JUDE GOODWIN

The Guardian Poetry Workshop Shortlist 2005

Lost: Little Girl

This is marvellous. It expresses very economically and beautifully the thought that every parent/grandparent has had many times ... Don't they grow up quickly? The lack of punctuation adds to the headlong rush of time that is part of what the poet is saying. I would have had no capital letters either, I think. The fact that "Lost" is part of the title makes it seem as though the adult looking back is regretful, even sad, about the loss of this child's youth, which brings a sort of shadow to the picture. It's as though the 'growing' in the last line is some kind of sinister process: something the poet might want to turn back if she could. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. In any case, a good poem. A clear picture. Adèle Geras August 2005

How to Survive a Tornado

Perfect rhythmically, original and beautiful. Were you aware of the echoes you set going with internal vowel rhymes: swim/ skin/ thin/ begins/ in/ within/? Congratulations! Anne Stevenson March 2005

Hush

I like the way this poem develops. The pace and rhythm are just right, and the title is good, too. I enjoyed the nicely poised last sentence, with its very effective use of lineation - a feature of the poem throughout, I thought: Chris Greenhalgh February 2005

Wax Paper

Of the 12 poems shortlisted, this one alone seems to have a positive take on domesticity and the day-to dayness of life. The woman is luxuriating in simply turning over in bed and watching her man shower and ready himself. There is a confident celebratory, sensuous note and the poem's finish is lovely. "I slide over to your pillow, lie in the crease of you" is wonderful. Well done! Micheal O'Siadhail September 2005

Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook Contest
Honorable Mention 2005

The InterBoard Poetry Community

First Place, September 2005 The Chewer

As with all my favourite poems, this says little and speaks volumes. Through the poet’s painfully clear description of a single incident, I was given a picture of a whole relationship, a lesson in the depths of feeling that lie behind silence. The profound impact of the opening statement on the speaker is there in the litany of ugly adjectives with which she describes her – I decided it was ‘her’ – reaction: the apple is “poisonous” (Snow White, anyone?), the piece in her mouth is a “slug”, her shadow perches “gargoyle-like”, unrecognisable even to herself. The lines on her struggle to swallow the apple noiselessly are masterful, full of sticky, clogging half-rhymes –"mush”, “suck”, “push” – and the lack of punctuation makes it impossible for us to tell whether it is her throat that’s “half closed, unwilling”, or she herself. In contrast with the oppressive silence of the first section of the poem, the final declarative lines sing out freely, with great power. The plate and the flies may be silent but, it seems, she’s no longer going to be. Wonderful stuff. –Sarah Crown

Third Place, July 2005 : The Murderers

For a sentimental poem, "The Murderers" is refreshingly simple and plainspoken. The catalog of detritus of one woman's life is richly interwoven with the speaker's guilt-ridden story of gradually getting over her death. The alternating metaphors of breadmaking and gravedigging make for a richly suggestive and unusual elegy. Aaron Welborn

Third Place, May 2005 : Remission

Like the tide mentioned in the first line, this poem operates by ebb and flow, alternating what will happen with what won't, yes and no, hello and goodbye. Fittingly, the syntax and slow pace are in keeping with that motion, gently tugging back and forth until the final release. Though the ending veers toward sentimentality, it holds back just enough. Aaron Welborn

White Pelican Review, Fall 2005

Not Tonight

Comstock Review Vol 19, Number 1

One Grunt

Contemporary Verse 2

What if it's Endless
What Whispers

Tilt

Where I Live

Poems Niederngasse
Marginalia Section

Aubergine
Hematoma
The Green Room

Hiss Quarterly

Lise

Eclectica Magazine