Motueka Library Announces Competition Winners

Thursday 9 March 2017

Throughout February Motueka, Richmond and Takaka libraries ran a romantic poetry competition. All three libraries were delighted with both the response and the high quality of romantic poems submitted.

Motueka Library is pleased to announce the category winners for poems submitted there. They chose two Most Romantic Poems, one Best Romantic Poem About a Pet and one Most Romantic Poem About Your Library. As there were insufficient entries in the Best Love Poem About a Political Figure category, Motueka Library did not select a winner in this area.

Most Romantic Poem: The Ring by Phil Lister

Forty years after she gave it back
(the day that I moved into "our" house)
I put Robin's engagement ring on display.
That silver flower with a garnet centre
That ring made by a Christchurch craftsman
That ring came out on Thursday or Friday
and on Sunday I heard that you had died
in your sleep, early on Friday morning.

"I think of you as my betrothed, Nicki"
I thought often, and said soon after we met
Perhaps I said that I had a ring already
(a ring to put on your barren left hand
A hand that you didn't want me to hold)

The ring is now near that elegant vase
Which I told you about brightly
But you'll now never see.

Now I light candles at night
To help me adjust to your passing,
And a life with rather less light.

Most Romantic Poem: Pounamu by Baz Hayes
A poem for my niece Jade, on her wedding day 6 Feb 2017

A little stone was born one day
She was part of God's own flock
Her father was a mountain and
Her mother was a rock

She ascended down the shale face
Of life, so young and raw
Chipping off rough edges
As her parents had before

She tumbled down the river
That is our life today
That polished her into a gem
The gem she is today

So we give away this precious gem
To someone else's care
To love her and to cherish her
This precious gem so fair

Then one day another stone
Will start the race again
And have a rock to guide her
Through all the trials and pain

We give away this precious gem
That all the angels made
They call her Pounamu
We just call her Jade

Best Love Poem About a Pet: Midge by David Briggs

He
Looks at me with pained eyes
And pleads with me
In words I cannot hear.
His silence accuses me.

He
Is of course
A dog's dog
Alpha male to his brother's
Beta, can steer
Him with a nudge, scowl
A warning, scold
Him with a growl
Think him
Share his fears
And excitement.

But to me
He has always been
Mine, knows
My voice, the fall of my foot,
My commands,
The scale of my promises,
The soons and laters and tomorrows,
Reads
My intentions
Anticipates my moods and frowns and needs
Follows,
Finds me
Is always my companion.
But what use am I
Who am deaf as a rock
To his pleading
And stony-eyed
To his pain;
Can manage only
The simplest of tasks:
Breakfast
By the strike of a clock
Water in an empty bowl
Belatedly,
A walk when the desire
Takes me.

He
Pants, sighs
Eyes
Me beseechingly

I pick up the phone.

Best Love Poem About Your Library: By Ann Kidd

My comfort through the years

Oh how I loved to read
But oh so few books in our home

My brother loved Noddy books
So we had the whole collection

For me the joy of Christmas and birthdays
Anticipating receiving books from rellies

Then came intermediate
And a teacher who cared and shared

She took me to the library
Enrolled me as a borrower

I couldn't choose a book
So she chose for me

Douglas Bader became my hero
"Reach for the sky" you beauty

The joy of the words between the cover
Were worth the beratings for coming home late

For truly I wasn't up to mischief
I'd found something to love and appreciate

The ecstasy of the printed word
And the lasting love and welcoming spirit of a library

Thank you to everyone who entered our Romantic Poetry competition.