Sweet shop selection
Alison Chisholm almost – but not quite – suffered from option paralysis as she judged the wonderful entries in WM’s Open Poetry Competition
Having to make a selection from a vast array of options has been likened to a child in a sweet shop, making a choice among all the treats on offer. It’s a bit like that when you are picking which poem from your treasure chest of writings to submit for an open competition, or if you are composing something new, the best subject to attack.
It was clear from the entries in this competition that poets had addressed the question with thought and care, and come up with as many different responses as there were entries. Personal experience, seasons, animals and landscapes featured, as well as bereavement, suffering, humour, the sea, religious beliefs, poems about paintings, poems about poetry …the list goes on. There were brief fragments, poems in set forms, (both the familiar and the rarely used, such as the Cornish sonnet), blank verse, prosepoems, free verse and syllabic patterns.