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RHIAN ELIZABETH

APRIL POEM OF THE MONTH WINNER

to the girl who said i’ll never be happy because i’m too picky

 

you preferred orange juice to apple.

this, i discovered,

the morning after

the night i had to sleep in the spare room

because your breathing reminded me of my

grandmother’s old fashioned kettle whistling

in the kitchen whenever she made herself

a cup of tea. after that,

just to prove my unfastidious-ness,

i took to bringing my own carton of apple juice

round for breakfast, and even tried

looking past the fact you never laughed at my

leave the gun, take the cannoli

joke when i handed you the bag of pastries

in the italian bakery.

 

who the fuck

hasn’t seen the godfather?

 

and who the fuck

doesn’t know every single word

to barbra streisand’s

the way we were?

 

i put up with a lot.

 

oh, and by the way,

i’d never dated someone

shorter than me before i met you

 

but i never looked down on you,

not even for that.

SHORTLIST

Maria Taylor - Alternative Notes for a Love Poem
Naomi Woods - 8 mins, 32 secs.
Rob Walton - F Glorious F
Kadie Newmen - Knock Out Coach
Syd Meats - The Next Song on the Radio

The Winning Poet

Rhian Elizabeth is a trainee counsellor and a writer. Her debut novel, Six Pounds Eight Ounces, was published in 2014 by Seren Books and is currently being adapted for TV, and there are the poetry collections the last polar bear on earth, published in 2018 by Parthian Books, and girls etc., by Broken Sleep Books in 2024. Her prose and poetry have been listed in various competitions and prizes and appeared in many magazines and anthologies worldwide, as well as being featured on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme. She was named by The Welsh Agenda as one of Wales’ Rising Stars—one of 30 people working to make Wales better over the next 30 years. She is a Hay Festival Writer at Work and was previously Writer in Residence at the Coracle International Literary Festival in Tranås, Sweden.

 

Rhian Elizabeth’s maybe i’ll call gillian anderson is a raw, darkly funny, and deeply affecting collection that navigates the liminal spaces of love, loss, and reinvention.

 

PRAISE for maybe i'll call gillian anderson:

A poetic memoir like a rush of honesty to the heart (or Gillian Anderson’s answerphone.)
   — Caroline Bird

VERVE Poetry Spoken Word Festival supported by ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
VERVE Poetry Festival, Online Poetry Workshops, Poetry Book Shop, Poetry Publisher

VERVE POETRY & SPOKEN WORD FESTIVAL is an independent festival produced by VERVE POETRY PRESS.

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