There’s been a lot of poetry whizzing about the place of late, even more than usual, as I’ve donned my judging hat on a few occasions, the most recent being for Indigo Dreams Spring Poetry Prize, the results of which were announced earlier today.
I thought I’d explore the process I adopted, in part because I learned so much which made me feel more comfortable with entering competitions myself.
How did I do it?
The quality of submissions demanded three readings of each entry:
The first; to get a general ‘feel’ for the poem – it’s form, style, subject, imagery.
The second; I take a moment to consider the influences, the story that’s told and what choices were made in the writing of it.
The third; I look inwards. What is my reaction to seeing the poem again? What has stuck in my mind? What made me feel. Yes, that’s very personal, but to honour a work with its ability to knock you sideways and change the way you see the world, it’s impossible to ignore your own intuitive response.
It’s a tough call, putting titles on longlists, then having to squeeze them out due to the sheer volume of great work, knowing that poet will never know what their poem meant to me when I read it – even though it had to fall (reluctantly) to the cutting room floor.
There were poems which gave something different upon each reading. Some which affected me more on some days than others. This highlights the subjectivity of the judging process. There are some poetic styles I prefer, there are some things I try to do in my own poems which I like to read myself, there are skills I admire and am in awe of a poet who can pull them off.
Who am I to judge? This was realised when I read the entries. I saw dozens of good poems which had the potential to be great. My years of reading, writing, editing and curating payed off. I can tell which poets read the world of others by their influences, creative decisions, forms chosen. I can take a guess which poems have been workshopped, and which have been dashed-off (not always a bad thing, I hasten to add!). I can see the mistakes I’ve only learned to avoid in the making of them myself.
Ultimately, the ‘judging’ part is a difficult beast. It’s a privilege not to be taken lightly – and the lessons learned in these opportunities for me, is that to not-win does not warrant anything more than a deflated sigh and an oh well. The not-good-enough self-criticism is invalid, because beyond the loaded word ‘rejection’, a poet has no idea of the impact of their work. And ultimately, it’s a case of timing, the judge’s personal experience and tastes, and the volume of work submitted. In a different time and place, for a different publication, on a specific theme perhaps, the rejected poem could win first prize.
Wayne Holloway-Smith’s ‘The posh mums are boxing in the square’ received high praise having come first (out of 2014 entries) in the National Poetry Prize 2018. He admitted that he’d entered the same poem the year before. We’ve heard this story a thousand times over, and what we learn is that to be a writer requires resilience. A meme recently circulated on the socials, bearing the message ‘to be a writer who doesn’t want to get rejected and is like being a boxer who doesn’t want to get punched.’
As for the winners, they deserve their glory in full-blazing technicolour. I truly believe these poems have earned their place. They affected me with their language, imagery, form, all very carefully crafted, worked on, given the time they needed to breathe and become. Each reading of the three placed poems impacted me, regardless of whether I was at my desk, waiting in the car, in bed at night or taking a breath of morning air with the first coffee of the day. I deliberately chose different times and settings to linger over those on the longlist. Ultimately, those I selected for the final three stayed with me, their images lingering in my mind and resurfacing unprompted over the days which followed. That’s the ultimate achievement, I think, and the goal of every poem I write.
Thank you to Ronnie and Dawn for inviting me to judge this competition to select three poets who will form a link with a beloved press, no stranger to much-deserved awards itself. Thank you to all who put themselves forward and shared their work. I cherished the opportunity to read Every. Single. One. Keep going, keep submitting, keep reading the work of others and keep putting your own work out into the world. And lastly, high praise indeed to the poets behind the prize-winning poems; their ideas, work and skill has paid off and I hope they enjoy every moment of the success which accompanies this recognition.
Read their poems here: Poetry Competitions (indigodreamspublishing.com)
