Young Poet Laureate Competition 2023 A collection of writings by Worcestershire s young poets
Welcome Each year Worcestershire’s young poets have the opportunity to compete for the coveted title of Worcestershire Young Poet Laureate. Jointly run by Worcestershire County Council Libraries Service and Severn Arts, the poetry competition aims to inspire and encourage children and young people to write and perform poetry, to make their voices heard, and to explore issues that matter to them. The collection of poems in this book have been written by Amelie Simon, Worcestershire’s Young Poet Laureate for 2023, competition winners Bethany Lunney and Evie West, other competition finalists and some of the young people who applied to join the competition. We are delighted to be sharing them with you and celebrating the creative writing talent that is evident within the county. The competition is judged in three age categories: school years 6, 7, 8, school years 9, 10, 11 and school years 12, 13. A winner is chosen from each category, and one overall winner secures the title of Worcestershire’s Young Poet Laureate. This year, each entrant submitted two poems: one on the subject‘time’, and the other on a subject of their choice.Those selected to attend the competition final performed their poems to a panel of judges: Faith Taylor – Worcestershire’s Young Poet Laureate for 2021. Holly Winter-Hughes – poet and founding director of The Word Association, a not-for-profit focused on amplifying underrepresented voices. Matt Windle – Birmingham’s Poet Laureate, delivering workshops that combine poetry and boxercise to give voice through written and physical expression. We hope you find joy and inspiration reading this wonderful collection of poems written by talented young poets. Elaine Knight, Louisa Ackling Arts Director, Service Development and Engagement Manager Severn Arts Worcestershire County Council Library Service
First published in the United Kingdom in 2023. © Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023. Each poet has asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to retain copyright to their own work. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher. First published in the United Kingdom in 2023 by Bite Poetry Press. www.bitepress.co.uk Design by Gerard Winter-Hughes Printed and bound in the UK by Biddles, Castle House East Winch Road, King’s Lynn, PE32 1SF
Worcestershire’s Young Poet Laureate Competition 2023 A collection of writings by Worcestershire’s young poets
Contents 9 Amelie Simon – Young Poet Laureate 2023 WINNER Years 12 & 13 age group 10 Spacetime is Shaped Like a Railway Track 12 Ascension 15 Years 6, 7, 8 age group finalists 16 Bethany Lunney - WINNER **Rewind 18 Alana Booth Last Minute Homework 19 Iona Campbell A Gollomy Land 20 Harry Childs Roller Coaster of Emotions 21 Years 9, 10, 11 age group finalists 22 Evie West – WINNER Scars of Sound 24 Evie Hodgetts The Écarté 25 Eavie Tan Tempus Edax Rerum 27 Eva Wilson-Thomas Cattus Canis 29 Years 12 & 13 age group finalists 30 Laaibah Maqbool On Thin Ice 31 Doroti Polgar The Future of Our Words 33 Ruby Williams Hourglass
35 Selected poems from competition entrants 36 Catherine Marshall (Years 6, 7, 8 age group) Time – A Haiku 37 Megan Nash (Years 6, 7, 8 age group) Timeless 38 Ayrton Ransom-Tytler (Years 6, 7, 8 age group Time for Climate Change 39 Katryn Grout (Years 9, 10, 11 age group) What Will You Do 40 Archie Pickering (Years 9, 10, 11 age group) Time, the Antagonist of Existence 41 Emily Shakespeare (Years 9, 10, 11 age group) Seconds, Minutes, Hours 42 Poppy Chambers (Years 12 & 13 age group) Product of Youth 44 Asa Field (Years 12 & 13 age group) Mineral Girl 45 Hope Rose (Years 12 & 13 age group) Time is a Tyrant 47 Faith Taylor – Young Poet Laureate 2021 **Trigger warning: Some readers may find some of the ideas or language in marked poems upsetting.
8 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
Amelie Simon Young Poet Laureate 2023 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 9
SPACETIME IS SHAPED LIKE A RAILWAY TRACK By Amelie Simon Lovingly following the contours of spacetime, I sink closer to where it all begins, Gravity drawing me between the sofa cushions. “Welcome to the Great Western Railway service to Hereford.” It’s well-established that gravity makes time move slower. It’s why when I’m sat on this train, My world is crawling by at a wobbling toddler’s pace, Slower than the world of the girls on their shopping trip, Slower than the world of the man sifting through his book, Slower than the world of the ticket guy as he leans on an empty chair, Because I’m being pulled towards my centre, Where it all began. “Calling at: Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link, Great Malvern, Ledbury and Hereford.” Most accept gravity acts towards the earth’s core, Aristotle taught gravity was just the nature of earth-bound beings, But Newton suggested everything tends towards a god-given line. He just couldn’t find it, But I’ve found it, On this train track, Getting pulled towards my beginnings, The world outside becoming stop-motion frames, I can hear the shutter clicks as the train wades through the hours, And I wade through the pages of my past, And my father’s past and my father’s father’s past. “Sorry for the delay, we’re just being held at a red signal” This train track ends, But the line keeps going. At some point it is not constrained By conventional Euclidean space, At some point it strides through the fourth dimension, Curving back on itself while only moving forward, There are level crossings over it but they always lead back to it. “Please remember to take all your belongings with you.” 10 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
If only I could follow it, Trace its path through places I have not seen (but will see), Then I would see me, Reflected back at me through fractures of my ancestors, A fractal of personhood, Each deeper look revealing past, future and present all at the same time, All with the same eyes. The years will shape furrows into my face, The decades before me will become the decades after me, The world will change and I will be unchanged but not the same. “Please mind the gap between the door and the platform edge.” Once my foot touches the pavement of the station, When my heel makes contact with the concrete, I am far enough from the line to stop feeling its pull, It is still there, enticing me to enter that slow-motion montage Of days that were not yet days And time capsules of lives that were not yet mine, But in the puddles on the platform I only see my own face, Blurry, with mist stamped under the eyes like a library return, And acne scars like a scrunched up receipt for adolescence, I can just about make out where crow’s feet will form, Like dog-eared pages of smiles from yesteryears. It’s my own face, a swirling vortex version of it anyway, Eddy currents billowing through my cheeks. And I know that I’ll come back To the formless futures buried in my past, And my father’s past, and my father’s father’s past, Because spacetime is shaped like a railway track. “The next train to arrive at platform one will be the 10:45 Great Western Railway service to you.” Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 11
ASCENSION By Amelie Simon I love you, girl, Laying down roots like skipping ropes, Knowing that they’ll soon be torn from the earth, But you’ll thrive in a bigger pot. You lounge beneath the ferns, Bathed in the midday sun That washes away the sins that were never yours to bear. Clutch your beads and cut up your skirts, Build a monument to the self you’ll be. Watch as the ants scurry, About your hand, that hovers barely above the soil, Shielding them from the harsh light of the morn. Listen to the larks, Tell them about your day, About how in the years to come Their songs will be dedicated to you, And when they are, you’ll return the favour. Eventually, the music will swell And you’ll find your seat amongst the stars, Use twigs and muck and leaves on the edge of rot, Weave yourself a new body, Construct a self you’re happy with, One that will withstand the other children’s rocks, Trade your left eye for the world (Or perhaps just for second best) I love you, girl, Budding like a plastic rose, Brimming with yet to ‘be’s and ‘never will’s, Stretch out your branches in a languid wave And promise to return to your first temple, A land of beetles, hope and moss, Your hair that snags on twigs as you climb Will only trap you for so long, Until you hoist yourself skyward, Up! Up! Up! Escape the canopy and rise, But promise you’ll come back. 12 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
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Years 6, 7, 8 category finalists Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 15
REWIND By Bethany Lunney She lies in her cradle of crisp cotton, Every moment is new to her, But already she has forgotten. I want to rewind I see her grow, I see her thrive, B ut everything runs by too quickly I want to rewind I can no longer keep her safe. I warn her not to climb too high Right now my voice is shaky as I cry H ow did she grow up to quickly? I want to rewind She shouts at me and slams the door. I know it’s just her age But does she not love me anymore? Hey this sudden rage? She was such a darling back then, A nd I yearn for that time again. I want to rewind I walk with her up the aisle, Adjusting her train, And I ache as I follow her – stolen from my claim. I don’t want to share her. She belonged only to me. I held her safe as a baby. But I know however much it hurts, It’s time to set her free. I want to rewind And now it’s happening again, The unconditional love, the aching pain. I hold him close in my arms. 16 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
I try to stop time. But the years race by, and already he’s turned nine. Will I ever rock the cradle again? As I wrinkle and weaken, Helpless on a bed. Already a memory. P lease - I can’t be dead. I want to rewind. I watch as she weeps at my grave, I hold her hand, She has to be brave. I don’t think she can feel me, But I am always by her side. I am always in her heart. Her foundation and her guide. I cannot bear to see her so distraught, Thinking she is on her own. Can’t she see, she’s never alone! I need to go back, Hug her again. P ut an end to the suffering, ease the pain. I want to rewind Has time run out? Is it really too late? I’m not quite ready to enter the gate. Or am I wrong to be grasping on T o a life that’s past but will always last. I don’t need to rewind. I can keep this moment forever, Locked in my heart, safely entwined. B ut most of all, I want to say thank you. Thank you for the wonderful time. Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 17
LAST MINUTE HOMEWORK By Alana Booth What have we done to our planet? Our water, air and environment poisoned by greed, Infecting others with its venom, Although it pleads, we cut it away, we are too distracted, thinking of ourselves as a phenom We treat the warning signs as homework, handed in too late. But there are some too strong for the venom, Who stand up for what’s right, Curing people from its clutches, Saying, “We must fight!” They change the minds of you and me And make us spread the word, “What have we done to our planet? Have we just given up? Do we want our children to thrive and survive in a clean earth? If yes then join with us, to change humanity’s minds, And then, only then, Will we finally read the signs.” I could go on with this forever And even if you listen, Time would have run out, never would we be forgiven, If the powerful people can’t take action to change this, Then the citizens will have to cure them From this disgusting habit, From this horrible venom. What have we done to our planet? Do words really work? Come on, don’t treat this issue like it’s last minute homework. 18 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
A GOLLOMY LAND By Iona Campbell The place past the mountains with top hats of snow, Foamy oceans, and storytelling trees, Nonsensical things, Like Brakaleebings, And friendly Wakabees. Or so far down, under the lilting notes, Of turquoise, Kallycad Sea, that the banderboo bosh, Will invite you, To a muncious, waterish tea. The magical, boshiling place, That cheers you up when you need somewhere to go, Maybe, when you close your eyes, The Flobbably-flabbably-doo will pop in and say hello. Climb a ladder to the moon, Just for a sniggling snat, As well as meet the moon baboon, And his ambitious friend, yellow-spotted cat. Once you’ve finished sharing and reading books, Nestled in the comfy couch, Dinner with your amazing friends and family, It’s blue carrots and purple sprouts. After teatime jobs, And lots of follomy goaming (lots of hugs and cake), Bishergiggle into bed, Until you kallatersly awake. A gollomy land, All your creation, Commonly referred to as Imagination! Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 19
ROLLER COASTER OF EMOTIONS By Harry Childs At the start of the journey I was a little lonely My friends left me It felt like I was the one and only The hushed whispers surround me, Glazed stares engulfed me. But I held tight Not wanting to give them a fight Sly shoves in the hallway, Telling tales in the doorway I just wanted to get away. Make them stop, Why me. You have nothing nice to say. It’s time to rebuild my smile, As I know it will be worthwhile. It feels like a long mile Hold my head high, As time passes me by. Don’t feel like you’re in the dark, Someone will help you get back your spark, There are people there for you To show you how to smile again too. Step away from those who don’t understand, It’s time to take a fight and a stand. It’s time to live, learn and be free As happiness is key. So let’s all choose to be kind. Always keep others on your mind. Unite together, show we are strong, The torment won’t last long. I held tight for my journey Now nothing can hurt me. 20 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
Years 9, 10, 11 finalists Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 21
SCARS OF SOUND By Evie West They are a reddish hue in colour. faint but visible to the naked eye, weaved and inter-crossed with thread a day I so fearfully anticipated with dread. They do not make me shed a tear. Nor cry but are instead a reminiscence of my story. The battle I fought to hear again; they are my scars, my scars in all their glory. My scars of sound. Till’ the end of forevermore my spirit dances with them; lifts up my heart. And soars. To be gifted my magic ears, was worth the scars- Almost ethereal. A planet like Mars. Spinning, spinning. Vertigo is winning- My head laced in white, plasters shall be off tonight- oh’ my scars. My scars of sound. The beauty fills you, with Earth’s most utmost splendour, Never fails to astound. The queen of scars is crowned. 22 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
Have courage, I was told. By all those, young and old- But how. Could they ever know? How much it terrified me, to think I could live or go. I wear my scars with dignity, complete pride; They make me complete; laced on either side; a part of me that shall never forsake; they remain, with all their hurts and aches, a momentary flashback; the injection of the cannula; barely audible, a grunt of pain. Outside, God sent down his rains. Pitter patter. Darkness. Sudden light. My scars show my fight. And I’ll love them – for all my life. Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 23
THE ÉCARTÉ* By Evie Hodgetts After ‘The Emigrée’ by Carol Rumens What once was clear as sunlight, Dazzling to my naïve eyes, Is now crystal clear to me. My life is a newspaper, Told only i n black and white. I am now stamped with this unsavoury mark, Labelled like a parcel g oing to some unknown destination. I am now to be packed on a plane, Even though I thought t here was no way back. I am now being shipped off by tyrants who believe me an infection and a wicked thief, To a place that could never be my home. Sent to sour soil: You are clouding my view of y our free city. Accusatory fingers are pointed at me with a snarl. Freedom stripped, I hang my head, Instead of casting it up to the stars. The memories I once held firm are now tainted, Spilled ink on the happiest of letters home. Time will tell who the real villains are. * ‘Écarté’ means ‘discarded’ in French 24 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
TEMPUS EDAX RERUM By Eavie Tan Tock, tick, tock Chimes a great grandfather clock Reminding me Like a brass bell booming Through dream-like silence Of where I am And where I’ve been And maybe where I hope to be Its hands stretch out be Like sandy beaches Along the shores of my mind Soaking up rays of sunlit time As waves snipe at the heels of the coastline Which whispers my tale, left, right and centre Of where I am And where I’ve been And maybe where I hope to The sound of the bells upon the hour Tell me of the minutes that stream past One by one they sulk away One thousand, four hundred and forty a day Yet I cannot recall what happened on the eleventh On the third, on the fifth On the hundredth and seventh Of where I was And where I’ve been And maybe where I hope to be An emulation of sand → It gets between your toes Chasing you into the arms of the horizon As it meets its awaited close Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 25
It caught in your mouth And contours your sight Burying you with its heavy-footed might Until – like all other matter It’s washed away And the beach has forgotten another day I thought it told us where we are And where we’ve been And maybe where we hope to be But now I know: Tempus Edax Rerum That all the seconds, minutes and hours In the end, Time devours 26 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
CATTUS CANIS By Eva Wilson-Thomas When one thinks of ‘cats’, Why does one think of the mousers for rats? Untrainable felines of pointed ears, By the fridge, the fluffed paw appears. Dogs favoured by virtue of their purpose, Bred for companionship and mandatory love. You ridiculed that cat as it brought you a dove. You cannot induce authority is what you have found, So you renounce in favour of the hound. Though yes, some may be rowdy or unruly, You forbid yourself from seeing them truly. Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 27
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Years 12 & 13 finalists Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 29
ON THIN ICE By Laaibah Maqbool We’re tinted windows, Just living to observe Hearts hidden under dirt, Because this world is nothing but hurt. We’re broken skylines, Our starts don’t seem to be alive, Fireflies bring us light, In this stone cold night. We’re burning bridges, Who served all the bonds? When did it all go wrong? There is no chorus to our song. We’re dying embers, Sparks not meant to last long, A soul’s extinguished flame, Who were we even meant to blame But ourselves. Ourselves. Looking in the mirror – I can’t tell, Who’s staring right back at me Is this hell? Screaming, shouting, crying, My mind can’t help but dwell, On how we’ve failed each other Oh how we fell. We fell. We’re floating Floating Floating Until we drown. 30 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
THE FUTURE OF OUR WORDS By Doroti Polgar To help with understanding our past, the words of those before us are breathing with us. They breathe life into our lives and breathe beyond and between every lifetime. And to truly understand our lives, we must open ourselves to words over time: Blake shared that we carry our world within our minds, that speech and silence are most clear when combined. He shared that we can create miracles from within – Blake asked our world to imagine. And poetry is to imagine Angelou taught us the power of our own lives, the power of speaking our stories to widening eyes. She taught us to write ourselves above our history of scars, Angelou wrote an anthem for our world: Still we rise. And poetry is to rise Armitage reminds that conflict is existent in many parts, that within our homes, streets, hearts is it’s start. He reminds that to difficulty we must not surrender, Armitage calls for our world to remember. And poetry is to remember Gorman reminds us that youth is not a barrier to our sight, that we must stand for change we believe is right. She reminds we are not defined by our past’s absence of light; Gorman defines us by our courage to be the presence of light. And poetry is light → Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 31
Taylor, our Young Laureate, wrote about lockdown, teaching us to turn the page not over but upside down. She reads from top to bottom, then bottom to top, letting difference be reflective, Taylor teaches us that poetry is a gift of perspective. And poetry is perspective I am writing to shatter our isolation into conversation, to share that remény translates to hope, that in our words we can find our home. I want to inspire poetry to be something we all can see our hearts in, to create moments open for everyone’s understanding. Because poetry is understanding And to help with understanding our present, the words of those here with us are breathing within us. They are breathing life into our lives and will breathe beyond and between our lifetimes. We will write to inspire our world to imagine, to rise, to remember - We will write to inspire light, perspective, and understanding. We will be inspired with every fragment of a page and pen so that those after us may say: the future of our words opened because of them… 32 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
HOURGLASS By Ruby Williams Sand gazes out of high rise windows: a frontier of glass. Crammed into the coliseum, they march en masse. A smooth descent downwards - racing slightly, Each grain jostling, funneled blindly Into panicked landslide Choked by the tide Suffocating While free falling Compressed into action Desperately searching for traction – Then finally release: the glass exhales. Exhausted by the chaos, burned out, slumped and stale, The faded congregation sprawls on one communal sickbed, Mattress stuffed with distant dread, resigned to a life forever on its head. Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 33
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Selected poems from competition entrants Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 35
TIME – A HAIKU By Catherine Marshall Animals chatter As they emerge from their nests Awoken at last Seagulls steal chips The waves crash against the shore And the hot sun shines down Blowing in the breeze The colourful leaves drift down They gather in piles Snow falls, people wait Church bells ring in the cold night Now Christmas is here The time keeps ticking It hurries by without us Tick tock on it goes 36 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
TIMELESS By Megan Nash The hourglass of time is insidious The sand which goes through is invidious, It takes its time with every grain, Now time will never be the same. The seconds are adjusted to hours. Every hour does nothing less than disempowers, And all the thoughts and all the speech, Can I look back and just see peace? I want life to slow down a little And I want to hear the sweet melodic fiddle Of the hourglass falling slow as a heartbeat And days that feel so incomplete That’s all we want really To savour the day and take for granted nothing This short time we should be loving So we should take time to dwell On this silent timeless carousel Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 37
TIME FOR CLIMATE CHANGE By Ayrton Ransom-Tytler The seas are starting to bubble and boil, Food waste is going to poison our soil. The poles are slowly melting, If earth was an animal, it would be yelping. Poachers are making species disappear, The last rainforest patches are soon going to be clear. There is pollution in the air, And still we do not care. But... The world could change in a heartbeat or two, You might just blink, and everything could be new. Imagine a rainforest, branches stretching high, Imagine a thriving coral reef, with a dazzling blue sky. Imagine mountains stretching ever so high, Imagine no more species that will flicker out and die. Imagine a sky clear of smoke, It would be the best thing ever, no joke. All these things can be done, For us, life could be a lot more fun. All we need to do is come together, And we may be able to change the world forever. 38 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
WHAT WILL YOU DO? by Katryn Grout You could abolish homework and be a genius without stupid school, Or become crazy good at sport and learn to dribble a basketball. You could run down a hill under a starry sky, Or howl with wolf packs in the mountains up high. You have time. You could binge watch tv for three weeks straight, Or scoff as many waffles you can fit on your plate. You could race around the world and all its seven seas, Or wear double denim to annoy people like me. You have time. You could teach an octopus to cook with all of its eight legs, Or force a monkey to wear a suit while standing on its head. You could own your dream house with a library in a swimming pool, Or steal a Time Machine to witness the 80’s fashion fools. You have time. You have time to try crazy food combos, Like custard and ketchup with loads of Oreo’s. Dance in your garden well past midnight, Horrify your siblings with ghost stories by candlelight, Learn to fly, Become a spy, Ride shotgun on a beach spilling all your lies. You could do all kinds of crazy and strange things, It’s what you do with your time that grows your wings. Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 39
TIME, THE ANTAGONIST OF EXISTENCE by Archie Pickering Time. Time is something strange Time brings on new beginnings and old ends Time. Time allows us to enjoy the moment by forcing us to acknowledge that it will never ever be replicated, fabricated, duplicated or indeed recreated ever again time peppers our mind with faint shimmers of déjà vu instilling good times and bad to forever be there to make us r ethink decisions old and new. Time. Time is indeed a paradox Time is permanent yet makes those that exist within its hallowed bounds not! Time makes choice of neither life nor death a nd yet allows both to remain still. Time. The solution to all questions T he answer of existence Time. The bane of existence, inevitable destroyer of all who stand before it culler of the once mighty and equally with us all. Time is nonchalant Time ‘If only one could have more — Time. Time is something money can’t buy Time is money is simply a lie For if time were money we would surely be rich or would we be corrupted by moneys sweet kiss? 40 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
SECONDS, MINUTES, HOURS by Emily Shakespeare Sometimes everything moves slowly, every tick of the hands moves the time and it can feel like forever with the sounds of the clock. Older every second that you hear: Tick Tock. Never did I think time would move so slow death always felt Far away but now it goes from; seconds to minutes to hours. Many times I felt time speed up. I thought it would finally stop but it never stops, not until the world stops spinning, until the air is no longer breathable, and even then it doesn’t stop. Tell me, have you thought about stopping time? Everyone has, but no one can, it’s above us, above us all because seconds into minutes into hours. How can anyone be tranquil with time, our one and only master is time. Understanding it makes us vulnerable to wasting. Realising time controls our lives only makes it shorter. Seconds turn into Minutes turn into Hours. Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 41
PRODUCT OF YOUTH by Poppy Chambers I arrive, discovery of one’s own relentless sub-conscience, peacemaker between impulse and solitude. A derived Interpretation of action taken in moments of weakened morality, ruthless mania, distortion to youth’s ignorance and unforgiving of its presumed limitation. The root has stemmed from age where my body and mind were able to function in the increasingly hot weather, and I had not worried about my indefinite change and the forming of wrinkles from the heat. Once anyone gains acknowledge of this mind so beyond adolescence, it ceases to be driven by the self, but to be automated. A consciousness of the subconscious will then draw awareness to a behaviour peculiar and unnecessary to the natural maturity of the body. And therefore the mind. I talk of a considerably vague, but detrimental memory of a“teenage mentality”. An after process of experimentation, escapism, sexual awakening. A universal desire as valid as it is pure to lay down to vulgarity, in spite of infatuation that is product of once uncertainty, and then impulse. 42 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
The cycle could hardly be irreproachable as it is driven manually into the mind. Before every choice is finally of value And gives past life a sense of meaningful brutality. Recognition of the segregated emotion, now merged into so-called youth. Love and lust, resentment and obsession, external and internal hate. The breaking point of any clear perception. Unravelling of the being. Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 43
MINERAL GIRL by Asa Field Hearken unto thee, mineral girl, Thy heart is hewn from gallant granite, The time we spent hath made this pearl, From the hourglass sand, as we had it. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, And yet time’s cruel blue waves Paint love azure, and make it colder, For to latent lapis we are slaves. Your touch turns time to liquid lava, And in second-long hours I cease to desist. Melting clocks leave me in a Dali palava, And yet my memory fails to persist. The truth of it is heat and pressure, A touch that lasts a million years, The time we took shall last forever. Till rain erodes us, and our rock disappears. 44 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
TIME IS A TYRANT by Hope Rose Uniform rumpled, hair unkempt. I stare at the primped faces in“Hello!”magazine with contempt. Which woman is the target of their attack this week. Top ten tips for burning the fat, Supermodel goddess turned sewer rat. Kim’s looking chubby as she lounges at the beach! Here’s a list of standards you will never, ever reach. Leo seen with young hot babe! Frowning and half his age. The sands of time are cruel and play dirty, svelte at twenty-nine, a crone at thirty. Not old enough to drink, but old enough to feel old. Tabloid’s sit next to serums and‘liquid gold.’ A vitamin a day keeps the wrinkles away! I feel myself rotting day by day. Time is a tyrant, It slaughters it’s women. Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 45
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Faith Taylor Worcestershire’s Young Poet Laureate 2021 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 47
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THE COVER IS NOT A BOOK by Faith Taylor A cover is not the book That’s not true Girls must like pink; boys must like blue. Don’t tell me that That’s simply a stereotype. Girls wear dresses but Boys wear trousers and People will say that It doesn’t matter If girls are boyish and boys are girly, But it does – it’s the root of insecurity. A stereotype doesn’t do any harm Everyone thinks that You should be yourself. No. Stick to the status quo. Now read from the bottom to the top Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023 49
This collection of poems by Worcestershire’s young poets can be read and downloaded from www.severnarts.org.uk/ypl-2023 Printed copies are available to loan from Worcestershire’s Libraries www.worcestershire.gov.uk/libraries 50 Worcestershire’s Young Poets 2023
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