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 13th 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:
1st Prize (£500): Mona Arshi – Hummingbird
2nd Prize (£200): Malcolm Watson – Oh, America!
3rd Prize (£100): Christopher North- The Orchid
The winners of the Editors’ Prize for poems up to 10 lines:
1st Prize (£500): Jenny Vuglar – Daphne
2nd 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





