Winners 2002: Runner-up : Kezia Gaitskell

Summer School 2012

The 8th Tower Poetry Summer School for young poets aged 18-23 will be held in Christ Church, Oxford from 28-31 August 2012. The tutors will be Alan Gillis (University of Edinburgh, Scotland) and Kevin Young (Emory University, Atlanta, USA).

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Poetry Matters

Poetry Matters is an exciting on-line poetry magazine which provides a fresh, dynamic perspective on poetry issues through a mix of news, reviews and comment.

Kezia Gaitskell

Flooded

The day we meet,
Your small pet rain-cloud brushes my cheek
And waters my Caesar salad.

Hour by hour the rain-cloud grows,
Darkening to a grouchy grey.
One day, it summons up a lightning bolt
And electrocutes my cat.

When I chastise it,
It takes up residence in my roof, coming
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain.
The waterlogged house begins to crumble,
For the rain it raineth every day.

I suggest you leave.

The flood begins:
Water gushes up from the roof,
Lakes rise up through the floorboards,
Hot springs bubble in the bathroom,
Sharks nip my ankles in the sea in the living room,
And a waterfall crashes down the stairs.
I wade through the basement,
Ford the rushing torrent in the hall,
And finally face the cause of all destruction:
You.

Enough.
The waters stop, while your petulant pet
Smirks in smug satisfaction.

The ceiling drips gently
Through its blistered paint;
Rivulets of water run down
The streaked wallpaper;
And a faint scent of mould
Wafts up from the damp carpets.

Mission accomplished.
You and your rain-cloud float elsewhere.
I remain –
Sodden-haired and soaked to the skin,
Mopping fruitlessly at the flood.

About Tower Poetry

Tower Poetry exists to encourage and challenge everyone who reads or writes poetry. Funded by a generous bequest to Christ Church, Oxford, by the late Christopher Tower, the aims of Tower Poetry are clear: to stimulate an enjoyment and critical appreciation of poetry, particularly among young people in education, and to challenge people to write their own poetry. Creative writing should be a central element in literary education, and learning about writing poetry can help students to think about ways of reading poetry.

Publications

The Twelve:

Poems from the 7th Tower Poetry Summer School 2010
Edited by Daljit Nagra and Jo Shapcott
The Twelve contains 56 poems from the 12 young poets who attended the Summer School.