Recently, two of our talented writers have gained success in national and international poetry competitions. Well done, Lily and Charlotte!

Charlotte Lloyd (10LMN) is an avid writer. She recently entered one of her poems into the 2020 International Poetry Competition that was run by Te Hunga Tito Ruri o Aotearoa – New Zealand Poetry Society. Her poem was commended in the Open Junior Section. We congratulate Charlotte on her success and look forward to seeing what she writes next.

Lily Joyce (13REA) has won a highly commended prize in the Year 13 category of the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook Student Poetry Competition. Lily submitted three poems and is yet to hear which one gained her her placing.

This is one of the poems titled 'I Want to be Loved' that she submitted.

I want to be loved
I want to be loved like you couldn’t love me
Like you pretended to love me
I want the love you refused me
That you held just out of reach
And mocked me with
I want to love
I want to love like my life depends on it
I want to love like the stars are dying
Love like the gods have abandoned us
I want the love of stories
Of songs and sonnets
I want the love of hundreds gone before me
Of princes and princesses
Of humans and elves
Of flowers and myth
I want a love to write about
One that will live eternally on a page
I don’t want the heartbreak inhabiting my paper
I don’t want the haunting image of you
I don’t want it
Just like you didn’t want me