Thanks to those who sent in entries to the competition - there was a great variety of ideas about our theme - ‘Transport’.

Surprisingly the majority of entries came in by email - even more surprising was that there were no entries in the Children’s category. 

We would like to thank Sarah at Marple Stationery supplies for her help in collating the hand delivered copies. 

As with all our competitions, the poems and the name of the entrants are separated on receipt, with only the poems being seen by the judge, who never sees the entrants’ details. 

When the winners have been decided they are then cross referenced to their names. 

This has now been done and we are delighted to announce the winners. 

This competition was unusual, with the judge concluding that it was impossible to decide who should be first and second - so it was decided that there would be a joint first prize, and a third prize. 

The four poems are now on display in selected shops in Marple town centre.

The prizes were presented at the Locks Festival on July 5th (see photo above).

Thanks to all who entered.

Joint first prize: There and Back - Dianne Hutchinson

cow parsley

dances parallel

to wire railing

 

bramble hedgerows

a clutch of bluebells

trailing

 

under a graffitied arch

overtaken by a bicycle

our slow sailing

 

Canada geese spit

lonely buttercups sigh

dandelions flailing

 

joggers jog past

dog walkers take the air

a child wailing

 

beyond: a dank long tunnel

Goyt Mill visible

the light failing

 

Joint first prize: Flight Path (For MHG) - Alison Dowdeswell

Lone heron makes regal progress

Flapping wings floppy as elephants’ ears

Casting a pterodactyl shadow below

Serene solo flight that no-one hears.

 

Improvers are on the rampage

Muddy farm tracks must be transformed

Into sturdy turnpike roads instead:

Travel for the well off is reformed.

 

Heron flies on solitary route

Seking his familiar perch

By the glissando brook,

Only a wayward gust makes him lurch ...

 

Navvies invade our village

Wages paid in tankards of posset

Theirs is a toxic legacy: a canal,

A pub by a bridge, a generation of upset.

 

Morning route always east to west

Set by internal compass

Homeward, away from the blushing sun

Heron breaks no laws of trespass.

 

Canal barges, hauled by piebald nags

Cargo-shifting motorways of their age

Until a tunnel forces men to ‘leg’ it

Back muscles screaming with rage.

 

Grey ghost, sovereign of the skies

Flying with carefree rhythmic grace

Causing no noxious pollution or noise

Unlike the rapacious human race.

 

Railway mania sweeps the land

Investors demand more and more lines

Even impassable Marple is breached

New station adorned with gaudy signs.

 

Silver spectre, lonely aviator

Does smoke belching from an Iron Horse

Confuse your natural navigation?

No, nothing can push you off course.

 

Heron, maintain your daily journey

While Man thinks he has the last laugh -

Prove him wrong with your stately passage:

Keep true to your primeval flight path.

 

Third prize: Tracks - Katherine Lane-Serff

Getting me there

Getting me there

Paying the fare

Checking the time

Leaves on the line

Having to stand

Paper in hand

Jolt.

 

Getting me home

Getting me home

Sitting alone

Lost in the crowd

Music too loud

Droplets of rain

Run down the pane

Tired.

 

Take me away

Take me away

Where I can play

Bright city lights

Seeing the sights

Set for a hike

Loading my bike

Go.

 

Take me through time

Take me through time

Back down the line

Up to the town

Smoky and brown

Into the hills

Far from the mills

Past.

 

Commended: Brighton central - Roland Javanaud

Oh my gorgeous

Bus girl in your

Cool

Wet

Coat

Shiney

With polish and

Rain

Why didn’t I

Catch you

Back in ’71?

 

How you would have

Carried me

Off

To places beyond the

Stop

We

Crossed

Lines

On and In

Often

For an

Instant

Without

Ever

A word

Spoken!

 

And I

Would have done

The same

Taking you too

Utterly away

If only I’d

Guessed

You wanted to be

Trans

Ported

Beyond the Pavilion

Or Hamlet studies

At the Tech

On the London Road

Beyond the trains arriving at

Central

Or my bike

Panting in from Lewes

Searching for

Your flash of

October

Gabardine

Green!

 

We should have consulted

The time and

The tables

Found a way of

Taking the journey for

Which we

Imagined

The other

Would

Never

Have wanted

To buy

A ticket

Too many waiting hours

At other stations and

Bus stops

Can’t

Change this now !

 

Old or dead

As you are

I doubt you

Remember me

At all

But how I wish

I had put

My arms

Inside

That green garbardine

And held your

Waist

And smelled your

Hair and

Kissed you

In the

Rain

Whilst the cars

Fumed and the

Bikers

Delayed their

Starting

Motor

Pushes

 

And

Who knows,

Although I don’t

Even

Know your

Name

Perhaps

You wish that

Too and

Wonder,

Whatever

Has or would have

Followed

How

Then

We

Would have been

Trans

Ported and

How

That journey

Would be Carrying

Us

On

Still Now

Though

For me

Just now

It does

Any

Way !

Judge - Joyce Reed G.N.S.M.

Born in Derbyshire, Joyce has self published 4 books, 3 of them poetry, one of them short stories.

Her first major win was the “Country Story” short story competition in Writers’ News. 
In 2006 she was awarded the “Poet of the Year” prize and in 2008 became the winner of the David St John Thomas Trust’s award for the best self published book. ‘Teachers Monday Flowers’.

In Sept 2011 she won the ‘Love Poetry’ competition in Writing Magazine. (Published in March 2012 edition.)

She appeared on the Radio 4 Poetry Workshop with Ruth Padel in November 2012, where she read and discussed her poem ‘In Flight’, and joined in with Stanza’s Stalybridge poets in their poetry workshop discussions and poetry project ‘Writing the Cathedral’.

In December 2014 she won second prize in Writing Magazine’s children’s poetry competition.