just get to see a selected short list. All poems are judged anonymously.

1st prize is £5,000
2nd £2,000
3rd £1,000 and there are seven commendations at £200 each.

Winning poems are also published in an anthology and on the Poetry Society website, and there are other exciting opportunities for each year’s winners, including the opportunity to read at some of the UK’s biggest literary festivals and events.

Entry fee: The first poem submitted costs £6.50. Subsequent entries in the same submission cost £3.50 per poem. Poetry…

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Walls

A thing done often palls.
Walls
Have ears
And down the years
They hear our tears
And fears.

The wall
May not speak
But as week follows week
It will recall
Each trip and fall.

In the halls
Of the great
And the abodes of the humble,
Walls wait.
This truth I state,
Edifices crumble
And walls do prate …

Ducking and Diving

Ducking and diving,
Just about surviving
Is the lot of many
Who have only a penny
Or two
To see them through.

What to do
When the cupboard is bare?
Beware
Temptation, for Oscar knows
Where leads the sweetness of the rose …

“I can resist anything accept temptation”. Oscar Wilde, “Lady Windermere’s Fan”.