Poems

The first poetry competition I ever entered was the Leicester Limerick Competition and I won second prize. It certainly wasn't the best poem I've ever written but it did give me confidence that maybe I could be a poet, even if I didn't know it. And many years later, several of my limericks, including that one, appeared in The Mammoth Book of Limericks published by Constable & Robinson.

I have also been successful in several more poetry competitions, the most recent being in 2023 when I won First Prize in the Charm Poetry Competition. The organisers apparently look for poems that are "warm, whimsical, witty and word-playful" so my poem called Meet Me In The Chippy which was a parody of John Clare's pastoral poem Meet Me In The Green Glen seems to have hit the mark.  

You can read my winning poem here:

https://www.charmpoetrycompetition.com/p/results-of-competition-2023.html

Not long after entering the limerick competition, I discovered Small Press poetry magazines. These are literary journals published by small, independent presses or individuals that can provide a useful platform for both emerging and established poets. I went on to have poems published in many of them over a number of years including The Coffee House, Iota, The New Writer, Obsessed With Pipework, Poetry Digest, Poetry Monthly and Poetry Nottingham International.

So maybe I am a poet and now I know it!