Mslexia

Mslexia, the magazine for women who write | www.mslexia.co.uk

Competition winners 2008

SARAH ROBY

I’m delighted ‘The Inland Waterways’ has been chosen by Ruth Padel as this year’s winning poem. I was walking to the library with my four-year-old son when I got the call. It made me want to head straight home, and write and write. I think this is the Mslexia effect.

I loved writing this poem; it felt like taking risk upon risk. The poem begins with a mother pushing a buggy which is no small irony. There are lots of opportunities for women who write and I hadn’t expected that the ‘pram in the hallway’ would become one of them.

I was selected as a runner-up in this competition last year by Carol Ann Duffy. I write poetry and prose, and often find my style in a happy limbo between the two. I’m interested in the unrecorded stuff and the voices that have yet to speak, including those of the women who worked on the inland waterways during World War II.

"I’m interested in the unrecorded stuff and the voices that have yet to speak..."

In my house, we take the celebration of secular rituals – birthdays, Valentine’s, the Oscars – very seriously, and set about them with perfectionist zeal. I had thought my chances of a gold statuette and a Valentino dress were slimming, however this gives ample occasion to celebrate. Thank you.

Read Sarah Roby's winning poem: The Inland Waterways

HILARY MENOS

I live in a very rural part of rural South Devon, surrounded by fields, hills and woodland. We have a hundred acres of grass, mostly organic, some in-conversion, on which we graze our herd of pedigree North Devon suckler cows and two different types of rare breed sheep. I spend a lot of my time tending to animals, vegetables and children - breeding, weeding and feeding. In the past I went on Arvon courses, joined poetry groups, read at every open mic I could find. But these days, apart from an occasional meeting with three poet friends, I am about as far removed from ivory towers, publisher's parties and any poetry 'scene' as it is possible to get.

"...it is such a joy to get a prize like this. Validation. There's not a lot of it about for poets."

Being so wholly immersed in farming has obvious benefits, both as a lifestyle and as a source of material and inspiration for poetry. But it also has disadvantages. Who is there to tell me if my poetry - which I have been steadfastly turning out for ten years now - is any good? My husband is supportive but he is a busy farmer with not much time to spare for something as insubstantial and unprofitable as poetry. I have three teenage sons who think that nothing beats a Kings of Leon lyric, and a three year old who thinks that the highest expression of poetic genius is Little Rabbit Foo Foo. I can try out early drafts on our cows but their appreciation of prosody is frankly limited, and the pigs prefer a bucket of pellets to even the most finely turned sonnet.

Which is why it is such a joy to get a prize like this. Validation. There's not a lot of it about for poets. Quite apart from the five hundred quid (which in the poetry world is quite a serious wedge of validation) the simple fact that, out of all of the entries in the Mslexia Poetry Competition, Ruth Padel quite liked mine (not best of all but, hell, nobody's perfect) is a great big glorious thrill and guarantees that I keep going for probably another ten years. Thank you Ruth Padel, thank you Mslexia – and thank you number 83, Fowlescombe Aileen, the first calving heifer who needed a caesarian, without whom there would have been no poem.

Read Hilary Menos' winning poem: Pastoral

MADELINE WRIGHT

The answerphone message said I’d missed a call from Mslexia. In a state of shock, I called back and was told I’d won third prize. I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and I still can’t quite believe it now…

Even though I’d known about the Mslexia poetry competition for ages, I only submitted 'The Green Door' after a lot of faffing around and staring at the application form on my desk – it was weeks before I finally managed to seal up the envelope and send it.

"I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and I still can’t quite believe it now…"

I’m very glad I did, as it turns out. Like most writers, I go through phases of confidence and insecurity about my work, just as there are productive times and not so productive times. And although writing has always been an important part of my life, I’ve only been seriously writing poetry for about a year, so to have this acknowledgement so early on and in such a prestigious competition is incredibly encouraging and gratifying.

Simply knowing that one of my poems managed to hold its own against so many other entries and make its voice heard has given me the confidence to keep going and really believe in what I’m doing!

Read Madeline Wright's winning poem: The Green Door

Poetry Competition page

Ruth Padel's essay