Poetry Festival
All girls write poetry and participate in the annual Poetry Festival in the Autumn Term, which is judged by a distinguished poet.
It was the 23rd anniversary of the festival in December 2008 and our guest poet was Jean Sprackland, whose work has been nominated for national awards including the TS Eliot Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Award. Jean spoke movingly to us about her enthusiasm for poetry and shared her philosophy that writing a poem can be a way of capturing the things we love best, good and beautiful things - the angels - and also of caging the things that we fear most, that keep us awake at night - the demons. Click here to read Jean's full report.
The full anthology is available here
A selection of poems appear below.
POEM 1 - Velvet Dibley
Spanner
It fits in a clutched fist,
Silver pincers on each end,
Scratched but glossy and flat.
Its exterior mirrors the world.
I pick it up gently,
Smoothing it with my hand.
It glimmers and shines like
Metalic moonlit puddles.
Curved ends of an oblong torso.
Punctured pentagon windows,
Like missing jigsaw pieces
Covered in fingerprints.
Its gleaming surface like
A fistful of silver coins.
Adjusting and readjusting,
Readjusting and adjusting.
POEM 2 - Jessica Bird
Mum… (A tribute to Roger McGough)
Mum the kitchen is full of extremists
I did I asked them
But they just muttered something about paradise
Mum there's a Boeing in the airing cupboard
I did I asked the pilot
But he was as confused as me
Mum, check your ID card
The country's being deported
I did I tried to buy food
But it's been taken off the market because of the cancer risks
I did I tried to mow the lawn
But the BNP were hiding in the bushes
I did I tried to go to school
But it was full of world leaders looking for answers
I did I tried to fill up the car
But the Americans had taken over the petrol station
I called the police but they can't pay their phone bills
I asked MI5 but they're thoroughly spooked
I rang the doctors but they're racked with disease
Mum don't lose hope put the bomb down please
Mum don't lose hope put the bomb down please
