Tiny Prize

James is the happy winner of the princely sum of £5!
Here is the poem, 

 

SHADES OF GREY

As nature fades in autumn’s shades - a slumbering Mother Earth,

crisp autumn leaves fall, dance and weave, abandoning their berth.

Bright ambers, gold, and crimsons bold, dissolve their varnished hue, 

as winter’s chills their last gasp kills, till spring buds burst anew.

 

While human creatures, worship features - bereft of shades of grey,

those silken strands of braided bands, caressed in lover’s play.

Now time and tide, subdue their pride, as seasons close and perish,

fair faces frown, and egos drown, yearning profiles still to cherish.

 

And yet, they long, for youth’s sweet song, unconscious in conceit,

in need of praise or jealous gaze, to make each day complete.

Their paints and pouts hide deeper doubts, of what, and who they are,

the surgeon’s knife, carves an altered life, a mirrored movie-star.

 

But beyond the frame, the face, the game, in stillness lies the self,

neither name or fame, nor dying flame – cry despairing on the shelf.

In allowing grace, that fleeting space, to surrender to the night,

where beyond the pale, beyond the frail, it’s beyond the black and white.

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City of Poets offers the monthly TINY PRIZE to any poet registered on our website. Entry is free.

The prize is worth £5, and one could be forgiven for thinking it's not worth it. It is...

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• a poet is recognised • winning can go on a CV • £5 still just about buys a drink •

• it adds to a local buzz about poetry 12 times a year•

• your work is shared across our social media platforms and City of Poets community •

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Themes for 2024 are:

January - Transformation • February - Redemption • March - Beginnings • April - Thrust

May - Colour • June - Midpoints • July - Nurture • August - Pride

September - Earth • October - Justice • November - hearth • December - shades of grey

There is NO Tiny Prize for January 2025, a month of rest.

The next TINY PRIZE submission is January 15, 2025, for February, on the theme of

The River.

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Submissions must be by email only, and only from poets registered with City of Poets. Please put in the subject line: "TINY PRIZE - xyz month - xyz theme"

Submit 18 lines or fewer within the body of the email - no attachments. Closing date for submissions is the 15th of each preceding month -

for example, to submit for May - Spring,• please ensure that we receive it by 15 April.

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Submission, results will be notified on the last day of the month preceding publication. Publication will be on or before the 1st of the following

month to which the submission's theme refers. £5 prize will be credited to the PayPal account of your choosing by the 15th of the month of publication..

the City of Poets judges, 2023/2024, areTINY PRIZE winners Adam Burnel and Nicola Kirk, and poet and editor, Jacqueline A. Smith

regrettably, shortage of time does not permit us to enter into correspondence about the results of the TINY PRIZES

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