Junior Poetry Prize 2

Two more good entries for this year's Junior Poetry Prize:

'Life's Sound' by Mariola Guemes 

I like the sound of
The breaking waves

I like to listen to
The rain falling

I like your breathing deep and calm,
It doesn’t matter the place nor when

I like the sound riding in the sand,
As well as those steps in chain

I like the singing of the birds
The living of the trees and
The feeling of the life

The only sound I can not stand

Is the sound of this world
And its great sorrow.

'The Sound of Pain' by Edna Johnston

The silent night, shines so bright

As I try and cope with the pain

I'll try to fight, and bury my plight

But my blood will start the rain

I have no faith; I'm filled with hate

While I stare at the midnight sky

I've had enough of your lies, and heard enough of your cries

I'll move on without wondering why

I guess I'll wish you well, but I hope you burn in hell

So you could feel what you made me feel

Till death do us part? Well now I’ll break your heart

This night just feels so surreal

I look into your eyes, and remember the lies

While my heart is filled with disdain

Your love was just lust, and I’m filled with disgust

Because your lust brought me nothing but pain

And now, with a gun to my heart, this is where we’ll part

In the overwhelming weight of the rain

So I’ll leave with this scar, and I’ll forget who you are,

Because I’m tired of coping with the pain.

Junior Poetry Prize 2018

Congratulations to Emma Hinde, who has won this year's Junior Poetry Prize. Below are two from her winning portfolio. More by other good entrants will be posted in the coming days.


Echo

What is that?
I wonder.
I’m beginning to ponder
It really seems rooted in place.
It mimics my scream
So I tell it
"Ice cream"
And it says
"I scream. You scream."
I ask it
"What are you"
But it doesn’t reply
So I leave it.


The Eye of the Storm

A hurricane.
His thunderous challenge
Calling across the crashing sea
To an island.

Hidden gulls, dive bombing the waves
Pick up the rumble
This unearthly tremble
And understand;
They flee.

Whales, dolphins, sharks and fish
All know what it portends.
They head for shelter
In deeper waters;
They flee.

‘The kraken sleepeth’ they say;
But where?
The question they’re too scared to ask,
Afraid to know the answer.
Where indeed; and here they wink.

There is an explanation for earthquakes
More obvious than you’d think
The kraken snoreth...

And when he wakes, a noise...
Gnab gib.
The seas boil,
The whales dead,
And by no human means.

Global warming is eradicated
No more pollution in our air
No more us.

The kraken taketh flight;
The Earth is no more fun.
Perhaps the moon Europa next
But a snack before he’s gone.

Surely the opposite of our Big Bang.

Senior Poetry Prize

This is the term when entries for the Senior Poetry Prize are encouraged.  All entries are to be typed and sent to Mr. Canning by the evening of Monday 14th   May at the latest.

Entries should contain a portfolio of  between two and five poems based on or inspired by the idea of either :-‘Poetry Tells' or 'Feeling'.

Poems should be at least ten lines long, and typed.  The winning entry will be based on the overall standard of the entrant’s body of poems. There will also be a prize for the best poem if it is not in the winner’s selection. Other strong entries will be posted on here.

The English Department will also give smaller book tokens to strong entries that do not win the Prize. 

You can treat the ideas, of ‘Telling', or 'Feeling' in a free way: any connection is fine, as long as the poems are clearly connected by image, inspiration, theme, form, situation, context …

The Peter Dix Memorial Prize for Poetry was presented by the Dix family in memory of Peter, who died in the Lockerbie tragedy in 1988.  The Memorial (pictured), by sculptor Joe Sloan, is kept in the Library and inscribed with the names of past winners.

William Trevor: A Celebration

The RTÉ Radio programme 'William Trevor: a celebration', broadcast last night, can be heard on the RTE Player here (after the News etc at about 5:20).

An excellent hour's listening, it includes sections by Christine Dwyer Hickey on My House in Umbria, John Banville on Mrs Eckdorf at O'Neill's Hotel, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne on Reading Turgenev, and Dolores McKenna on The Old Boys, as well as clips from Trevor himself in the RTÉ archives.