POEM WRITING COMPETITION A platform for self-expression03

 Lim Jia Quan, Philip (J2 Canberra)

     With my poem ‘Ready The Rockets’, I intended to illustrate the cycle of hatred, with each side seeing the other as the aggressor in their conflict, and using that to justify their retaliation. The similarity of the first and last stanzas shows the cycle repeating itself. After some thought, I decided to use an 11-syllable meter, but my first two attempts at writing this were unsatisfactory, to say the least. I finally submitted the poem of my third draft. I have always liked poems, but have never found the motivation to write them. This competition forced me to do it, and I am grateful. 

Wong Zi Yi (S2 Adelaide)

        I never thought I’d be the one receiving such a great achievement! But I am very honoured to be one of the winners. My poem ‘Journey’ is basically about the journey of life of an individual, from being active, to old and fragile, then to the one left with nothing. Honestly, I am not a proficient user of English, but I believe that we can make everything better if we invest more time and effort in the language. I searched lots of bombastic words online and looked up those words which I thought were really good. Together with some of my ideas, they fermented in my mind and the poem was thus produced.