Afternoons’ Poetry Day Competition

It's National Poetry Day - a nationwide eruption of words, voices, and creativity - and also the day for Afternoons' Poetry Day Competition. Poet and author Tracey Slaughter set the challenge of six words and six lines. The words were windscreen, flax, sanctuary, audio, ultraviolet and return. There was an avalanche of entries, but there can only be one winner. Here is the winning poem, congratulations Lavinia! Ultraviolet sky brushes the rooftops, windscreen mirrors a face she does not recognise. Flax twists through the restless wind, audio of absence presses against her ribs. Sanctuary is the lie she repeats, return to herself is an echo she can't answer. Thanks to all the poets who entered.