The 2015 International Poetry Competition Results have been announced, and Diocesan School for Girls Year 11 student Joanna Li won the Junior (under 17) Gallipoli section in the 2015 New Zealand Poetry Society Competition. Her poem will be published in their annual anthology, to be released in November 2015.
Do you hear the drums?
Do you hear the drums, my child?
That is the sound of your heartbeat.
And feel the thrum of memories in your veins?
You are one of us.
You are home.
And you always will be.
Do you hear the shouts, my child?
It sounds like your race day.
And remember colours flying, the streamers laughing?
Wooden swords and fabric sheaths.
Simple heat and simple matters.
Scraped knees fixed with kisses and ice blocks.
And when time spun on its own.
Do you hear the guns, my child?
You’ve never heard them before.
And the clench in your stomach is not from chocolate this time.
But don’t fear it.
The red will bloom like your watercolours at school.
And you will still be beautiful.
Do you hear my song, my child?
It’s all the nights we spent together.
And all the nights that will never be.
You are one of us.
You are home.
And you always will be.
Scattered Feathers, $27.00 (inc p&p) is available from http://www.poetrysociety.org.nz/index.html