‘Black Bird-Shaped Hole’ winner of the Wells Festival of Literature
I am thrilled to bits that my poem, Black Bird-Shaped Hole, was selected as the winner of the Wells Festival of Literature, Open Poetry competition. I travelled down to Wells for the final with my younger son, Joss, and my besty, Rachel, never for one second imagining that it would be any more than a good day out and an opportunity to listen to some fine poetry. Wells – the smallest city in England – was completely charming and we mooched around the Bishop’s Palace (complete with moat and swans who ring a bell when they want to be fed) and had lunch in the Market Place (mostly cake tbh).
The shortlisted poems were read at the prizegiving, either by the writers themselves (in person or recorded performances) or by one of the accomplished professional readers. I had two poems shortlisted and was first up – a relief as once they were ‘done’, I could relax and enjoy the rest of the proceedings. There were so many stunning poems that when it came to the prizegiving I was totally relaxed, never imagining for a second that one of my poems would be selected. In fact, Joss had to nudge me when my name was called out as the winner!
The judge, Tristram Fane Saunders, described the poem as ‘brave enough to be really pretty strange’ and I think that’s the best review I’ve ever had. Some might say it sums ‘me’ up too. He went on to say that the poem moves from an ordinary external landscape into an internal landscape. I was pleased about that. I’m fascinated by liminality. I hope you enjoy this poem too. Disclaimer – it’s ‘pretty strange’.
