Somerset National Poetry Prize
Lucia Gelonesi wins Junior Category of Poetry Prize
At the end of March Lucia Gelonesi (Year 10) was announced as the Junior Winner of the 2020 Somerset National Poetry Prize for her poem “Mothers as Others.” Lucia has won this competition previously in 2019 and we congratulate her on this incredible second honour.
I asked Lucia to reflect on the motivation for her poem and she commented that, “Like most young women, I find the relationship between mothers and daughters endlessly fascinating.
I think it takes time for any child to recognise the full humanity of their parents. In your early teens they are simply, self-evidently embarrassing. But, perhaps, after facing the daunting prospect of starting to shape our own lives, our mother’s human frailties become more evident, and more understandable: internal contradictions, blind-spots and sensitivities, extravagant love, but also an inevitable ambivalence (and at times outright hostility) toward their own daughter. When you are very young, you only see your mother in relation to yourself. But as you become more of a self-conscious individual, you begin to reflect in a more curious and appraising way and recognise her as complex a character with an intriguing history, in the dark ages, before you existed! Although it’s inevitable, this realisation can be at times confronting and bewildering. I wanted to explore all this in the poem.”
Her poem, and other winning and commended poems can be read here.
We would like to take this opportunity to remind our community about the many Creative Writing Opportunities available for students at the moment. Your daughter is very welcome to contact their English teacher if they have a question about any of the competitions mentioned below.
Red Room Poetry Object Competition
Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards
Ms Jenny Bean
Acting Head of English
