Summer School 2010

The 7th Tower Poetry Summer School (24-27 August) for young poets aged 18-23 will be held in Christ Church Oxford.

 

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Competition 2010

The Christopher Tower Poetry Competition, the UK's most valuable prize for young poets, is once again open for entries, and this year students between 16-18 years of age are challenged to write a poem on the theme of 'Promises'

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Tower Poetry,
Christ Church,
Oxford, OX1 1DP
Tel: 01865 286591
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Lewis, Anna - Leaving

Leaving

The city spreads like two wings
from the train's thin torso, beating
under watery sun to a half-drawn sky.
While I walked in the streets, shoddy with
smoke and dead leaves, the city's grip
seemed stiff as the pins of a lock

yet now, flattened out to its tips, fraying,
it lifts on sweeps of light: its promises
like so many feathers float free, and the flat
taste of leaving binds my tongue like oil.

 

About Anna Lewis

 

Anna Lewis was born in 1984, and she is currently studying archaeology at Manchester University. In 2002, she won the first prize in the Christopher Tower poetry competition, and she was also a winner of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year competition in the same year. Her work has been published in a number of magazines, including Poetry Wales and Mslexia.

 

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.

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Publications

ChangePromises:
The Christopher Tower Poetry Prize Winners 2010 (Digital Edition)

The winning poems from the 2010 prize are brought together in this exclusive digital-only edition.