Wordsmithery are very excited to announce the winners of our Medway Youth Laureate competition that was run over the summer in partnership with Medway Libraries!
We asked young poets in Medway to write a poem on the theme of the weather and we were really impressed with the poems that our winners submitted.
Prizes include a £25 book token and climate themed book, generously provided by the Medway Council Climate Response Team, plus books from publishers Crystal Peake and Wordsmithery.
We will be awarding their prizes during Medway River Lit festival.
12 to 13-year age category
In the 12 to13-year category our winner is:
JESSICA AJETUNMOBI for her poem, 'British Weather'.
British Weather
A cascade of droplets falling from the heavens
the grey sky frowns
suddenly the clouds roll away
and the sun shines down
A beautiful light, basking everything in a warm glow
A parade of colours appear
with a pot of gold at the end
In the shine of a rainbow, there is nothing to fear
Children step out of their houses to play
but within those few minutes the rain come back
not drizzling, but raining cats and dogs
the thunder boomed and lightning cracked
The kids retreat back to their homes
and wait for sunshine
but it rains, and rains and rains
and only stops after a long time
The sunshine returns
bright in the sky
all is well
the children wave the rain goodbye
The kids run outside
They have fun in the sun
They hop and they skip
and they dance and they run
All is great in the neighbourhood
the washing returns to its usual spot,
to soak up me suns rays
Adults stay in the shade to escape the hot
Drip, drop
Water on my head
my beads get frizzy
my slayed edges DEAD!
It is back
It has returned
The panic levels rising
People are concerned
That's British weather for you
ever changing never, the same
some days filed with sunshine
some days filled with rain
14 to 15-year age category
In the 14 to 15-year age category our winner is: INDIGO ROSE for their poem, 'Don't Spare A Thought'.
Don’t Spare A Thought
Come on, kids, we’ve arrived!
Step out of the coach, breathe in the sea air
As thick, grey lumps. Let it settle within you,
And coat the linings of your lungs.
It’s OK, child, the smoke will slip between the atoms
That build you, until it’s as much a part of yourself as any other.
If you're too worried, maybe purchase a bike from eBay, store it in
The shed until it’s smothered in cobwebs and a skin of dust.
You mustn’t fret about the flames chasing children
Along the beach, hungry to hear the screams of acknowledgment.
They’ll only hurt if you go near them. Squint until the oranges
Blend with parched grains, and then the fire is gone, dear.
You can play happily in this safely blurred world.
Take a dip in the water. Don’t mind the bones of arctic animals
That ride along the waves, decaying flesh plastered to their sides.
If you and your friends collect enough, try
Laying them out on the sand. Get the pattern just right, and
You may notice a story, etched into the periosteum.
It will spill tales of woe, scrambling at ice cubes, sinking into
A slithering abyss, a life dissolved amongst the millions.
Pick up a stray bottle lid and watch the guilt melt to a passing memory.
How about we all get ice cream?
No, don’t ask the lady behind the counter why you
Can taste the wails of the dying as a foul film atop your tongue;
The orangutans, jaguars, tigers, trapped under their pasts.
Think of the sweet scent of vanilla and palm oil,
And remember how your life would deteriorate without them.
Let's go back to the beach, children. You can find a
Nice spot on the sand to practise your full name with a stick,
Followed by your year of birth and another four digits.
Perhaps add an inspirational quote if you choose.
It’s too late to try now, isn’t it, kids?
Such little an impact you have, so why bother at all?
Just let your mind drift to happier places, and hope that
Everything will turn out alright.
Because drowning means a pleasant bathe in the ocean,
And ovenlike heat means tanning on brightly-coloured beach towels.
16 to 17-year age category
In the 16 to 17-year age category our winner is:
LYDIA WESTWOOD for her poem, 'Our Summer Dog Days'.
Our Summer Dog Days
Before the low humming of the long summer fire
The sun had cast reaper shadows on our barren turnpike,
Worn down at the wayside, I sat. Laid all out at your feet.
You perched again, one foot slung over your yellow paper bike.
And so we decayed, letting the dead light pass through us.
In the wilt of the warm asphalt, set in slow rotting heat.
Our heads bowed low like dog eared pages,
The words our backs had carried here were now obsolete
Your bleached white paper bike carried our dog days,
As we laughed and capsized on hollow freeways.
And a quiet unquietness hung in our ears;
Like the sun stagnant turnpike from our childhood years.
Congratulations to our first Laureates, we look forward to reading more of your poems over the next year!
We'll be making Jessica, Indigo and Lydia's poems into limited edition postcards that you'll be able to pick up from Chatham Library during the festival.
Prizes sponsored by the Climate Response team.
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