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Poetry Competition Winners!

Finally, we are able to announce the winners of the poetry competition, thank you for bearing with us.

A huge thank you to everyone who entered and also to our three judges Helen Andrews, court manager, Elinor Bagenal from Chicken House books & the Honourable Mr Justice Baker.

The top 3 in each category are listed below and the winning poems are also set out in full below.

Poems written by children

Winner: Melanie McCabe – Two Roads
Second: Igi Waugaman Reed – My Mummy is a lawyer
Third: Jamie Houlden-Soan – Stars

Poems written by adults

Winner: Roger Zair – Family Outing
Second: Christopher Sharp – An Epiphany
Third: Dornford Roberts – One Hundred Ants

Two Roads by Melanie McCabe

I see two paths to old age; somewhere I do not want to go
But the beast chasing assures me that I cannot linger
I cannot turn back, I must go ever on
But on which path? The decision is eternal

One path is labelled ‘success’, one ‘failure’.
One is paved in gold, the other in mud.

Hearing the breath of the beast behind,
I see world-wide acclaim.
I see fame, glory, wealth.
I see a place in the history books.
I see me, admired and envied by all.
I see success.

Blinded by gold, I fail to notice the signs have been switched.

My feet aching from the hard metal underfoot,
I see working for a meaningless goal.
I see my comfort in cold metal and the mindless love of people who do not know me.
I see striving to please something that does not exist.
I see me, someone I do not admire or envy.
I see failure.

Family Outing by Roger Zair

We got to the station
in good time for the train,
heaved our suitcases
the length of the platform:
I must have been five.

Because we were early
we sat on a bench.
Porters shouting, engines shunting,
clanking and whistling and steam:
I didn’t mind waiting.

I’d eaten my sandwiches
when the tannoy announced
our train cancelled, a breakdown.
So we all came home with our cases:
and I asked if we could do that again.