Junior Secondary
Junior Secondary Junior Secondary
Michelle WANG, 13 MLC School BURWOOD NSW On the Dangers of Mass Media Just close your eyes, they say It’ll be fun, they say Several billion eyes closed that night But not a pair opened the next day Judge’s Comment A surprising poem, cleverly using just a few lines to provoke a lot of thought. The Menagerie Five o'clock in a diluted Fall afternoon; She’d shuttered the entry to non-existent visitors And made her nest in crumpled sheets On a threadbare fawn sofa. Light suffused through beehived glass The windows were rust-stained– The cleaner? He died years ago She’d gone solo, the single tender of this ungodly shrine. And she dreamed, Conjuring odd notions Of immortality. The menagerie was small– Only but a few yards Big enough for muffled sunlight, musty air, Events left better unspoken. On a shelf she kept her jars And in her jars she kept her children. An eagle’s embryo, bead-eyed Shrunken-winged and pin-feathered Suspended in a cruel mockery of flight. A newborn cat, size of a forefinger
Died as it lived—in a second In a day she preserved it in formaldehyde A kangaroo’s foetus. Jellybean Marsupial that it was, or would have been If it had found its way to the pouch But in her largest jar, she kept her favourite Parents weren’t supposed to have favourites, But she only had one. What could she do? But nurture that vestigial son for forty years, And then nurture him still. A son who’d shared her blood and flesh For seven months, and then Wanted out, bloody Lungs too weak to cry Eyes too small to see Fingers too short to grasp Heart too still to beat. Judge’s Comment This is quite a shocking poem – which is a sign of its effectiveness. The poet conjures an image of this frightening, disturbing place, with the final sad, unsettling image, one the reader finds hard to put aside. Carter WARD, 13 Maitland Christian School EAST MAITLAND NSW Forever Forever we remain oblivious to the future, lost to the past and enduring our torture. Forever we take chances to settle our scores, losing some battles and winning some wars. Forever.......... Judge’s Comment A thought-provoking little poem. The final line leaves us hanging, effectively evoking the feeling of forever being unrelentless.
- Page 1 and 2: Junior Secondary Category Elisabeth
- Page 3 and 4: And our family, And we can kiss slo
- Page 5 and 6: to warm them up inside and the stre
- Page 7 and 8: She handed back my poem with an A++
- Page 9 and 10: And that is when the voice is heard
- Page 11 and 12: The windowsill, Into the dark, We a
- Page 13 and 14: Judge’s Comment A lovely little i
- Page 15 and 16: Jasmine DOOLEY, 14 ACADEMY OF MARY
- Page 17 and 18: Judge’s Comment This is a very sa
- Page 19 and 20: Sabrina GILLETT, 13 Orana Steiner S
- Page 21 and 22: Julia JACOBSON, 13 Moriah College B
- Page 23 and 24: just because I’m emotionless, doe
- Page 25 and 26: In beautiful handwriting Put it in
- Page 27 and 28: Joanna LOUDON, 12 St Andrews Luther
- Page 29 and 30: lighthouse. And as the timbers crea
- Page 31 and 32: Jasmine TODOROSKA, 13 MLC School BU
- Page 33: Fela TREVOR-MCCARTHY, 15 Northcote
Michelle WANG, 13<br />
MLC School<br />
BURWOOD NSW<br />
On the Dangers of Mass Media<br />
Just close your eyes, they say<br />
It’ll be fun, they say<br />
Several billion eyes closed that night<br />
But not a pair opened the next day<br />
Judge’s Comment<br />
A surprising poem, cleverly using just a few lines to provoke a lot of<br />
thought.<br />
The Menagerie<br />
<br />
Five o'clock in a diluted Fall afternoon;<br />
She’d shuttered the entry to non-existent visitors<br />
And made her nest in crumpled sheets<br />
On a threadbare fawn sofa.<br />
Light suffused through beehived glass<br />
The windows were rust-stained–<br />
The cleaner? He died years ago<br />
She’d gone solo, the single tender of this ungodly shrine.<br />
And she dreamed,<br />
Conjuring odd notions<br />
Of immortality.<br />
The menagerie was small–<br />
Only but a few yards<br />
Big enough for muffled sunlight, musty air,<br />
Events left better unspoken.<br />
On a shelf she kept her jars<br />
And in her jars she kept her children.<br />
An eagle’s embryo, bead-eyed<br />
Shrunken-winged and pin-feathered<br />
Suspended in a cruel mockery of flight.<br />
A newborn cat, size of a forefinger
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