Winner of the 2013 NAE, Nottingham Festival of Word’s Poetry Completion
Congratulations to Russell Christie, whose poem won our 2013 Nottingham’s Festival of Words Poetry Competition. The poem was inspired by a work in the Realism in Rawiya exhibition ‘Mother of Martyrs’, Newsha Tavakolian, showing in our Main Gallery until 20th April. As a reward, the poem was displayed on International Women’s Day in our reception area. Here’s a picture of the poet next to his fantastic poem Feathered Edge!
Feathered Edge
In the midst of all the vagaries of sense,
when seeing is a distance away
and the edges of doing seem to blur
as a tear fractures the day,
there is this one content.
There is this one.
When the fist of avarice
swipes through the wind
and snatches the closest away,
though wings are torn along a mortar edge,
there is this one content.
There is this nest of love.
Holding through uncertainty,
this room of carpet and fur;
this cove of confidence
in the hell of the world,
from which we launch
repeated excursions of blood.
We pass around the plastic cup,
a bucket of water our shrine,
and see all of the salt that we are.
We harness strength in this last resort
and rivers of children scream
through the beauty of our eyes.
We are the bastion of ourselves,
son-less and stronger than our sons.
We stand still, in this one content,
this making place, this scoop
in a bucket of water and blood,
this nest of love in collapsing buildings,
this home which we are.
Russell Christie
