{"id":252,"date":"2020-12-06T01:23:57","date_gmt":"2020-12-06T01:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/darkskydigital.co.uk\/clients\/av\/?page_id=252"},"modified":"2020-12-06T02:08:41","modified_gmt":"2020-12-06T02:08:41","slug":"winners","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/darkskydigital.co.uk\/clients\/av\/competitions\/poetry-competition-october-2020\/winners\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry Competition: October 2020 Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We’re delighted to announce the winners of the 2020 Autumn Voices Poetry Competition.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what judge Finola Scott had to say about judging this competition:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What fun it was reading these poems. People reacted with enthusiasm, engaging with the theme of \u2018Vice\u2019 with poems on subjects from gin to Jekyll! Some work was grounded in reality, others took us in to fairy tales. The best entertained and often provoked. So many clearly honed their craft \u2013 working on sharp titles, subtle language and vivid imagery. It was difficult to select the final four from a short-list of a dozen. However, those selected all stayed with me as I read them over the weeks. Such a privilege and pleasure.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Here are our winners and their winning poems in reverse order:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Highly Commended<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Apple Rustlers by Mary Jackson<\/strong> (76)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Apple Rustlers is a vivid lively poem. I smiled as the author took me on this midnight raid. The language and imagery were rich and surprising. Lightfooted, surefooted, guilty. <\/em>The question at the end has only one answer!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The moon was as big as a tunnel end
As the innocent thieves set off,
Squeezing through slack barbed wire,
Meandering delicately over stubble,
Dark as shadows, in Indian file,
Lightfooted, surefooted, guiltily,
Full of suppressed joy, for over the field
Is an orchard, and on the grass
Glowing in metamorphic moonlight,
Apples like another Eden. Then in the gentle gloom
Brown backs showed silver as soft-muzzled teeth
Fell to crunching and munching sour juicy apples
In my neighbour’s orchard.
If I were a horse would I not steal out nightly
To munch delicious apples under a harvest moon
In my neighbour’s orchard?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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