Newbury Schools' Poetry Competition

To set the ball rolling, the three Newbury secondary schools (St Bart's, Park House, and Trinity) organised a poetry competition, which received a lot of excellent writing. A selection of the best entries is published below...

A Requiem For Dreams - Michael Handrick (Y13, St Bart's)

I find it enticingly deceptive
To get lost within the tainted mirror.
Conjure an image of passionate hope,
Reflect hidden sins into a lurid
Fixation of where we destroy the truth.
You think what we view is reality?
On one side it’s an apple of knowledge
The other, a Fall into destruction.
The Dream is Mirrored, two worlds of confusion.

Black with gold glamour and desperate hopes,
Aspirations lost in an abyss.
How they taunt us in sinister delight:
The abandoned dreams, the dreams unachieved.
This is their elegy, of the dreams that
Forever will be reflected in that
Tainted Mirror of deception. It is
Time to wake up, and
Let the mirror Fall.

Untitled Dream #1 - Daniel Morton (Y13, St Bart's)

I dreamt of the statue,
In the garden,
When I was a boy,
I would imagine her hands.
Frail and old,
Soft and cold.
Taking hold,
Of a hazel handled tool.
Carving hands with hands.
The wires tangled round her fingers
And around the head.
Brushing back the ivy.

I remember those eyes,
Unworldly eyes,
Forgotten in time.
Painted on with her brush,
So the lashes did flush.
Sad and wise.
Then the eyes fall asleep
And wake up.

The Limits of Man - Aidan Clifford (Y12, St Bart's)

I am a nocturnal genius, reeking of ideas, drowning in new principles
Sweating the ignorance out of myself in a shameless sleeping purge
I balance ambitions on a needle point, sink equations into my veins

My pupils dilate with inspiration, it pushes against my skull
I collect it in pools and write it in fluid words that would sway you

It hurts me that you are blind to this, that you cannot perceive my dreams
But I will forget I am a genius; in waking I will be unremarkable, it will not hurt so much
I dream myself unique; can disregard my masculinity and the sickness in the world

How can I illuminate my dreams for you? Project them like a film reel
I want them to be crucified in the sky and see all other human endeavour eclipsed
Quickly! Before the everyday shatters my grand thinking, my revelations
In my waking hours I degenerate into a frustrated madness, trying to reproduce my brilliance
All I am left with is shadows

I try coating myself in my innovation, wrap myself in dirty bedclothes,
My tongue is tied to ordinary proclamations, my mind impotent, my thoughts mundane
What riddle are these dreams which bless me when I cannot articulate word or action?
Then I am hauled into this imbecilic state, drooling in my ineffectiveness; altogether ordinary

My dreams are all I cannot express; all that strays beyond what I can say and all I can be
You will never hear those words

Woman, my dreams are a love song to you

Two-Faced Minds - Chris Bloomfield (Y12, St Bart's)

The windows close and finally my mind is working again.
I ride the rainbow rollercoaster and soar off into the beyond,
I race the stars and shoot across the cosmos,
I dance in the Milky Way and take the centre stage,
The audience applauds me and I see their faces full of happiness and joy.
And I am loved by all.

All of a sudden rose petals fall from above.
They are full of life and colour and they fall only for me.
For a moment I am a legend, I am a star.

But something changes.

The centre stage collapses into a heap of broken hearts,
The rainbow disappears and is replaced with cruelty and malice,
The crowd’s cheers have been replaced with hatred and abuse,
Their faces change into lifeless, malevolent scars with no hope and no freedom.
The petals are dead and motionless,
And when they touch me I am burnt and pain sears through my body.

I am imprisoned inside my mind.
And darkness engulfs me.
And darkness engulfs me.

The windows open.

Dreams: Welcome to the Ride - Faye Selby (Y11, Trinity)

Roll up, roll up, and welcome to the ride,
The entry came with night –
So buckle up and get ready
For joy, for hope, for fright.
I am a fragile entity,
Who’ll shatter with the day
You come to me with grief and woe
And I take the hurts away.
I am a predator with fangs of steel
All cloaked and armed to kill
I’ll tear away all humanity
And still won’t have my fill.
There’s no one who comes into my clutches
No child who’ll fail to blunder,
That I won’t grant with perfect joy,
Or rip that joy asunder.
And when morning breaks, the new dawn comes,
And I’ve slipped away and died…
Be sure to visit tomorrow night –

So welcome to the ride.

Hold Onto Your Dreams - Lawrence Allan (Y11, Trinity)

Always hold onto the dreams you dream
For if your dreams die, or wither like rose
Life becomes rational and pointless
No need to agree or oppose

Always hold tight to the dreams you dream
For if they are released, you forget that you know
Life becomes a barren wasteland

Frozen in time with snow

Always remember the way you felt
The day that your mind came to wander
For if you forget, you’ll find your regret

As your life becomes grey and sombre

In The World of Dreams - Larissa Ransom (Y10, St Bart's)

I’m sailing on an Empty Ocean,
The Night Sky, a Curtain of Stars.

I’m wandering through Overgrown Forests,
The Tiger, he sees me, I run.

I’m riding into Battle on the Heath land,
The Army behind me; I command

I’m fighting the Mighty Dragon,
The Creature attacks, I dodge.

I’m in the World of Dreams,
The Places; Creations of my Imagination.

Dreams - Amy Budd (Y9, Park House)

When my head hits the pillow,
I’m asleep in a jiffy,
To recharge my body and rest my brain,
The day’s encounters run reel to reel.
The comments in English,
The homework in Maths,
A scramble of words,
A jumble of mess.

As the curtains billow in the cool autumn breeze,
My mirrors of life are an endless tease,
Will I be famous?
Will I be rich?
Will I win awards on the hockey pitch?

Will I encounter the man of my dreams?
Or will it be a gargoyle in a pair of jeans?

A dream is a wish that you cannot ask for,
It’s a hope that dances in your head,
A song to the moon and a moment to swoon.

Tomorrow you wake do you remember the dream?
The man in Armani or the nerd in pastrami.

To remember with hope that they may come true,
So you wait for bed to continue the story,
Hoping for pride and glory,

My head hits the pillow I’m asleep in a jiffy.

Midnight Music - Miranda Hall (Y8, St Bart's)

Midnight Music
The clock is ticking,
I cannot sleep.
I can feel my heart beating,
At the same speed.

The clock still ticks,
Like a metronome,
Keeping the midnight music in the beat.

Rain taps on the window,
Like the sound of maracas.
My heart is the bass guitar.
Owls sing an eery tune,
While shadows dance above my head.

New sounds break into the song;
Violins screaming,
Trumpets blowing,
Louder and louder…

The car just missed the cat.

Silence.
The clock is ticking,
I cannot sleep.

The Dreamer - Emma Naylor (Y8, Park House)

The dreamer who sits on the sunset bay,
Waiting there quietly for the last light of day.
For what comes next he does not know,
But in his mind it will show.

Unknown creature tales upon,
Future present things that have gone.
A winding road nobody can tell,
The greatest heaven the deepest hell.

He might dream of a royal musketeer,
Or dream of a tramp who sheds a tear.
The love of his life he might see,
A song bird phoenix a little buzzy bee.

But today he dreams of his death so low,
In a coffin underground he’ll go.
That will be his life through,
Not knowing that this dream comes true.

Charlotte Hamm

I'm keeping this space free for Charlotte's. You'll like it. It's all twirly whirly.

The Dream - Victoria Weems (Y7, St Bart's)

Lying asleep in your bed,
All your dreams rushing through your head,
Maybe you will go to a fantasy land,
Where a handsome prince will take you by the hand,
Or maybe you’ll find a treasure chest,
The you’ll become a pirate’s guest,
You’ll sail the seas far and wide,
And then you’ll be a pirate’s bride,
Perhaps you will go to magical land,
Taking a ride in a giant’s hand,
Some dreams are nice,
Some are not,
But when you’re awake,
Take what you’ve got.

Dreaming of You - Ellen MacIver (12P1)

My dreams, nothing but a map of straight lines,
Each one leading straight to where you stand,
Pushing your way into my thoughts,
I see your face drift past my eyes,
Wanting to wake and see you there.
Our conversations always go my way,
It’s always a fairytale,
Picture-perfect.

My eyelids open and all I see is a vacant room,
I wake up, losing you all over again,
Gone…is the image of your face and the emptiness feels so much bigger,
I reach out to reply to you…
Yet the fairytale didn’t come true.
You’re only there in my dreams.

You’ve left me shaking.
Caught up in your spinning dream world,
A million memories, a million dreams, spilling down my face.

Dreams as a Nightmare - Katie Crooks Smith (12P)

They say however bad it gets,
You’ll always have your dream.
In sleep you can escape, however bad it seems.
But every time I dream, I know again I’ll have to wake.
I’ll have to face another day.

And the darkness of the night,
Just makes the light hurt so much more.
The perfection in my dreams,
Just makes reality much worse.

Your lips, so sweet, that kiss me as I sleep
Only make the air taste bitter when I wake
Your arms that hold me through the night
Only show me how alone I am in life
You show me something great, then just snatch it back away,
The laughter in my dreams, it turns to tears once I awake.

I dream of love, I dream of peace,
Of everything that’s out of my reach
I dream of joy, I dream of you,
These dreams too perfect to ever come true

I Dream of the Day - Georgia Martin (12D)

I dream of the day when the music will stop
When the ongoing beat of the bass drum will halt
When the bells in my ears will stop ringing.
And screams of the lives being lost will stop singing,

Singing their ongoing song.

Yes, I dream of the day when the music wil lstop;
The same piece keeps playing – still more lives being lost
And the guns that continue to fire.
And the tears from their innocent eyes keep on running,

Running away from the pain and the fear
How I wish that the music would stop.

But the beat of the drum it keeps playing.
So the rest of the band it plays on.

How I dream of the day when the shooting will end
When supplies will run out
No more troops left to send
And the headlines report something new.

NO PAIN. DEATH. FEAR. JUST.

SILENCE. It echoes for a split. Second before the beat of the drum starts all over again
How I dream that this music would stop.

Elusive Dreams - Louise Parkes (8C2)

Going here, going there
Dreams are scattered everywhere
A flash of something
Then something else –

All in a moment’s thought.

Growing here, growing there
Almost answered, then gone where?
Got exciting
Then disappeared –

All in a moment’s thought.

Going here, going there
Drifting off to everywhere,
Ripped away
So tragically –

All in a moment’s thought.

Gone here, gone there
Can’t remember when or where!

All forgotten
Completely lost –
All in a moment’s thought.

Dreams - Rhianna Yates (7P1)

Dreams are magical things,
They can make you happy or sad.
Some people say they last a few seconds
But they seem to last for hours.
Dreams can make you confused,
They can make it seem like you’re falling.
Other people claim they can dream the future,
And what happens the next day,
But I ask you this:
How do you know what’s reality
And what’s a dream?
One is a crazy place where anything could happen,
The other is a dream.

Nightmares in Dreamland - Ross Collington (7D1)

Dreams are the mystery of everyone’s lives
Where you dream about loved ones husbands and wives
You’ll soar into the sky like a great hawk flying
Or fall to the ground; broken and crying

Dreams are the mystery of everyone’s lives
Where you dream about fear and stalkers with knives
You’re being chased by a faceless stranger
Then bumping into Miss Hermione Granger

Dreams are the mystery of everyone’s lives
You’ll dream about anything if you just close your eyes
You’re starting to fall; you grab with your hand
You wake up at last and you’re not in dreamland

My Dream Goes to You - Hattie Lee (12E2)

Will her dreams ever come true?
Does she have one?
No one has a clue.

Her blunt expression
Her constant stare
Anyone would think she’s not there.

Hold her hand across the road
And never leave her in the house on her own.
Care for her day and night
Keep her always in your sight.

Will her dreams ever come true?
Does she even have one?
No one, not even she, has a clue.

While she befriends others, others look the other way
So next time take a minute to say…
How can you stand so proud?
When others feel too different to stay around

That’s why my dream goes to you, Julia
Never be normal
Just be you

Dreams - Sophie Keeling (12C2)

The grass, the clouds, I see
Them all, covered by the
Drifting fog floating over
Blades of grass, a gaudy
Tacky green. The blooms
Of dusty unreal red are
Swaying with the wind. And a
Clear, bright tree with some type of
Blurred fruit, covered by the leaves
Is standing resolutely
Still among the grasses, many
Grasses crowding, sprouting from the
Base, living from the growing tree;
And the water shifts
And the scene moves.

Industrial Nightmare - Alex Spelman (Y9)

Industrial Nightmare
British industrialism,
Growing like neo nazism,
Willy Wonka sipping tea with the queen,
Talking about her long lost dream,
Of being a fascist liberalist.

9 year olds selling E!
Before they even know what they wanna be,
It’s too late, they get sucked into the system.

It’s like anarchy all over again,
That 9 year old will never get an education,
Sucked into drugs by the population.

Kids in schools,
The government’s tool.
One day our capitalist land will be burning,
And all the other countries will be watching and laughing,
And I will be laughing with them.

Dreamworld - Phoebe Coleman (8C2)

Dreamworld
Hush now baby -
Shush little one,
A night of dreaming has just begun…

On the silken arms of dreams you’ll fly
Across the lazy lullaby sky!

Over feather soft clouds your mind will dance,
So spread your wings and take this chance!

Soar through Dreamworld—so fresh and new.
With no one else but me and you.

Think of the adventures—the fun we’ll share!
Flitting through Dreamworld without a care…

But now to your east there is a golden glow
I’m sorry my sweet, but we must go…

Sleep and rest take you by the hand
They’ll take you off to a different land!

Oh hush now baby -
Shush little one,
Your own night of dreaming has just begun…

Untitled - Prince Jiju (7E2)

What does the future hold for me?
More pain, more worry, more depression?
Watching the day drift by,
I sit and think about my past. My happy past.
All my hopes, my will, my pride,
All have been locked behind steel bars.
Bars that cannot be broken.

I have been shunned by many,
why you ask?
All because of a rare disease.
A rare disease preventing me from sleeping.
A rare disease that they do not want to catch.
Dreams are a strange and beautiful thing.
They are a sort of paradise, which I never realised till now.
Even in nightmares I will find comfort.
Dreams are a man’s only safe haven.
Take that away and you may not as well be alive.
Even the lowest of slaves can be free in his dreams.
I know I am dying anyway.
At least in death, I hope, may I be in peace.