With one editor residing in Port Augusta & one in the Barossa, getting together to discuss poems has been a challenge (and after an exhausting 4 hour long phone conversation to determine March & May we decided it had to be face to face). Finally after a couple of hiccups we achieved it this past weekend.
June
June was a massive success for the online portal. Over 60 poems were submitted by 22 poets and the quality was extraordinarily high. A quarter of the poems made the longlist and choosing, first the final five, then the top three was exceedingly difficult. We liked so many we have awarded two Highly Commended and three Honourable Mentions because we want poets to know that their poems are resounding with us and to keep up the great work.
June Poem of the Month
Portrait at Fourteen by David Cookson
Highly Commended
A Word by Gordon Macpherson
impasse by David Adès
Honourable Mention
Blue (a rant) by Roger Higgins
summer of cousins by Rory Harris
Penong Races by Veronica Cookson
July
A slight decrease in both quantity and quality for July. 37 poems from 14 poets. Great poems “jump out” at editors and there were slightly less arresting poems this month than usual. However, that didn’t make choosing the POTM any easier because the final choice between the final two was exceedingly hard. Both were excellent in striking yet contrasting ways.
July Poem of the Month
Woven by Roger Higgins
Highly Commended
Skin by Rory Harris
Honorable Mention
Quick Fix by Claire-Louise Watson
A Return by Valerie Volk
The editors would also like to commend David Adès, Rory Harris, Roger Higgins, Gordon McPherson, Claire-Louise Watson, and others for consistently having poems in and around the top 5. You make our job incredibly challenging, but also deeply rewarding and for this we thank you.
Glen R Johns and Sarah Radford, 2020 Anthology editors.
June Poem of the Month Portrait at Fourteen by David Cookson Sparrow-perched on a bench, crossed legs juxtapose with her budding, acne a small moonscape. Long fingers fidget with her phone as a believer with a rosary. Shoulders huddled, her eyes sidestep to watch mall’s minutiae; detached though, not perhaps pondering the big jigsaw but the eggshell social life she tiptoes through with text talk or just Thursday’s English test; either of such moment to zip-lock lips, furrow brow — the gaucheness of growing up. Yet see how her silver earring catches light.
July Poem of the Month Woven by Roger Higgins (respecting Sarah Rive, Speaking bluntly) Words plaited with gestures, smiles or scowls make our conversations layers deep the way a stream weaves a reflection with a ripple, fallen leaves with sky transparent right through to bedrock. Our ancestor stories are fact and fiction pulled taut with meanings the way country roads entangle families the way mountain peaks are sown onto the earth by clouds ridgelines held fast by the shadows of trees tresses of laughter crocheted with teardrop pearls. Remember, some carpets are woven with a careful flaw, like a rare kindness. Cut me loose? No, bind me with hessian or satin taffeta, keep me close.