We are thrilled to share with you the winning poems from our Poetry Competition!
All entrants received a chocolate prize and RWBAF pencil for taking part, and we then awarded Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals with a book token for the winners of each section!
Thank you to all who took part. And a special thank you to Ceri Gascoyne.
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Winner Years 1&2 – Topic Animals or Food
MONSTER’S PIZZA EXPRESS
A monster’s favourite toppings
Include a layer of elephant droppings
A chink of stinky cheese
A handful of tiny leaping fleas
A pair of smelly socks
Sharp teeth of a fox
A mug of sludgy tea leaves
Torn sleeves of thieves
A heap of slimy frogspawn
A shake of a billy goat gruff’ s horn
Serve it on a chipped plate
It will taste great.
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Winner Years 3&4 – Topic Magic or Teachers
MY TEACHER IS A TIGER
My teacher is a tiger,
I’m really really scared!
If you send me to school today
No children will be spared.
My teacher is a tiger
Mum I’m begging you,
If I go to school this week
I’m sure I will be stew
My teacher is tiger
With claws as sharp as knives,
This isn’t like the other times
I am not telling lies!
My teacher IS a tiger
And slowly getting thinner,
When you come to pick me up
I’ll be my teacher’s dinner.
My Mum did not believe me…
She sent me into school…
Now I’m in a tiger,
My Mum is such a fool!!
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Winner Years 5&6 – Topic Hobbies or Family
BETTY
My family; Mum, Dad my sister and me
And the world’s most annoying dog, Betty!
She woofs and slobbers and digs and pulls,
Dad says she’s just excitable,
Mum says she’s a bloomin’ handful.
She leaves mud on the carpet,
paw prints on the bed,
She spends all day, everyday,
wanting to be fed.
My sister adores her,
no matter what she does,
I ignore her, but it really is odd,
because…
I’M HER FAVOURITE!
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Winner Years 7-9 – Topic Environment or Fantasy
REMEMBER WHAT WILL HAPPEN
A wasteland. Covered in ash. Desolate, barren…
Like an endless, unforgiving purgatory… a hell.
Consumed by poison and pollution, foul and
Decaying. A beautiful land that simply fell…
Nothing lives, not anymore. Not since the
People killed it. Destroyed it. Burned it.
Once a perfect heaven, resplendent in its glory—
Now the home of an evil, in this bottomless, despicable pit.
There was a forest, bursting with trees. Trees!
Such gorgeous, gargantuan trees, swaying and
Towering. Covered in a thick mop of lush green
That engulfs the entirety of this sacred land.
A paradise for wildlife, countless and
Infinite; populating its leafy, verdant bowels.
And so you can hear, on any day,
A cacophony of hoots, whistles, shrieks and howls.
Splitting the jungle in half is a river—a
Roaring river. You can trace it back to
A WATERFALL! Cascading, crushing, surging—
An immense, picturesque structure with a view
To die for. A spray of white foam is flung
Into the air. Each and every droplet is
A diamond, a crystal, capturing light. It is a
Stunning sight to behold: just a touch of natural bliss!
This place was a work of art, a fabulous masterpiece,
Crafted in levels of painstaking detail: perfection!
Yet, when the people came, they tore at it,
Doing nothing but staining its reflection
Of excellence, leaving nothing behind.
Brutally unravelling each beautiful thread, ruining it,
Taking apart all that it once was, leaving behind layers of
Filth and grime: a pathetic, mournful cesspit.
And to you, dear reader, I warn you, to
Heed this. When you see the smoke and fire,
Remember what will happen. When you see
Torment, jealousy, corruption and evil, fixated desire,
Remember what will happen. For else,
One day it might be your house in the dust,
Or you, or just your pearly white bones, scraped clean by long-gone
Crows— gone brittle by age, then swept away by a gust
Of wind, to nowhere. Remember what will happen.