The Foyle ‘Young Poets of the Year Award’ is the biggest poetry competition for young authors in the world, seeing more than 6,600 poets aged 11-17 submitting over 15,800 poems for this year’s competition.
Young people from 119 countries entered the competition from as far afield as Romania, New Zealand, and Trinidad and Tobago as well as the UK.
The top 100 winning poets were announced at Shakespeare’s Globe on 5 October 2023 in a ceremony where the top 15 winning poets read their poems, and all the poets commended in the competition were celebrated, including one of our Perkonians, Jesse (Class of 2023). Our heartfelt congratulations go to Jesse on being placed in the top 5% of applicants for an original poem ‘Still’, and being formally recognised as one of 85 Commended Poets in the 2023 competition. Jesse attributes the development of a passion for writing to the guidance and teaching provided by our wonderful English teacher, Mrs Holden.
Still
i.
I come home to stillness;
to a house that is without.
There is no laughter here.
ii.
A lovely sort of darkness
hangs low upon the hallway;
one that extends its timid fingers towards me
as if seeking to befriend.
iii.
It’s me and the dust,
so much dust,
like it always has been.
We eat together in that darkness.
iv.
Light from the fridge,
inept and moody, is my only reprieve.
The chill wakes me up.
– Jesse Wolfsthal
