Winners of Fenland poetry competition announced

The Fenland Poet Laureate Awards 2022 encouraged writers to submit entries inspired by their surroundings and everyday lives in the Fens.

Qu Gao, from Chatteris, was awarded first in the Adult Fenland Poet Laureate 2022 category for her entry “0732, March to Cambridge”.

The second year Cambridge University student moved to North Cambridgeshire from China when she was aged two.

Adjudicator and award-winning poet Elisabeth Sennitt Clough described the poem in her judge’s report as a “very worthy winner”.

She said: “From the opening line, ... the voice of the poet is assured, convincing and sustained.”

The first, second and third place poems can be read in full at the end of this article.

In the same category, Alan Wheeldon, from Wisbech, was awarded second place for his piece “Stop the Sea”.

Third place went to Rex Sly, from Doldyke near Thorney Toll, who titled his poem “Urban Sounds”.

Highly commended grades were handed to: Tincy Binu, of Wisbech, for “Fascinating Fenland”; Stella Snow, of March, for “A Walk in the Park”; Phyllis Gall, of Chatteris, for “Moods of the Fens”; and Hilary Parry, of Newton-in-the-Isle, near Wisbech, for “Riot and Rejoice”.

Wisbech Grammar School students scooped the first, second and third prize in the Young Fenland Poet Laureate 2022 competition.

Isabelle Slade-Stollery was awarded first for her poem "My Home", Ayra Patel was second for “Fenland’s Beauty” and third went to Amelie Barclay for “Walking in the Fens”.

Highly commended awards in the young poet category went to: Steph Harbord, of Thomas Clarkson Academy for “An Autumn Poem”; Shea Augustin, of Elm Road Primary School, for “Wisbech”; Archie Edgson, of Wisbech Grammar School for “Our Great Fens”; Isabelle Brown-Ahern, of Wisbech Grammar School for “The Celestial Fens”; and Alice Blundy, of Wisbech Grammar School for “The Fens are My Home”.

The Fenland Poet Laureate Awards 2022 ceremony will take place on Friday, November 18 from 7:15pm at March Town Hall.

All are welcome.

The winners' trophies have been sponsored by Wisbech Town Council.

WINNING POEMS

0732, March to Cambridge

by Qu Gao, winner of the Adult Fenland Poet Laureate Awards 2022

I try to fix it, hold it, hang it

in my fogged-up windowpane,

yet curiouser and curiouser, it

escapes: sliding past, hurtling

behind, receding to whispers

in the mistier, murkier fields

of my fading memories.

Fixing, holding, hanging me;

laughing at my inane desperation,

my Sisyphean futility. I trust

those pop-up trees, those cut-out

fields will probably remain, but really,

who the hell am I kidding? No atom encased

in a looking-glass so false and slippery

could ever stay quite the same. Anyway,

the train pauses: a chance to gaze

at the swirling phantom of a mist,

afloat, a cold winter’s breath caught

mid-air. For just a moment,

all the world rests perfectly still …

until I see the trees shivering

in the wintry chill. Softly

it dawns. Brilliant gold streaks

spill upon a foggy haze of grey, and,

blinking in the light of the molten copper spray,

unsure, uncertain, I watch the train

begin its infinite journey again. Together

with the arrow of time it goes, and I’m haunted

by the thought that the world stopping and starting

and reversing might be possible on board a train

of (un)certain terminality and (un)sure

destination. Please sir,

would my glitching frame of reference

be enough to buy me a return ticket for today?

Unless —

All change

it was I who was moving forward

and the world had never moved away.

Stop the Sea

by Alan Wheeldon, second place in the Adult Fenland Poet Laureate Awards 2022

Stop the sea

The sea does not belong here

‘Yes I do’ says the sea

Roman Bank, Marshland and Seadyke

Echo failures of the past

Although we sit on Canute’s throne

The power of Kings is worthless

The sweat of 12,000 prisoners fills the dykes

Giving respite for now

But the Wash is resting, testing

The North wind drives the Spring tide

Over the banks and under our doors

The shrinking Peat holds us under

Hold your breath

Look upwards

There is air above

But that air is choked

With the fumes of a thousand fires

The suns breath is trapped and

The winter winds grow warm

The sea swells with melted snow

Build the walls higher

Start the pumps we cry

But it’s all in vain

King Johns fate awaits us

Urban Sounds

by Rex Sly, third place in the Adult Fenland Poet Laureate Awards 2022

More urban sounds are beating out

obscuring nature’s calls; and dwelling,

creeping far across the plain,

marching on with no restraint.

The countryside is changing fast,

fields and meadows replaced with bricks;

we fret and sometimes show remorse,

but urban sounds still run their course.

Nature’s voice is fading slowly;

her eulogy is beat retreat from

houses, roads and space to park

as we humans leave our mark.

Traffic drones all night and day

along the highways and the droves;

road-kill lines our rural lanes

with debris, and what else remains.

An owl we saved from roadside fate,

brought back to life by loving hands

and then released upon the farm,

was never safe from highway harm.

I once saw cowslips down the verge

where urban litter takes their place;

cornflowers, poppies and wild keck*

replaced with fridges and urban wreck.

Skies shone bright with moon and stars,

no need for artificial lamps and glare;

but stars now glimmer out of sight,

extinguished by the man-made light.