More Senior Poems

Here are more poems from the candidates for the recent Peter Dix Senior Poetry Prize, by Hanne Grainger, Ellie Russell and Cordelia Mulholland. The themes for the prize were Love and Time.


Matters of Death, by Hanne Grainger

No matter how strong,
no matter how weak,
no matter how tall,
no matter how small,
no matter how beautiful,
no matter how ugly,
no matter how smart,
no matter how stupid,

it takes us all eventually
and never give us back.


It's Your Turn, by Ellie Russell

He used to close his eyes, as he thought out his strategy.
And I never considered his long fingers cold and tired
as he moved to checkmate with a grin.
But now as he lies on this bed,
Each breathe more shallow than the last,
I realize that those times are over
And this smile is different.
It's a wave goodbye.
As he lays his king down,
And leaves the table.


Revelations, by Cordelia Mulholland

You are the composer of my silent prayers,
The cross on which I am fixed.
I clasp your indifference to me
Like a child clutching its most precious possession.

Rosary beads slide through my fingers
As you snake through my mind.
You are my religion, my revelation,
The only faith I could ever cling to.