As a theatre worker Peter Button is more used to being behind the scenes. But now he’s taken centre stage as the United Press UK Poetry champion for 2006.
Peter, a box office worker and duty manager at the Duke’s Theatre in Lancaster, is this year’s £1,000 first-prize winner in the biggest annual free-to-enter national poetry competition there has ever been.
Tens of thousands of poems were entered for this UK-wide annual competition which began in 1998. Peter was chosen as this year’s winner in a vote by over 200 prizewinning poets and received the cash prize of £1,000 plus a magnificent trophy to keep for life.
"I’m delighted at this success," said Peter (43), who lives in Portland Street, Lancaster and has worked at the local theatre for 12 years. "I have been writing poetry ever since I was a young man and entered several poetry competitions which had an entry fee. But when I saw this free to enter competition advertised in my local paper, I simply had to have a go."
Out of all the entries that are submitted every year over 200 are picked from different regions in the UK and all are printed in the annual National Poetry Anthology. Each author receives a free copy of the book and votes for the best poem in it. "To be chosen as the winner by so many excellent poets is a humbling experience," added Peter.
Peter is married to Fiona and they have children Lucas and Sally. He is interested in film and theatre, playing the guitar, walking and sculpture. He has taken creative writing courses at the local Whitecross Adult Education Centre for several years. "The courses are invaluable," said Peter. "I would recommend them to anyone. They give you a couple of hours a week to set aside and concentrate on writing."
Peter’s prizewinning poem Messages is one of his personal favourites and has great significance for him. "It means a lot to me because I wrote it after the death of my father. The poem was evoked by a visit I made to his house to sort through his effects. It describes exactly how I felt about losing my father."
You can read Peter’s winning poem below:
MESSAGES
Your empty house took a breath
as I opened windows and
wandered through to the garden;
the lawn, uncut and coarse
as your pepper and salt
hospital stubble; the
seeds you had planted now posthumous tulips and
primroses - clusters of
colour-coded messages
sent by your careful hand.
I stood where your deckchair
would have been on this warm,
wood-pigeon afternoon
and, in my attempt at
teasing out a meaning,
came as near to you as
I can hope to get.
