Yes! I got a 'highly commended'. Here's what Matt, the adjudicator said:
I don't mind admitting I'm still trying out different ways of reading this, but that was one of its appeals, along with its reminder that sound is every bit as important to a poem as sense. I liked the playing around with repeptition and elision, and the surprise of "laugh" in the last line, which can still be read several ways.
2 comments:
Is it possible to post the poem here? Well done.
The poem was 'the diver', which you can find on page 35 of 'wormwood, earth and honey'.
Here it is:
the diver
he sought the stream that took him beneath
but waves caught him
turned him into a slippery thing
that slid between water white water
ship's on the horizon too far too far
slip through water churning foaming slipslipslip
sink deep sink down become fish become eel sea thing
swim laugh swim breathe swimswimswim
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