The Winner of The Royal Berkshire Poetry Competition 2012

Hosted by Bill Buckley, BBC Radio presenter, the Poetry Raw event for TRBPoetry Competition to announce the 2012 winner was a huge success. Bill?reported the judges all agreed, when a metaphorical gun was held to their heads and they had to choose on a winner, that this was a unanimous decision.

?Totally love it.? Gloriously scuzzy first verse.? Second verse great contrast.? Love that the poet didn?t feel the need to regularise the length of the verses or lines, ?Whispers and texts?, of course, echoes the noise trains used to make over tracks ? brilliant!? I was??there?!?? Brilliant for reading aloud.? 10/10?

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The Last Train

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I am on a train at night next to a man with a
Timetable tattooed on his arm.
He points at his arm and says, ?We?re late?.
Remain calm, submit to the heat.
Not travelling but entombed
In a wash of words, noise and sweat.
Swimming in brown grease, paper and meat.
A cold coffee cup slips around our feet.
Broken newspapers yellow in neon light
As the train fills with mad dogs, big sticks and cold eyes.
Whispers and texts,
Whispers and texts.

I am on a train at night.
Next to a woman with useless shopping.
She points at her bags and says ?I couldn?t resist?
And we celebrate this.
Fusing like broken microchips,
Basking in the smell of burning plastic.
The rustle of sales and shops and bliss
Fusing like the sparks of wheel and rust.

Commuting into dust
As signals crack and click and fail.

6 and 9 to 17
Rusted through red railings.

Oil black stones and coffee cups.
Whispers and texts,
Whispers and texts.

Mark Robson is co-owner of Grand Scheme Media and a former television executive working across Entertainment and Arts. He tutors at The National Film & Television School.

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In the featured photograph L-R: Cecelia Grant-Peters, poet and judge, Lindsay Blake, RBWM Library Services representative, Michelle Gregory,?runner-up, Mark Robson, winner, Bill Buckley, host, judge and BBC Radio presenter.

The 2012 TRBPC was held with the support of the The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Library Services and the Firestation Center for Arts and Culture.

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Source: http://www.glowmagazine.me/the-winner-of-the-royal-berkshire-poetry-competition/

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