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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
What Women Want: Myra Schneider’s latest pamphlet collection, was published by Second Light Publications in May 2012 – more at Second Light Books
Need help with travel to Second Light events? See Second Light Mary MacRae ‘Access to Poetry’ Fund
Our judge for this month’s competition is Anne Stewart. Her winner is Mimi Khalvati, with The Valley. Her selections for Commended poems are Golden Rule by Margaret Eddershaw, Cross My Palm by Alison Michell, Fiery-winged by Joan Poulson, and Death by Pauline Prior-Pitt.
The judge’s comment on the winning poem, along with links to the four commended poets’ pages, is given below.
I do OK, attend the W.I., make a nice Victoria sponge, am sociable, fit in.
My husband is a good man, works to fill our house with things,
But tell me why would a good man hide my skin?
I am lonely, hungry for the sea, tired of human company. He knows
my longings. I do as he does, go where he goes,
wheel my Tesco trolley in these heavy clothes,
eat far too much these days, weight’s piling on my hips and thighs.
I nibble mackerel in the bath, pour salt in, watch it dry,
Hide receipts, sit on rocks, cry.
Nights I pull on headphones, when we make love I close my eyes,
trawl CDs for echoes of my mother’s song. His body never tells me lies
but I go diving under softer skies
and when he falls away, sleep with one eye open.
Tomorrow I rise early, beloved one,
to search this place, as I have always done.
Judge’s comment:
“
Unpretentious, well-made but packing a quiet killer-punch, Golding’s poem chronicles the ennui of a ‘Tesco’ life when your wild, original seal-skin self has been stolen. However, Poulson’s passionate and grumpy Fiery Wings ran it very close, as did Crowe’s acutely observed, cleverly knitted Mended Fence, King’s tender but unsentimental Nectarine and Jagger’s sharp delineation of the effects of intimacy on passion.
”
Mended Fence, by Anna Crowe
The List Thing, by Helen Jagger
Nectarine, by Carolyn King
Fiery-winged, by Joan Poulson
