National Poetry Day on 3 October 2024 sparked creativity at our college with a student poetry competition! This year’s theme, ‘Counting’, inspired some incredible entries with many interpretations of the theme. Well done to everyone who entered.
The results are in…
1st Place: Lexie Trussell
2nd Place: Leonie Poyzer-Green
3rd Place: Tatiana Nasi
Congratulations! The winning poem is featured below:
One Question
1 question?
1 answer.
“would you love me to the moon and back?”
1 moon.
And I would give it to you,
Over
And over
And over.
Like it can be multiplied and subtracted in a night sky.
Until my 10 fingers are ice cold,
And the beauty of the message is nothing to be acknowledged
Nothing but a routine , to be expected.
And I’d count
Like a prisoner, with lots of 5
Engraved into my palms,
How many times
I reel it from the sky.
The rope ripping my 3 layers of skin,
Until I’m bare and unguarded.
And one day,
In the future,
I’ll forget.
I’ll hold it in my hands.
Bloodied and sore.
Hypnotised by how it reflects light so gently.
When we never asked it to.
Never prayed or begged.
To the point where the weight of the world
Seems only like numbers on a scale.
Going down from 100 , to 50 , to 25.
And I see how over
365 days ,
525600 minutes
31536000 seconds
1 whole year,
It too
Has built callus to protect itself
From me.
Me?
With a waistline created from a lifetime of pulling, chafing, and clawing.
And ridges and bumps from rough ways down
I recall every time I took advantage of its kindness
Once , twice , 3 , 4 and 5.
And I’ll forget.
I’ll forget why I’m still dragging it down
From the stars that are countless
And the clouds to comfort it upon its return.
Is it because it’s the only one we have ?
Because it’s big enough to be caught?
And I’ll look at you
My reflection in your eyes
And track the tears on my face
1
2
3
Before I say
” you never asked for the moon, did you?”
And the seconds of silence fall around me in place.
30…
” but I gave it to you, unconditionally “
It’s 60 this time.
” would you have given me the sun? ”
And this time I don’t bother to count.
Because I know there’s no amount of time , that would fill the void
Of the words you never said.
