CISC Poetry Competition 2022: Growing Up
Junior Section
First Prize: Phoebe Richardson, St Teresa’s Prep
It has a poetic and formal structure with repetition and line length observed in every stanza to great effect. A simple but mature piece of writing.
Growing Up
A little girl,
Young and curious.
New to the world, full of wonder and hope.
A grumpy teenager,
Head full of stress.
New things appearing, dreading it all.
A young adult,
Working and working.
All day long, every hour, every minute.
A tired mother,
Busy and loving.
Responsible for the new life that she cradles.
An old woman,
Sweet and tender.
Happy and thankful for the life she has led.
Second Prize: Grace Hall
Intoxicatingly positive and very good humoured. I really enjoyed her confident use of rhyme and half-rhyme.
Look forward, imagine
Looking forward, imagining me in the future,
Optimistically, I’ll be a fashion designer.,
Maybe even wear my own branded eyeliner!
Sew my clothes with love and care,
Make beautiful and comfortable footwear.
Most of them fair trade and planet friendly
All of them of their century.
I’m going places
Educationally as well as geographically, I’m packing my cases,
Milan, London, Hong Kong and New York.
Raise a toast. Pop that champagne cork.
Meet and work with famous designers
glossy front cover vogue headliners.
When I am grown up.
No, no, no to washing up
I will be too busy designing clothes for the catwalk.
It will be top of the town’s talk.
so, remember me, Grace Hall.
That optimistic fireball!
Highly Commended: Frankie Bryan
Displays a real sensitivity for words. I particularly like the phrase ‘woebegone thoughts’….very melancholic.
Growing Up
Surprise,
Welcome to life.
Full of ups, downs and struggles.
Flooded with woebegone thoughts, responsibilities.
But just remember, try to cope.
The memories of dejected times will come back in the happiest.
So, hold on tight to what you have left, it will get better.
Hold your loved ones close
Take on your dream and if you fall…
Just remember, you can do it!
Positives too!
Independence, responsibility, learning.
New opportunities and freedom to leave your nest!
Gaining your own respect!
And just remember, be yourself
Mood swings like the pendulum of a clock.
What is happening?
If you could go back to when life was simple would you?
When innocent happiness has disintegrated.
Just remember, you are strong, kind and powerful!
Senior Section
First Prize: Emma Brown
It has an honesty that’s beguiling and with a few choice words she skilfully paints a vignette of different stages of life. Deceptive in its simplicity but a mature work.
Not yet
Life is not
Snapchat and Instagram and Reddit
For me
Life is not insurance and bills and healthcare
Yet
There is an in-between
Where the innocent have matured too quickly
Where my sexuality has been explored
But unrecognized
“Young love never lasts” doesn’t help
When the love I feel is real
When they are the wide-eyed and innocent and
Unexplored, undetermined
It takes longer to get over a breakup that never happened
Yet
Here I stand without enough likes on my post and
With a misconception of the pain true love costs
Second Prize: Eloise Scotland
A powerful and immediate piece of writing that explores the emotional landscape of growing up and concludes with a question that is searing in its honesty.
When we are young we play with building blocks
When we get older we play with friends
Then we play with different looks and personalities
Then we play with our dream futures
After that we play with love
As well as working towards getting somewhere
And through it all we play with who we are
And who we want to be
Everyone wants to have a go
At shaping you, telling you to be this or that
Giving you advice that they wish they’d had
A symphony of ideals, all drowning out your common sense
My old maths teacher always said common sense isn’t that common
I wonder why
Then there are the people who say just be you
Then bombard you with who they think you are
How are we supposed to find our inner selves when every person we meet
Adds another layer to cover it?