York Poetry Prize 2021: Here are the winning poems, read by the poets themselves

The loving duty of a mother coping with an infestation of head lice was the unusual inspiration for the winner of this year’s York Poetry Prize.

Our judge, Kim Moore, selected Emma Simon’s poem, Nitty Gritty, from an entry of 515 poems submitted by 192 poets. Emma, a London-based copywriter and journalist, also had a second poem, Quantum Theory of Moss, highly commended by our judge.

The event, in its ninth year, was organised by YorkMix in association with York Literature Festival.

As a precaution against the spread of Covid-19, organisers again decided not to hold a live awards event. Instead, many of our winning and commended poets have kindly shared video introducing themselves and  their poems.

The videos are below, together with the poems and the judge’s comments on the top prize-winners and Highly Commended entries.

Judge Kim Moore writes: “I’ve spent an enjoyable few weeks reading more than five hundred poems. 

“I always try to enter the world that each poem inhabits and take it on its own terms, and think about whether it is successful in what it is setting out to do – but there are always points in competition judging when you start to despair and feel that the task is impossible – that you are trying to judge apples against bananas or dogs against cats.

“And then you turn a page and read a poem that hits you between the eyes, or takes your breath away, or makes you stop and put all the other poems down and sit with it for a while, and when that happens, it blows all of the doubts in your own judgement away, because you know you’ve found something special.  

“I hope you enjoy the final 27 poems.  There is a pleasing variety of forms in the final shortlist, wide-ranging themes, and surprisingly for me at least, a few poems that made me laugh out loud. 

“I would like to say thank you to all of the poets who trusted me with their work. I read each poem carefully and enjoyed spending time with them and wish you the best of luck with them as you send them bravely into the world again.”

The winning poems

Winner

Nitty Gritty
by Emma Simon (South Woodford, London)

£500 prize

Judge’s comment:

‘In First Place was Nitty Gritty.  I don’t think I’ve read a poem about nits before so the subject matter grabbed my attention straight away – although of course, it’s not just about nits.  It’s about love, and what we do in the service of love. It’s about fairy tales and how they are woven through our realities. It’s a poem that doesn’t put a foot wrong, from the forward slashes that give it movement and uncertainty to the very specific, carefully observed details.’

Second prize

Wonder Woman Questions Her Status as a ’70s Symbol of Female Empowerment
by Kathryn Bevis (Winchester)

£150 prize

Judge’s comment:

‘This was a poem that made me smile. I loved the voice which felt completely believable – I was there with Wonder Woman all the way through! The outrageous similes and the unfolding of anger from stanza to stanza, whilst still managing to keep the humour and defiance was very well handled.’

Third prize

What Does Not Return
by Casey Jarrin (Saint Paul, Minnesota)

£75 prize

Judge’s comment:

‘This poem sends you back over and over again to the title, which rings through the whole piece like a struck bell.  I found the juxtaposition of the seemingly insignificant and the life-changing very moving, and the use of form and the dwindling of the lost things, or the unreturned to those two smallest and yet largest of words at the end; very poignant.’ 

Fourth prize

Next Year
by Michael Farren (Shipley, West Yorkshire)

£50 prize

Judge’s comment:

‘Next Year utilises the list format to unfold and develop a poignant array of imagery and metaphor. I loved the formal structure of this one and the sense of movement created by the use of the dash throughout.’

International Commended Award

Six Blankets
by Sharon Black (St Andre de Valborgne, France)

£50 prize

Judge’s comment:

‘The International Prize goes to Six Blankets. Blankets appear in each of its stanzas, changing their size, shape and significance – even the word changes from noun to verb at one point.  I was compelled by the narrative in this poem and the way it circulates, centres around and gradually unfolds through the image of the blanket.’

The Helen Cadbury Prize

YouToo
by Yvie Holder (East Cottingwith, East Yorkshire)

Best poem from a YO-postcode poet – £50 prize

This prize is in memory of York writer (and friend of YorkMix) Helen Cadbury.

Judge’s comment:

‘I admired this greatly for its innovative use of form. Katherine Angel, a writer I much admire, writes very movingly about female desire taking place in what she calls a landscape of violence and I thought this poem captured perfectly this idea, in both its content and in the way the form supports and enacts what the poem is exploring.’

Highly Commended

Kim writes: ‘I am very fond of this batch of Highly Commended poems and wanted again to offer my congratulations and admiration for them.

I see you / / hold the secrets of myself
by Jane Burn, Consett)

Judge’s comment:

‘This poem is a rich and evocative character portrait which manages to explore both a personal and social history. ‘

Quantum Theory of Moss
by Emma Simon (South Woodford, London)

Judge’s comment:

‘This is a beautifully measured sonnet, inventive and surprising in its use of simile to get to the true nature of moss.’

The gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat
by Michael Farren (Shipley, West Yorkshire)

Judge’s comment:

‘This made innovative use of form to create two ways of looking at moles and I left this poem feeling as if I knew more than I did when I entered it!’

spilt / / split
by Sara Levy (Friern Barnet, London)

Judge’s comment:

‘spilt / / split contains two images that I know will stay with me long after this competition has finished – the milk with “two fat white hands” and the broken milk bottle figured as “glass sharks”.’

Mileage
and
Newborn
both by Susan Szekely (Shipley, West Yorkshire)

Judge’s comment:

‘Mileage is a brilliant example of how to use and control perspective in a poem. I loved the way it started in a tiny flat and by the end pans out to contain a landscape.’

Judge’s comment:

‘Newborn is a small poem in terms of the space it takes up on the page but it is far-reaching in its ambition to examine ways of being a woman. It is a poem whose ending really surprised me – I did not end up where I thought I would be!’

This sacred and tangled forest
by Olga Dermott-Bond, (Long Itchington, Warwickshire)

Judge’s comment:

‘This takes on that most devilish of forms, the specular, which suited perfectly the very human heartbreak and wish to unwind/rewind when faced with serious illness.’

The Wounded Dear
by Joanne Key (Crewe, Cheshire)

Judge’s comment:

‘Many poets have been inspired by the work and life of Frida Kahlo but The Wounded Dear manages to add something new to this subject, inventive in its use of white space for punctuation, and again, another poem that veered off in an unexpected and exciting direction.’

Luna
by Amaury Wonderling (Walthamstow, East London)

Judge’s comment:

‘Luna is a wonderful example of a sestina and I particularly admired the bending of the rules to use different words and synonym in place of the word knife.’

The poets never talk about the money
by Di Slaney (Bilsthorpe, Nottinghamshire)

Judge’s comment:

‘The poets never talk about money made me laugh out loud – not quite enough to award the writer some money, but it came very close! A very clever and sharp observation of prize culture.’

Out of Bounds
by Simon Currie (Otley, West Yorkshire)

Judge’s comment:

‘Out of Bounds is just a stunningly  perfect poem which doesn’t put a foot wrong.  Again, I loved the surprise of the ending – wonderfully visceral – I could feel the dog water on my lip too’.

Commended

The following poems were Commended by the judge

Therapy Session
by Maeve Henry (Oxford)

Mr MacCaig
by Michael Di Placido (Seamer, North Yorkshire)

Intestines
by James McDermott (High Kelling, Norfolk)

Where We Went To Escape Him
by Hilary Watson (Cardiff)

What colour today?
by Sarah J Bryson (Kirtlington, Oxfordshire)

Gravel
by Rachel Davies (Oldham, Lancashire)

Number 10
by Jacqueline Everett (York)

Also Commended:

Slip and I Don’t Want To Play, both by Amelia Loulli (Penrith, Cumbria);

and I Matched With Jesus on Hinge by Victoria Richards (London)

The final word belongs to our judge, Kim Moore: “Thank you again for all of those poets who trusted me with your work and best of luck with your writing in the future.”