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The Inaugural Manning's Pit

Poetry Competition


Second Prize, Adults

                
Frances Corkey Thompson

Frances Corkey Thompson


I have always enjoyed reading and writing poetry. Since retiring from teaching
I have taken my own writing more seriously, and my poems have appeared in various anthologies and journals, here and abroad.

 

To date I have published two books, The Long Acre, a chapbook (pub. Happenstance, 2008) and a full collection, Wild Gooseberries of Hailung (pub. Indigo Dreams, 2015). This latter book arose from recent visits I made to China in search of traces of my missionary father. On publication, it was selected by The Poetry Kit as its Book of the Month, and Indigo Dreams entered it for the TS Eliot Prize.





Frances's poem:

"Save Manning's Pit"


A place apart. Listen. A whispering world,
visible and hidden, is getting ready for winter,
each leaf and every creature adjusting,
motion in tune with the turning of the year.

An agreed "Asset of Community Value"
not to be"developed". Root and branch
not bulldozed away. On the Bradiford Water
ice will again glass up the still brown pools.

New Aprils bloom in hedges and ledges,
grandchildren and their grown-ups swing and whoop,
stop to play Poohsticks on wooden bridges.
Painters, poets may visit, but...People need homes.

Indeed we do. We also need green spaces -
trees, kingfishers, Tarka. Wild living places.


An acrostic poem. First letter of each line (including title) to be read
downwards.
                            
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