Upper Hutt City Libraries Poetry Writing Competition
INSPIRE Adult Category
Shortlisted Poems
Adult Category
Shortlisted Poems Poetry Awards 2020 www.upperhuttlibrary.co.nz
from the online catalogue
N ational Poetr y d ay
Freedom For all the beautiful children, I wanted to write a song But when I tried to sing The words came out as Tears... So I let the words fall on the page instead, to say how loved you all are, beautiful children. Bless you all. - Lorraine
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Galena Megale, (freedom sort) A Great stillness came over the land and there was a sustained pregnant pause. Not a breath could be heard what was that silence was it a silence of despair, fear and dread or the silence of expectation, hope, healing. And the hours became days and the days weeks, news filtered through and it wasn’t good for all, some had perished some were sick. Tears flowed at the untimely parting of mainly the old, waiting to go. Not yet, though, not without family and friends to set them free and bid them adieu, until we meet again. We all felt compassion, but breathed a sigh of relief that the virus seem to be contained; if in our bubbles we all remained. We began to believe all would be well, but only time would tell. The waiting went on. The silence once shunned turned into relief, relief from the normal routine, relief from noise, relief for the earth and all asked was this the beginning of the new. We heard birds singing, we took time with our children, we walked, we saw the flowers, smelled the rose marvel at its form, it was as if in dying we were being reborn. We wondered at the creator of all things created, we asked who or what could this force be and would it set us free from catastrophe. We pondered over and lamented for a sick World we could not heal but could only recluse from, to keep ourselves safe and all those we held dear.
N ational Poetr y d ay
Then hope started to filter through our isolation, deaths were fewer than predicted, though painfully for the going, people were healing; the numbers were growing. And our hearts sung, with the birds we now heard, with their and our song of freedom. Level four, level three soon to be free, level two join a bubble or two and wait expectantly. Not long now the end was in view. The great stillness remained, as we got ready to leave, but was it safe to do so, were we all agreed? And leave we did slowly, testing the water at first, not as expected with a great burst .We had become quite fond of the stillness we had discovered and the zoom conversations with sister and brother. Could we be sure, that all would be well leaving our safe nest, to mingle afresh, with others, would be the ultimate test. And then we moved, the stillness disturbed as we ventured out on to the treadmill again. We took the stillness with us as best we could, but harder now, to stop to see the flower, to hear the bird to heal the earth. Will we remember the stillness we came to enjoy, the games we played with girl and boy? OR Will we quickly forget, will the new way we hoped for be only a dream unmeet, gone forever now, undreamed with little regret? There came a great stillness over the land visited upon us, not planned, Can we recapture the stillness we found or are we forever destined to be, destroying our earth with our frantic activity? Is stillness the answer can it set us free? - Teresa
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Better than Birds A sparrow sat in front of me Quite unconcerned, so poor and free Rich in freedom, poor in things All I’d sell to buy his wings Toys and trinkets which I’d gathered Let go! Let go! Be winged and feathered No want for fame, no longer graceless In beauty fly and remain faceless Oh it’s folly, no feathers can Disguise the fact that I’m a man With cares for family, work and duty Made joyful by the love and beauty Of God and wife and children fair No other life can e’er compare
- Johannes
N ational Poetr y d ay
Invisible I meet this woman let her just eat me up slip feetfirst through her wide, laughing mouth and slide down her gullet. It’s a stretch but I squeeze my way in, toes pushing into her toes, pushing into dark soil. Her hands glove my hands. Paint stains. Wise words tumble Over my tongue. Loosen, oh tongue! Loosen, lips! Loosen, skin! Eyes! Feel these creases pressing and wrinkle in delight. Old-as-wine body, move to deep-down tunes. Hiding in plain sight, we can do things we’d never dared! - Hannah
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Binge, Fringe and Freedom We sat inside our bubble Trying to avoid trouble Fighting an enemy unseen A nasty little blighter By the name of Covid-19 Some people took isolation badly Became bored they began to binge Others developed hair dressing skills And hacked at their fringe Some people took up hobbies They learned to cook and bake And used their time wisely An opportunity to take We waited for Ashley and Jacinda To appear on our T V screen They told us to be kind Our hands we must keep clean Stockpilers grabbed the loo roll Behaving selfishly and mean Sanitizer had disappeared It was simply nowhere to be seen Frontline workers are the heroes They really saved the day They should all be awarded medals And given bigger pay Then with great jubilation We were freed from our isolation We appreciated our freedom As we had never done before But there were those in fear of leaving And facing the world once more Scissor happy amateur hairdressers Their fringes cut wonky and poor And the boredom binge eaters They could no longer fit through the door - Rose
N ational Poetr y d ay
My Life on the Feather I am the eagle Quiet and peaceful Deaf to your drama As I scan my realm, my harbour. While you carry burdens of your own making Trying give less than others are taking. I have shelter and food, Company if I chooseSeasonal dalliances That preserve balance. From my vantage point, high above your mundane Nature and harmony are where I reign I do not understand your ways – Burning through your days To pursue things don’t matter To my life on the feather. I don’t contrive moments Or grasp at fragments I am what I was meant to be There is nothing I do not see. In my stillness The calmness I am true to myself Wild and noble Rich with a freedom You can only dream of.
- Angele
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Untitled You fastened a chain around my mind, Burned the bridges, my soul confined Within your walls, your barriers built Upon your hopes and caverns of guilt. I’m lost in the world, a life unknown, The shackles are tight; through flesh and bone. You took my desire, my thoughts, my heart, Filled me with lies, a forced Descartes. Distinct from thinking, society’s bars, Prisons of hell, those ugly scars. I am not free to think and neither to feel; Society’s ills and Orwell’s thrills. Poisoned momentums, diseases in mind, Depression of soul; the daily grind, Money that sates us, capitalist’s dream, Locke was lying, not naturally free. A world infected by outer devices, Streaming of meaning and caustic enticers. Like Huxley continues, we have it all; Controlled by our pleasures, ourselves are the walls. Rejected by outreach, embroiled in pain, The Modern Prometheus, I succumb to your chains. The binding, it pierces, my mind is in flames; With borrowed opinions and flavourless aims. For you did it all, you knew that you could, Reflected your values, your morals of good, Pecked out a liver, eternal insane. The outside has trapped me, forever, again.
N ational Poetr y d ay
As I blindly continue, just thinking I’m free, Partially questioning my motives to flee, But concluding again, there’s no evidence such That my hands are in shackles – I don’t feel their touch. Imprisonment instead comes from money and things, People and places, laws and rings, Consigning oneself to society’s ills; Ordinary life, the void it fills.
- Kiera
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The Fragile Sphere I want to be free to do what I want And be who I am. I want to be free of responsibility, Immune to consequence, A cause with no rebounding effect. When I jump, to be free from gravity, Never pulled from orbit, To be burned by the atmosphere Or scattered on the ground. I want to be free from opinions that clash, From others who get in my way. From error and critic, From challenge and angst. When I drive on the road, you must pull to the side, When I walk on the street, clear a path! But you want exactly the same. We over-inflate our own bubbles And then step inside The fragile kaleidoscope sphere. We spin and twist silk cocoons, Believing we’re free and secure. We are prisoners of our own constructs, Trapped in illusions of freedom. Lost in their twisted labyrinths, Indentured to their cause. But the spheres collide and something breaks. Or they float in isolation, Lifted by the breeze, But losing water in the heat of the sun. Until the film can no longer maintain its fiction.
N ational Poetr y d ay
- Paul
My Freedom A computer, wifi, and phone I can work from anywhere This autumn Physical distancing The only place I could work from Is my home A plan, ticket, and passport I can travel to everywhere This year Borders closing The far place I could visit Is my backyard I long for my freedom Will never take it for granted From now - Michelle
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The Lockdown Paradox ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few’ And so it begins…… Bubble confined, locked down in the house Tens steps to the home office, always on time The body imprisoned, stuck in a rut Then thoughts flying free, it unshackles the mind Freedom for crosswords, cryptic or straight Word puzzles, anagrams, anacross too Poems emerge - unfettered and free Soliloquys, sonnets, rhymes and haiku Creative juice moistened, The thoughts joining hands A puzzle poem rises, liberated, released Flying high in the headspace, then softly it lands Change one letter each line, Come on! You have time: Stay SAFE Stay _ _ _ _ Walk softly through the shifting _ _ _ _ Wave your resilience _ _ _ _ In the viral _ _ _ _ And most of all be KIND To family, friends, colleagues and community
N ational Poetr y d ay
---------------------------------------------------------(Instructions – add a four letter word at the end of each line so that each word is only one letter different from the word on the previous line. The words are: SAFE, KIND, SANE, WAND, SAND WIND ( not in the right order!) Make it more difficult by covering up these words!) - Marion
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