Held annually during Mental Health Month, the creative writing awards are supported by the Mental Health Coalition of South Australia, Writers SA and Access2Arts. Mindshare says they offer “an opportunity for writers to share their stories, showcase their skills, discover new creative communities, and connect with industry professionals”.
This year’s winners were announced on Friday at the launch of the mindshare exhibition, with Anne Jackson’s Making Peace with the Night winning the Published Established Poet prize and Joanne Goodfellow named the Unpublished Emerging Poet winner for MELODY. Isabella Fischetti won the Unpublished Emerging Writer award with To Be Unseen, while Pam Makin won the Published Established Writer category with Fred is Lost.
Here, InReview shares the winning poems.
Making Peace with the Night
By Anne Jackson
Down by the river
I heard a line
of the world’s recurring rhythm and rhyme
it whispered on the warmth of the summer breeze
flowed through the hollows of ancient trees
Hovering in the glimmer of a dragon fly
I breathed the scent of earth’s fertile sigh
From the depths of the river
I heard a song
enticing with promise that I could belong
blinding my mind
to the ties that bind
I sunk below the waters sublime
to drift awhile, dispersing through time
In the flow of the river
where beginnings dwell
the sky splinters in pale pastel
soft pink drips upon the leaves
as if the sun in sorrow grieves
painting the water with fading flame
it blends all memories, joy, and pain.
In the sway of the river
I unwind and entrust
as the nightjar calls through deepening dusk
echoing the scent of the wattle tree
the thrill of the hunt, the sting of the bee.
Rising on the note of its wandering flight
in the whisper of its wings, I make peace with the night.
MELODY
By Joanne Goodfellow
As the water
reflects the sun
as its warmth
is in the breeze
I am in you
with you
in me
you are
the love
as I am
the melody
that quiets
the overwhelm
in you
as it is too
in me
what is me
is in you
what is us
is in all
as the bones
we walk over
that were once inside
of us
emerge
as fungi
from the
fallen log
they whisper
to the trees
sounding
to the ocean
as it calls to us
an invitation
to
be
carried
out
joining us
in this dance
together
Explore more creative writing and visual art on the mindshare website.
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