We are pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Blaikley Salver poetry competition, organised by the Environment & Public Affairs sub-committee.
Our winners are: 1st Prize – Anne Wall of Crantock WI, 2nd Prize – Barbara Holt of Ladock WI; and 3rd Prize – Cindy Green of Trevone WI.
Congratulations to all!
The theme of this year’s competition was ‘Women’s Role During Conflict’. Our winning poem by Anne Wall is as follows:
Sister Winifred
Drifting off to sleep once more
Little to do, such a bore
Hideous visions of vivid red
Behind a swinging door
Night skies burning bright scarlet
Sirens piercing the gloom
Stretchers slithering like snakes
‘Mongst death, decay and doom
Terrified faces, traumatic screams
figures frozen to the spot
Twisted limbs and battered bodies
Peppered with shrapnel and shot
Swathes of grubby bandages
Agony etched in glazed eyes
Groans, gasps and gulps
Shallow breaths and whispered sighs
Sickening mass of soiled bandages
Strewing the theatre’s floor
The putrid stench of gangrene
Pervading ‘midgst blood and gore
Nursing through nightly vigils
Holding a hand in vain hope
Bathing a feverish forehead
Cleansing wounds with carbolic soap
Those nightmares once again over
Suddenly awake, eyes open wide
Lunch tray untouched, tea all but cold
Empty chair by the bare bedside
Where oh where is that buzzer
Ungently needing the commode
But unable to move, lying alone
Tears from tired eyes flowed