2007 Monash University Prize for Poetry
Since its foundation in 1963, the Monash Poetry Competition has been awarded to a number of students - such as Laurie Duggan and John A. Scott - who have since gone on to become internationally recognised poets. The 2007 competition attracted a record 194 entries, exploring a range of styles from sonnets to free verse and “Beat” expression. Oscar Wilde once wrote that “All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling” - and, while many of this year’s entries showed evidence of deeply-held emotions, the best submissions also demonstrated a careful attention to poetic form.
The winner was Tegwyn Bath for her poem Coogee Beach, a part of an outstanding series including Franconia Ridge and Mermaids - these works showed a keen eye for detail, sensitive to the interplay between sound and sense, while retaining a natural language. Runner-up was Embers by Ashley Capes, and the poems of Michael Davison and Samantha Helps were also noted for commendation. Thank you to all entrants for providing such a varied and lively range of work.
Coogee Beach
When you showed me your cuts
my words got stuck
and I could only nod
like a fairground toy.
A blue beach-day on sandy rock
and my eyes leaking
just a little
as container ships strove out to sea
and we sat silent against the boulders.
I would have told you all the good things
but the chunk in my throat
squeezed my words away
and I just touched you, felt
your fragile bones,
and something tense a little deeper.
Your leg had inbuilt fishnets, and
you grinned, a smudge of laughter
quickly gone, as you
watched the one-legged seagull
knowingly
and I fished for words.
© Tegwyn Bath 2007