Winners 2003 : Runner-up : James Williams

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.

James Williams

Burgundy

Burgundy was lost in 1477 like a book clapped shut,
musting of French wine cellars. It yawns dormant
under Pinot Noir and Chateau de Joux.

Leisure lived languid in Burgundy, like the number
seven Pool ball, or ruddy red-brown
school caps that cup dust in cupboards.

Approval stamps on Nazi passports were Burgundy.
They haunt like leaves, ripely pungent in rotting,
or published diaries that slink out of print.

Dying roses blush in Burgundy, before sighing yellow,
for Burgundy is the forgotten. Slack-stamped
wax slips from letters which even years have not read.

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.