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Mary MacRae’s second collection
published Aug 10 by Second Light Publications. See order form (pdf file) for discount offers
Listen to Fiona Ritchie Walker reading Leaving
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The poems this month were judged by Ruth O’Callaghan, who has selected Anne Ryland’s For a Daughter as her winner. Two of her four commendations are: Caroline Gill’s Elegy for Idris Davies and Mary Hodgson’s Flints. The remaining commendations were Ann Alexander’s Lost men, found poem and Moya Pacey’s The Wardrobe. Both Ann and Moya have updated their pages between the judging and the site update, but I am sure you will admire their new poems as much as Ruth admired the old…
The judge’s comment on the winning poem, along with links to the four commended poets’ pages, is given below.
My name would not be your middle name.
You wouldn’t inherit my listomania, I promise:
I’d renounce list-making in honour of your birth.
The term Muscular Dystrophy would not be sewn within you.
I would not pass on my stony ova
or the euphemisms stuffed up the sleeve like handkerchiefs.
Thank You wouldn’t be your mantra; it trapped me at the amber light.
You wouldn’t stare at every dog and see only its bite.
You would never know that ‘worry’ derives from ‘wyrgan’, to strangle:
I’d lock the door to my mother’s worrymongery
but I would be your guide in the storehouse of the thesaurus,
assure you there’s no such curse as being too clever.
I’d even show you how to blow a trumpet in a long and steady tone.
My desk and my blue propelling pencil would be yours.
I’d hand you your great-grandmother’s last letter to her daughter
from the hospital – ‘bye bye, dear’
All my words would be yours, so you’d observe me on the page,
learn all that I am and was and should have been.
And, my daughter, each night I’d hum you a lullaby.
You would remember me as a song, not an apology.
Poem published: Mslexia, No. 34. Runner-up, Mslexia Women’s Poetry Competition, 2007.
Judge’s comment:
“
Many of the poems had an untold/implied back story or stories, which intrigues the reader. However, Anne’s poem from the outset – the use of the indefinite article within the title – demonstrates her ability to tread that extremely fine line between the intimacy of revelation – conveying her own, presumably, upbringing – whilst maintaining a certain reserve which prevents the poem from becoming either sentimental or egocentric yet retains a passion which eliminates distance.
”
Elegy for Idris Davies, by Caroline Gill
Flints, by Mary Hodgson
Ann Alexander page
Moya Pacey page
