Two St Gregory’s students have been applauded by judges for their poetry work in this year’s Armistice 100 Prize for Schools Poetry, organised by the University of Lincoln.

Ella O’S and Laura W were shortlisted for their poems, ‘What a war child might say’ and ‘What my grandfather (a soldier) might say’, written as part of last year’s work with our Writer in Residence, Josephine Corcoran, and in honour of the centenary celebrations of the First World War 1918-2018. Students studied the work of poet, Mary Jean Chan to inspire their own poems.

Ella was awarded 3rd prize overall and both will now have their work published in a collection called ‘Armistice 100’, which will include a foreword by Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. Ella also receives a £100 prize for herself and a further £100 for St Gregory’s.

Lincoln University broadcast the awards ceremony of the Armistice 100 Poetry Prize on Facebook live. Here is Imtiaz Dharker, Winner of Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, reading Ella’s poem ‘What a war child might say’.

Congratulating the students, Mary Jean Chan said: “I’m very touched your students wrote these after my poem. Thank you for sharing these with me, and well done to them for being included in the anthology.”

‘What a war child might say’ by Ella O’S

my daddy went away, vanished into France
we were doing our duty to our country
the echoes of destruction boomed into the night
we were doing our duty to our country
we huddled under blankets to the sound of deathly roars
we were doing our duty to our country
I saw pictures of muddy lifeless walking corpses
we were doing our duty to our country
Anna was taken away because her mother was German
we were doing our duty to our country
I cried a million oceans
we were doing our duty to our country

**

‘What my grandfather (a soldier) might say’ by Laura W

that bodies lay still while guns blared in all directions
that we fought for our country and it was worth it
that screams echo in my ears and death haunts my mind
that we fought for our country and it was worth it
that men died trying to clamber out of soaking wet mud
that we fought for our country and it was worth it

 

 

Poppy photo by Henry Be on Unsplash