The QE Sixth-Form poetry competition was won by Jed Wilsher with a poem entitled Absence. “The boys are studying Wilfred Owen and war poetry as part of A-Level English,” said English teacher Sarah Snowdon. “It was a pleasure to see how many boys took the opportunity to explore their own creative writing styles outside the classroom and submit entries.”
The competition was judged by Assistant Head and Head of Year 12 David Ryan, who described the winning poem as “excellent” and commented on the high standard of many of the entries.
First prize was a £25 book voucher; second place went to Alistair Heywood, with Jerome Singh and Naed Ladak in joint third place.
Below is the winning entry:
Absence
The halls echo empty with absence.
Fractions of families fall open to wind.
Weeping walls and windowsills croon and moan,
The open door cries; “abandonment”.
The lights cry; “glory that blinds us”.
The books read “you left us”.
The floorboards don’t creak, for the footsteps don’t fall.
But on far off, dusty plains and soggy trenches,
Bodies do.
The wind whistles ’round metal
And the chimneys puff their scent away.
This house is but stone, and stone is hollow,
Cold and cruel.
If full, this stone would be a home.
Would open its sharp sides and welcome them,
Those fractions of men, who gave their parts for a medal.
Just more metal after all;
Good job, the knives are gone from the drawer, they went with you,
Just to return as their memory, like you.
The tiles slide away,
Like ghosts of heroes and worms.