Chance to join ‘Poet’s Corner’ in town park
Calling all poets - there is still time to enter a ‘Poet’s Corner’ competition in Horsham.
The contest is being run by the Friends of Horsham Park to help celebrate the Horsham District Year of Culture 2019.
Friends’ chairman Sally Sanderson said it was planned to make a poet’s corner “to create a lovely visitor attraction in Horsham Park to celebrate our local poetry heritage and also to inspire the next generation of poets to celebrate our park.”
To enter, people need to submit a poem of up to 14 lines on a theme to do with the park or nature. The winning poems will be displayed on tree trunk seats set in a circle in the park.
Sally said: “We’ve had some lovely poems from adults and children – sadly not so many yet from teenagers so we’d like to see more in the 12-18 category. Given the quality of the poems we’ve received so far, it’s going to be a tough job for the judging panel to select the winning poems to be displayed at Poet’s Corner.
“They will feature alongside our most famous local poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.”
Pupils at Horsham’s Kingslea Primary School have already submitted 60 creative entries – poems on animals and birds. “The poems show the children did plenty of nature research before getting creative,” said Sally.
Catherine Smith, a Year 3 teacher at Kingslea, said: “The children have been so excited about their learning and entering the competition. The poems were based on the book The Lost Words by Rob MacFarlane and illustrated by Jackie Morris. This book tells about the words lost to children for naming things in the natural world.”
Another competition entry that captures the spirit of the competition and what the park means to local people is called ‘Our Park’ by Sarah Gratton. She describes pushing a pram around the park in a desperate attempt to get a baby to sleep.
Anyone who wants more information about the competition can email poetscorner@ friendsofhorshambpark. Deadline for entries is March 31.