Poetry Writers' Yearbook 2008

POETRY COMPETITION

Enter the Poetry Writers' Yearbook 2008 poetry competition and you could win:

* a cash prize of Ł300, or Ł500 of A&C Black books
* publication of your poem on the A&C Black website
* publication of your poem on writersservices.com.

All you have to do is write a poem of no more than 30 lines, on the theme of 'Desire' and see below for full details of how to enter by email and register your details online.

The closing date is 30th June 2008.

Good luck!

Terms and conditions

1. No purchase necessary.

2. The Poetry Writers' Yearbook poetry competition is open to all ages, professions and nationalities.

3. All entries must be original unpublished poetry of no more than 30 lines.

4. Entries must - directly or indirectly - reflect the theme 'desire'.

5. Entries should not be extracts from longer works.

6. Writers may submit one entry only.

7. It is a requirement of the competition organisers that all entrants be registered on www.acblack.com. Winners will be notified at the e-mail address or telephone number stated in their registration data.

8. Entries must be submitted via email as to poetrycompetition@acblack.com with the subject heading: PYB08 COMPETITION Please include your email address in the file if submitting as an attachment, or in the body of the email.

9. The closing date for entries is 30 June 2008. Entries will not be accepted after that date.

10. By submitting an entry all entrants thereby grant The Bloomsbury Publishing Group the right to publish their entry on www.acblack.com and www.bloomsbury.com in the event of their entry being shortlisted and/or winning the competition.

11. The Bloomsbury Publishing Group cannot accept responsibility for entries which are not received or which are received after the closing date due to technical failure or for any other reason.

12. Winners agree to participate in publicity events in connection with the competition.

13. The Bloomsbury Publishing Group and the winners may enter into agreements which will grant The Bloomsbury Publishing Group the publishing, broadcasting, serial and electronic rights in the shortlisted and winning entries.

14. The Bloomsbury Publishing Group reserves the right to change the rules of this competition without notice.

15. The winner of the competition will be notified in August 2008 and the winning entry published on www.acblack.com and www.writersservices.com

16. Prizes must be taken by 30 September 2008.

17. The decision of the competition judges will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.

18. Employees of The Bloomsbury Publishing Group, and members of their immediate family, are excluded from participating in the competition.

19. We may from time to time, inform you of new books and special offers that may be of interest.

Poetry Competition 2007

The 2007 competition is now closed. Details of the 2008 competition will be available from October 2007.

Congratulations to the winner of the 2007 competition, Michael J Woods, of Worcester, UK. His poem, Callow End, was chosen by the judge, Poetry Yearbook editor Gordon Kerr, who said:

'Woods' poem is notable both for its haunting imagery and its accomplished evocation of a misty early winter's morning in England as a car passes through a village. This poem was actually head and shoulders above all the other entries - and there were almost 400!

'Other poems worthy of mention are the short, but compelling Ceremony, by Ama Bolton and Rona Laycock's description of a hawk on a windy day in the Fens, It Smells of the Sea.'

Michael J Woods' poem is reproduced here with the permission of the author:

CALLOW END

Cows, mist-drowned, merge with sheep
in this soft focus Malverns morning.
Powick church has shivered out of night.
The sun is a white-hot coin struck
in the mint of the sky, unquenchable
and incensed by vapour from the fields.
Nothing is not what it seems as the river floods
and water strains to wed itself to land.
The horizon shimmers like the inside of a forge
or quivering air around the after burner
of the low flying jet that sometimes scuds the hills.

Taking the bend, I see the village announce itself
in what seems to be a claim to wisdom;
the sign is bald - blocks of black on white.
But this isn't Italy. It doesn't warn with a red slash
that its limits have been reached. So, I sweep
beyond its parish pale, apparently boundless
but sensing the car break some meniscus
as it passes deep magnetic fields.

In this winter's wet and ice it's odd to think
the hedges hangar what will fledge and fly.
So, I signal, put my foot down and roll the car
over the camber to avoid the wash of what might
overtake me. A rear-view glance is all it takes
to show the whole reflected shrinking scene -
less substance than accident, and the open road ahead.

The Poetry Writers' Yearbook 2008 will be available on 31 October 2007. For more details, click here