Magma Poetry

Magma Poetry Competition

Magma Poetry Competition 2011

We’re proud to announce the winners of our inaugural Magma Poetry Competition.  Poets read their winning poems at a packed-out celebration reading on 13^th  February at London’s Waterloo East Theatre (see here).

Poets entered two contests: the Judge’s Prize for poems of up to 80 lines which was judged by award-winning poet George Szirtes; and the Magma Editors’ Prize for poems of up to 10 lines which was judged by a panel of Magma Editors.

All the following poems appear in Magma 52

The winners of the Judge’s Prize:

1^st Prize (£500): Mona Arshi – Hummingbird

2^nd Prize (£200): Malcolm Watson – Oh, America!

3^rd Prize (£100): Christopher North- The Orchid

The winners of the Editors’ Prize for poems up to 10 lines:

1^st Prize (£500): Jenny Vuglar – Daphne

2^nd Prize (£200): Chris Preddle – Tam

with special mentions of Alan Clemo, Tom Cunliffe, Will Johnson, Debbie Lim, Afric McGlinchey, Laurence O’Dwyer, D A Prince, Ben Rogers, Jane Routh and Harriet Torr

Specially commissioned poems up to 10 lines:

Fleur Adcock, Martyn Crucefix, Inua Ellams and Tamar Yoseloff
George Szirtes spoke in his adjudication about the high quality of the poems submitted in the competition and, with the poets’ permission, we are proud to publish the following shortlisted and longlisted poems.

Judge’s Prize shortlisted poems (click to read)

Amy Acre – The Ends of the Earth

Gill Andrews – Creation Myth

Lisa Brockwell – Calf

Joan Condon – Smell

David F Jones – Deluge

Tracey Martin – Threading the Camel

Alan Murray – After

Ron Scowcroft – Hatch

J S Tennant – A Nightingale in Merrion Square

Editors’ Prize – Special Mentions:

Alan Clemo – Donald

Tom Cunliffe – …..sh

Will Johnson – All things…

Debbie Lim – Meeting the Owl

Afric McGlinchey – Late

Laurence O’Dwyer – Another Good Summer

D A Prince – The Wirral Family

Ben Rogers – Crossing (St Malo-Portsmouth)

Jane Routh – I have always loved a galvanised scoop

Harriet Torr  – Easy rider

Judge’s Prize longlisted poems (click to read)

David Borrott –  ‘felicitous blending of figure and landscape’

Holly Corfield Carr – Syzygy

Michael Conley - The Toppled Dictator is Prepared for Burial

Mick Delap – In Flight

Patrick Early – The Importance of Calligraphy in 10th Century Japan

Sarah Fisher – An Opportunity to Speak German

Sarah Fisher – Folding a Sheet with My Mother

Kerry Hardie – Sixty

Mehmet Izbudak – Black Plastic Bag

Brian Johnstone – Tree Surgeons

William Oxley – Thoughts in a Baker Street Cafe

Colin Pink – Games the Dead Play

Breda Wall Ryan – Canzone: Naming the Boat

Barry Tempest - Jan Palach and Jan Zajic Memorial, Vaclav Square, 2000.

Nicola Timmis – Annie Slack

Dennis Tomlinson – The Pyramid

Margaret Wilmot – My Mother’s Sleep is Deep

Dilys Wood – Breconshire Oak Wood

Howard Wright – Home Page