The anthology of the successful entries was launched at a reception and reading at Mill Cove Gallery and Sculpture Garden on 30 July 2011
Winner
'The Singing Sounds of Sea'
by Gabriel Griffin
A shore. A marble bust from temples fallen long before
any tales we know. Scents of evening herbs—fennel,
calamint, spurge— of antique earths. No-one following,
no-one before. No voices from a present time, no line dividing
sea from sky. The mist curved high, immense, a hyacinth blue.
Hyacinth blue. And in that blue throb history and myth, sails white
and black and amaranth, the calls of sailors, sirens, monsters, gods.
A moment—rare—in which the Med brings forth its ghosts, to sail once
more to Ithaca, Calypso's isle, or Troy. Behind the mist ships clamorous
with shouts and arms, that fade to flutes and songs and sighs.
Songs and sighs borne over centuries and seas to shores
cemented by the years, herbs withered, dried; the shouts, the cries
and clamours of today that drown the music of the ancient seas where,
by bleached stones crumbled long before any tales we know, a marble bust
looks away when sea and sky dissolve into a vault of hyacinth blue.
Hyacinth blue. The only other colour in that dusk is that of ruddy clay: an
amphora survived intact from centuries before. A bloodless moon
scythes mists of hyacinth blue. No-one now drinks to the gods, though
many have drunk before. Too late now to board those ships lost
in mists of hyacinth blue. No new tales of heroes, gods. No sea, no sky.
No sea, no sky. Beyond this mist lie lands laid waste, dry desert fires,
the fading sounds of those whose cries are lost in sand, the tries of some
to board those ships and cross to where we so easily stand. Heroes?
Perhaps, not gods, but men who would survive unsung; daring
sea and sky and myth to build new lives. On shore, just marble busts.
Gabriel Griffin
inspired by 'Listen' by Ian Humphreys
Second Place
'My Grandad made trains (I never met my Grandad) by Michael Scott
inspired by 'No ticket' required by Alfred Roch
Third Place
'Did I tell you' by John Baylis Post
inspired by 'Listen' by Ian Humphreys
Highly Commended
'Getting the measure of the moon' by Heather Freckleton
inspired by 'Laughter' by Marianne Klopp
'A house in Tabgha' by Patrick Toland
inspired by 'Spoons' by Anne Nidecker
'The laying of the bog' by Breda Wall Ryan
inspired by 'Bog Vista II and other works' by Niall Wright
'DB' by John Baylis Post
inspired by 'First Snows, Beara' by Monica Groves
'Rite of passage' by Rachel Woolf
inspired by 'Sodden' by Niall Wright
Commended
Noel Connor'Inventing blue' by,
inspired by Untitled 2 by John Brennan
'Padre' by Maria Merking
inspired by 'Turning Head' by Sonia Caldwell
'Purse' by Michael Ray
inspired by 'Seaform V' by Ana Duncan
'Sea thing' by Afric McGlinchey
inspired by 'Sea form I' by Ana Duncan
'Glimpse' by Mark Blayney
inspired by 'Early Morning Light' by Aidan Flanagan
'Is that me?' by Eleanor Hooker
inspired by 'Is That Me?' by Petr Holocek
'These shoes can change your life' by Siobhán Flynn
inspired by 'Red Shoes' by Nicola Slattery
'Rebellion' by Afric McGlinchey
inspired by 'Red Shoes' by Nicola Slattery
'Reclaiming' by Cathy Leonard
inspired by 'Sleeping Woman' by Nicola Slattery
Winner ( School Student )
'Fishing' by Aoife Troxel
inspired by 'Crest' by Ana Duncan
Second place ( School Student )
'Perception' by Rachael Elphick
inspired by Resting by Betina Seitz
The anthology, Poets Meet Painters 2011 (ISBN 978-0-9567987-1-8) includes all these poems, with colour illustrations of the artworks which inspired them. It is available at €5 including postage via the publications page.
Hungry Hill Writing offers warm and grateful thanks to John Goode and John Brennan of Mill Cove Gallery for their generous support of this competition.
