A new Young Poet Laureate for Warwickshire

Jan Dawson of Warwickshire Libraries says:

We chose our second YPL  at a lovely event in Warwick last Saturday. Emma Purshouse ran a workshop for the candidates - very well received and appreciated by all of them. They then had short (15 min) interviews by a panel made up of Amy Merriott of the Libraries, Antonia Beck, poet Matt Black and Lauren, our current YPL. 

 

The 5 candidates then performed a couple of poems each, in Warwick Library, in front of an audience made up of councillors, library staff, friends and members of the public.... 

 

It was a hard choice, as we felt that the candidates were all on much of a level, and had prepared well.  Emma mentioned how impressed she was with them. 

 

So our new YPL is 17-year-old Harry Jenkins, who lives in Warwick and attends Warwick School. Harry commented later, "I am extremely excited to have been given the role, because it gives me the opportunity to promote poetry to a wide range of people across the county, as well as boosting my own confidence in my poetry and performance."

 

Here is Harry's poem about Warwick:

Warwick/Kenilworth

History sits still at Warwick Castle.

The mighty walls stand proud,
Arrogant in their unchallenged survival;
The cruel waves of time
Have always broken on its sturdy stone.
 

Neatly noted in pretty pamphlets and placards,
Its past is sold as plastic swords and picture books;
Colourfully recreated constructs
Pop up as bright fungal growth.
 

The well-kept lawns hold no secrets
The towers are sedate
And crawl with camera-flashing ants;
They are content and calm as ever.
 

At Kenilworth, the walls bleed history

Rough-edged stone whispers,
Howling holes in hollow walls
Are rifts into the past,
The bloodied story of the fort
 

No colourful niceties among the grey ;
Only the mottling, crumbling of rock,
Dark decaying remnants of royalty,
Shadows silently shifting across harsh sun.
 

Icy morning dew perches on the too-green grass,
Gardens flourish coldly, quietly,
Roots clinging to still-buried secrets
That hide beneath the towering ruins.