Just a MINUTE
Judge Alison Chisholm is impressed by how much the winning entries in WM’s Minute Poem Competition managed to fit into the tight time-scheme
WINNER: C B McCALL
The school bag
Your PE kit’s still in your bag.
I hate to nag,
but teenage sweat
that’s been left wet
smells rank – I have to get it out.
“Leave that!” you shout.
Why? What’s inside?
Something to hide?
Do we have secrets, you and I?
Your anguished cry,
“Don’t touch my stuff!”
tells me enough.
The competition for poems in the minute form brought elation and frustration to the adjudication in equal parts. Elation came with the sheer number of entries, when a bumper postbag showed how the form had captivated so many poets. It was also engendered by the ingenuity of the ideas used, the stunning degree of observation that was apparent, and the inspiring use of language.
Frustration set in when it was clear that poets had ignored the rules and advice offered. Far too many entries had to be rejected because they were not written in minute form, either ignoring the set pattern altogether or changing the required line length, rhyme or metre. Several poets believed that counting eight syllables must be the same as placing four iambic feet, and ignored the vital flow of alternating unstressed followed by stressed syllables throughout the line.