As part of the Mundaring Arts Centre What a Tool community project, Shire of Mundaring in collaboration with KSP Writers Centre is pleased to announce a poetry competition. The theme of the poetry competition is: "The tool/s one cannot live without". It is free to enter, and open to people aged 18 years and over. The closing date for entries is Friday 5 October 2018.
For full entry conditions and the entry form, check here
For the competition flyer, check here
*Competition now closed*
The results are in...
Thank you to all entrants in this year's Poetry Competition. Congratulations to winning poem 'tools to fill an empty room', and three poems that were commended, 'The Other Big Bang Theory', 'Miscarried', and 'Freedom'. Read these poems, and the judge's report, below.
Winner: 'tools to fill an empty room' by Scott-Patrick Mitchell.
Commended:
'The Other Big Bang Theory' by Lawrence Smith.
Comment: This pantoum (a poetic form with repeated lines) was well honed and cleverly suited to an original topic.
'Miscarried' by Rose van Son.
Comment: An original voice, well-crafted and senstive.
'Freedom' by Catharine Szathmary.
Comment: Really fun, lovely metre and rhyme that didn't sound forced.
Judge Cath Drake's Report
Coming from London, it was a joy to read many poems steeped in local references and language, at times influenced by folk or bush poetry. Mundaring's rich creativity, craft and sense of community came to the fore. Many touching poems linked the theme of tools to inheritance, gifts, offerings and learnings, underling what's important in life. The love in the poems really shined through, and this in itself helps me believe in the power of poetry in saying what is often unsayable. I found it difficult to choose among very different poems so I've commended three with strong voices where the authors had taken time to refine their work.
The winner stood out because of their unique angle, approach and turn of phrase. The winning poem explores the tools to remember someone who has gone with a delicate touch and a gentle ending. It is spacious and leaves room for the reader to inhabit the poem with their own images and feelings. Some lines really zing such as 'dot track back to my heart' and 'paint road signs that signal home'. It is also a unique form that is well judged - the structure in blocks reflects the theme of rooms well. Like many poems I read, it left me uplifted, despite the fact that it explores loss and distance. The poem shows how the presence of a loved one could be felt so strongly in an 'empty room'.
Above: Mundaring Library Branch Librarian Helen McKissock, Mundaring Poetry Prize judge Cath Drake, Mundaring Poetry Prize winner Scott-Patrick Mitchell, and Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre Chairwoman Elizabeth Lewis.
