Editors Louise Nicholas and Judy Dally launched FSP Anthology 46 at the August 2022 City meeting at the Box Factory. Over the past year, they worked tirelessly together to select each Poem of the Month and a collection of poems chosen from the monthly readings. The resultant anthology is a beautiful collection, titled Something to Say … taken from a poem by the same name by Avalanche.
Award-winning poet, Jude Aquilina judged the Satura Prize (best poem in the anthology) and Nova Prize (best poem by a poet published for the first time in an anthology) and selected Highly Commended awards for each category.
Many thanks to Louise and Judy for their commitment to producing a quality collection and to Jude for agreeing to judge the Prizes. Certificates will be presented at the September 2022 City meeting or posted to the recipients. Congratulations to the winning and high commended poets!
You can read the winning poems below.
Satura Prize
Winner
Helen Parsons: Burial
Highly Commended
Avalanche: Something to Say
Belinda Broughton: Learning To Love Yet Another Thing That I Didn’t Love Before David Cookson: Overture for Winter
Louise Nicholas: Billy Collins’ Online Writing Course: Lesson 4
Rory Harris: Girl Child
Nova Prize
Winner
Eva Rainow: Too Big Heart
Highly Commended
Heather Webster: Cormorant Cohort
Helen Hutton: Him
Maggie Slattery: The Pontoon
Burial
Helen Parsons
As you sink willingly, wilfully even,
towards your death, I’m thinking about funerals.
Today I read that in the English countryside
you’ll sometimes find a group of tall twinned oaks,
each tree oddly doubled, trunks so close
they seem a single entity. Some say
these are places where the gypsies camped.
If a young child died it would be buried
with an acorn placed in each small hand.
You’d like that I think.
To have those great trees grow above you,
to be blanketed in layers of fallen leaves,
to have your old bones interwoven
with the branching roots.
Too Big Heart
Eva Rainbow
This very small tiny maybe too big rock stone sit down squat fat wide and quiet big colour brown red orange marked and shaped tells stories those coming ones they come joining earth rock bush air making place water sky wallaby this snake that snake dingo dog more more more people fixing ways of coming in and out of being storying the giantn ess and the youmeness of a big thing of a big thing in a flat landlandland fanning everyway Some people know this place spend time dancesingwork deeptime knowing knowing alongalongalong time going coming always there sun ice living walking specialways story careful eyes shut sometimes small very very small ones near that walking no machine skin on rock sandearth prickle hot cold knowing feet story toes heel stepping story along stepno time rhythm time spreading updown around all there no poor clockwatching othertime number time count money time your time my time all time there day time nighttime lizard time snake time follow time catch food time talking story food time allover under time and now blackstraptar road rings around roars machine animal roars around new strangers twentyfourhour time good money time see this feel something else in your own shoes tromp tromp tromp walk talk prints the track talk around the rock around stories anyway anyway your story this story anyway make it up some leave story up another way to pay please don’t climb visitors climb all languages anyway walkover walkover down one side strangers road fast past the story people That rock longlongtime people noshoe people lying down drunk drink drunk punch wives and kids drunk waiting for money drunk watching drunk story drunk where drunk new way story drunk money time road drunk plastic metal junk drunk all around new story drunk world talking walking drunk angry blind drunk newstory rubbish drunk this world that world resort camp fire which way drunk where I go what I be drunk