Introducing our RHS Poet Laureate
Senior School
On Autumn
as it all dies find me fashioning a love from
pocket lint and blues / peach light flickering the
dust from the sill as I'm tossed past the dead
perennials and this epoch gives up the ghost /
your dead-leafed tracksuit bottoms cinch in at the
mulch and / I twist my dyed hair, silvered with
frost, around my fingers as it cuts the circulation
/ this month you swear your meaning lies in the
gold leaf combed through the field by the cider
gleam on your lip suggests that you'll revise this
claim tomorrow / people's eyes are so pretty, like
how they sparkle like ice and silt and mackerel
/ glisten with wind-shot tears / I swill the heat
round my cup / five kinds of Klimt's gold reflected
and glittering at me from the surface as / the
breeze slaps my cheeks rhododendron red and
/ the willow sighs / crying / waiting for the musk
of autumn to leave.
The English Department is delighted to announce that Year 11 student Maddie has been appointed our inaugural student Poet Laureate for the school community this academic year. She is an extraordinarily talented, skilled and accomplished writer of verse (and prose!), who will write ceremonial poetry for school occasions throughout the year.
All students were invited to apply for the role and tasked with composing a poem entitled 'On Autumn' with no rules or prescriptions beyond a 20-line limit. The quality of entries from Years 7 – 11 was extraordinary.
Mrs Reynolds read the entries and commented:
“ This is quite stunning poetry from the girls – all with touches of brilliance, inspiration and a remarkable eye for imagery.”Mrs Kate Reynolds, Head
While Maddie was selected for her delicious imagery and original exploration of form, Joely Baker and Georgia Hally were highly commended in second and third place and have won lots of house points, too! There were many very serious contenders – and the brilliant writing from Year 8 students and Year 10 students especially bodes very well for our future student laureates!