My poem, Myself As A Playboy Bunny won first prize in the 2018 Verve Poetry Competition. I traveled to Birmingham, England to read at the festival.
Announcing the Verve Poetry Competition 2018 winners!
We are delighted to announce the winners poets of the 2018 Verve Poetry Competition, as judged by celebrated poet Luke Kennard. Congratulations to all our winners and a huge thank you to everyone around the world that entered the Verve Poetry Competition this year!
Luke’s comments:
‘Myself as a Playboy Bunny.’ This is one of the first poems I read in the judging process and it set the bar very high. I kept returning to it to re-read and got something new out of it each time. I love the sharpness of the voice, the resistance to commodified sexuality and the celebration of sexual expression; ultimately an engaging sense of defiance and a profound sense of place. There’s something of the style of Wallace Stevens here for me: it’s at once intimate and resists easy interpretation; exquisitely detailed and still dream-like and visionary. You can get lost in it, and it’s a great pleasure to do so.
First Prize (£500)
Consuelo Marshall – ‘Myself as Playboy Bunny’
Second Prize (£250)
Jacqueline Saphra – ‘Shoreditch’
Third Prize (worth £100)
Claire Trévien – ‘Brain as a City’
My poem is contained in It All Radiates Outwards: The Verve’s Anthology of City Poems
http://www.vervepoetryfestival.com/shop/
At the festival, I was interviewed by David Turner for his Lunar Poetry Podcast. This podcast is archived in the British Museum.
Hear my interview with David Turner at the Verve Poetry Festival on his Lunar Poetry Podcast:
C.I. Marshall 