Winning Poems! Ubique Poetry Competition

By Beth Thomas-Richards

This week, for the first time in Ubique's history, a poetry competition took place during Literature and Poetry Week. Audrey Merton, our own Creative Editor, judged entries for a Junior (years 7-9) and Senior (Years 10-12) category. It was a hard task, as Uni High is home to many great poetic minds and ideas. Our theme for this year's competition was 'Now', which posed a challenge to our poets. However, the students stepped up to the plate and produced beautiful rhymes, alliteration and uses of the theme. 

The announcement took place at lunchtime on Friday in the quad, with many people coming out to hear our winner's poems and celebrate with some chocolate treats.

After much deliberation Audrey chose our Junior and Senior winners- Congratulations to Phoebe Leggett in year 11 for the Senior category, and Harriet Freeman in year 8 for our Junior category!

Now by Phoebe Leggett

The light gleams dimly,

Throwing a vibrant array of colours

Across the sky, as the sun

Moves slowly, gradually fading away.

The wind whistles softly, gently

Rustling the leaves of the trees 

It drifts past, creating a small symphony

For me to hear along its journey.

It is evening, quiet and peaceful,

As the sounds of traffic die down,

And reflective silence fills the area,

Signalling the conclusion of the day.

Soon the collective stillness

Will be broken by the rumble

Of pots and pans as families

Come together to share a meal.

But I savour the tranquillity,

Pausing to appreciate the few

Moments of calm, undisturbed save

For the occasional warbling bird.

It is a pleasant time, free

From the regrets of the past

The concerns and the hopes

For what is yet to come.

Always fleeting, it does not linger,

Staying only to provide a respite

From the day’s long activities,

Only existing for me right now. 

Now by Harriet Freeman

What about your future, they say

With close lipped smiles 

As we're shoved behind desks

To scribble notes in messy piles

As we're drilled about our futures

Until we're splitting at the seams

We swallow our rules and studies

And our ideas float into dreams

Float into misty fantasies

Which 

Float 

Away

But what about this moment

What about now 

When the words all blur 

And our heartbeats are loud

And when the skies are smeared red

And we're stamping through the ground

Maybe we'll feel it then

Maybe we'll feel it now