Wide open
The winners of WM’s Open Poetry Competition impressed Alison Chisholm with their focus and flair
WINNER: KERRIANN SPEERS
Do not build me a monument
Do not build me a monument,
As though your grief is bigger than anyone else’s,
Instead carry it in your pocket.
Slip the memory of me into your wallet,
Like an old passport photo,
Between club cards, coins and receipts.
On occasion, take out your sorrow;
Inspect it, hold it in your hand,
Feel its weight, each time getting lighter.
Wear it down, year on year,
With smiles and laughter
And tears flowing in happiness.
If you find your pain worn
Into a pebble or a speck of sand
Cradle the smoothness in your palm.
See how your rage has dulled
Your tears have cooled
From something once so keen.
Walk with grit to the shore
With salty lips, wind-whipped hair.
And whisper a goodbye.
Place it among the shells
And rocks we delighted in
Once, when we were young.
Do not build me a monument.
Leave your grief in the sand,
So it may wash away and wash away.
Entering an open poetry competition gives you the opportunity to stretch your wings in any and every direction. With no set theme or form, you simply have to offer the best poem you can, whether it’s from your stash of work or newly created for the occasion. You know it will have to compete with everyone else’s best poem, so you choose with care.
To muddle the metaphor, you are also engaged in a juggling act. The theme and subject matter, treatment, length, rhyming or free verse approach, metre and/or rhythm, grammar, vocabulary and voice need to be sustained throughout the writing. You throw them all into the air, and hope they will land in your hands with precision to work with efficiency, flair and originality.