A woman who picked up a poetry contest entry form at her local library in Bedford was back there recently - picking up the top prize as the national winner.
Success has come late in life for Daphne Warrick, who was shocked to discover that she has become a national champion at the age of 74.
Daphne, who lives in Milton Earnest, near Bedford, has been voted United Press National Poetry Champion - by 250 prize-winning poets. She wins £1000 and a magnificent trophy to keep for life, in the biggest free-to-enter annual poetry competition in the UK - The National Poetry Anthology.
The National Poetry Anthology is advertised through 250,000 entry forms distributed through the UK’s libraries and it was at Bedford Central Library that Daphne picked up an entry form for the competition. So it was only fitting that the presentation of her £1000 cheque and trophy, should take place at the library.
Daphne’s poem, The Swan (left) was chosen from tens of thousands of entries for this huge competition. Daphne is Bedfordshire’s first winner in this competition which has been running since the 1990’s.
“The aim of the competition is to encourage people to get involved in poetry,” said Peter Quinn, Managing Director of United Press. “Every year we receive entries from people who have never before even thought of writing a poem. Daphne has entered the competition previously but her perseverance has really paid off this year. It’s free to enter the competition and we receive entries from poets aged 10 to 100. We pick 250 regional winners and give them a free copy of the book with all the winning poems in. They then vote for what they think is the best poem in the book, and this year they chose Daphne.”
“It’s gratifying to know that so many poets liked my work,” said Daphne. “I’ve been writing poems for a long time but only recently have I had any accepted for publication. I’m over the moon because this is my first major success. I feel so privileged.”
THE SWAN
Late in the dusk, in the quiet ways
Where the leaves lie thick in a carpet
Where the boughs overhang of the willow and birch
And the warren is home for the rabbit,
There shimmers the lake, in a silvery sheen
Beneath the April moon
And the mute swan glides to her mountainous nest
With reeds and sedges strewn
And snug in the hollow are four little bodies
Soft covered in pale grey down
Awaiting the warmth of their mother’s form
And the weed that the pen has found.
They will sleep cocooned in the rippling dark
Under the lofty sky
And the night wind’s breath will quiver the leaves
And the towering grasses nearby.
But soon as the rosy hue of dawn
Lights up the woodland track
She will sail in grandeur over the lake
With the cygnets on her back.
