A student from the School of English has won the inaugural Free Verse<\/i> competition run by the UK Poetry Library.\u00a0Danielle Burford entered her poem Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow<\/i> into the national competition and won against hundreds of entries.\u00a0Danielle, who is 18 and from Ramsgate in Kent, says the inspiration for her poetry comes from her grandmother, who first got her involved in poetry competitions.<\/p>\n
Danielle said: \u2018When I was eight my grandmother encouraged me to submit a poem to United Press and when it was published this gave me the inspiration to write more poetry.\u00a0I wrote my winning poem to reflect the fact that both the ally and enemy nation share in the grief of losing loved ones in war.’<\/p>\n
Danielle is studying English and American Literature and English Language and Linguistics at the University’s Canterbury campus. She has won ten copies of the soon-to-be-published Free Verse Poets of 2013, <\/i>where her poem will be featured.<\/p>\n
You can read Danielle’s winning poem below.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW<\/p>\n
The sky seethes burnt umber above the murky Land Of The Free’<\/p>\n
And yet with each passing dusk and dawn another face is added<\/p>\n
To the peaking number of those who will not be returning home<\/p>\n
Except encased in wood<\/p>\n
And another silent moan is added to the cries layered in a tuneless song<\/p>\n
Which echoes confusion and a sense of betrayal on a national scale<\/p>\n
Who told my boy that war was romantic? Heroic? They belt,<\/p>\n
Who gave him a rifle and led him to believe that another’s death may lead to our own salvation?<\/p>\n
Didn\u2019t they know that mothers half way across the world would mirror our grief?<\/p>\n
Where is the heroism in hiding behind machines?<\/p>\n
Where is the intellect in hiding behind brute force?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll tell you.<\/p>\n
There is none.<\/p>\n
And where is the relief from this burning rawness of loss?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll tell you.<\/p>\n
There is none.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Danielle Burford<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"