THE 2020 POETRY AWARDS JUDGES REPORT
Poet Cilla McQueen was the judge of the Caselberg International Poetry Prize 2020
The Caselberg’s International Poetry Prize Awards Night was held at the University Bookshop on Tuesday 24 November 2020 — this years guest judge was poet Cilla McQueen — following is her report which, along with the winning poems, have been published in Landfall 240.
Judge’s Report — Caselberg International Poetry Competition 2020
This year's bumper crop of 426 submissions perhaps owed something to the enforced introspective seclusion of pandemic conditions. The standard of writing was high and indicative of the thoughtful work involved.
Reading and rereading was like being in a huge Zoom meeting, each poet an individual voice. I was struck by the hours of concentration represented by each poem, the many difficult decisions a poet must make about such things as meaning, form, vocabulary, euphony and flow during the process of its creation.
Aware of the myriad paths of poetry and alert to widely varying levels of technical ability, I looked for works which were clear, insightful, distinctive, sensitively observed and subtly crafted. Evident in the best of them is love of language and the ability to use it well.
From the many poems I wish there were space to mention, some comments on a few in my long list:
Musicality is a desirable attribute and was evident in many pieces. 'Sonatas' actually makes a musical score out of looking skywards through power lines, 'heart beats percussive feet ...on cloudless days playing the Blues and in gales Doppler .... magpies speaking pidgin in song thrush .....escape on the silence of empty lines'. Rhythm is to the fore in 'turf': 'you don't wanna jolt outta/ you wanna hit he re/ you don't want deep hono/ you want dizzying sss/ you don't want a scatting busker holla/ you wanna live baby bae....'
Sensitive observation produced 'Waif and Stray', a vivid picture of a young girl feeding lambs which 'brace their whole bodies against the force of their own suck' and 'drink up the world/ chugging hazy daylight from the atmosphere the churned sunshine lofty cream/..... while all things birth and butchery happen/somewhere else'.
Three poems referenced the work of New Zealand poets Robyn Hyde, Ruth Dallas and Hone Tuwhare. 'All that remains of the struggle' sees a view of the ocean with Robyn Hyde's 'blue shout of surprise'. Dallas' 'Milking before dawn' provides a sharp contrast with instructions for biosecurity in 'Anti-pastoral: Biosecurity Act 1993 section 130'. Hone Tuwhare is present in a poem about prayer and poverty, 'An ode to Hone in His name'.
Any of the above poems could have made the shortlist, but the five I chose showed excellent command of language and a distinctive voice:
Highly Commended
Sensitively written, 'each blackberry' waits until the last line to reveal the sweetness of a father-daughter relationship.
'Catch and Kiss' is a small drama, a rite of passage containing a vivid and effective simile.
Hesitant and delicate, 'letter I will never post' has a mystery behind it, a hurt only partly revealed.
'Conversation with a Sea Lion' is relaxed in approach and language, the poet at one with nature.
In 'Panegyric, back home from hospital' there is sheer joy in every line.
Second place:
'His Name Doesn't Fit' consists of four economical stanzas of clear and sympathetic observation, tied together by an arresting final image.
First place:
'Sparrows' is a poem of structured simplicity as well as a remarkable piece of shape-shifting; it's of wider resonance and philosophical import than is at first apparent.
Cilla McQueen
Motupōhue, 2020