Prize Poem Competition

Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 16, 28 October 1932, Unnumbered Page

Prize Poem Competition

(Conducted by

John

O'Dreams

"THE prize of half a guinea in the’ current competition is awarded to "Linn" for the lovely "Lament," which pulsates with that wistful regret and abiding sense of vanished happiness which, alas, are common to the human heart. Next in order of artistic accomplishment is placed "Merrie’s" "No an Unknown Violinist," this being a beautiful and rhythmically phrased expression of response of sensitive spirit to the musician’s art. The poems appearing in the "Radio Record" since the inception of the Poets’ Corner have appealed to me as being of such beauty, humanity and charm that for some time past it has been my desire, and that of many other lovers of literature, that they should be available in less impermanent form. This desire is now’to take shape in the form of a small volume of the verses selected for publication each fortnight. Particulars of our literary venture will be found on page 23 of this issue, and I hope the readers of and contributors to this column will be as-much gratified at this outcome as is John o’ Dreams. From correspondents: I would like to say how much I liked "Szigeti’ by "Karakia," who catches the musician’s true atmosphere."-Merrie. "I find the Poets’ Corner a little oasis: it’s something to look forward to every fortnight.’-C.A.L. "Some of the prize-winning poems make instant appeal. ‘Farewell, my Friend,’ ‘The Blind Potter,’ the ‘Blackbird’ poem, and others, one is glad to think are going to be published in more lasting form. I would like to see ‘Merrie’ again a prize-winner.’’~-ELH. : "Lost": A harmony of simplicity and childhood in the Wordsworthian manner, D.P.: "The Story Teller" is a quite lovely example of your talent. A.D. sends lines anent the shimmering heather, so loved, so mourned, by exiles from bonnie Scotland, the sentiment being true, but the treatment unoriginal. "The Blind Artist’: Good for a little youthful maiden, but the path cf perseverance must be well trodden before a place in the sun is secured. Babe: You wrestle courageously with a big subject, the first verse being the more effective. A.J.R.: Oh, that ’twere possible to print your fascinating sonnet. "Fantastic Episode’: Highly imaginative, strangely chaotic. O.M.S.: The elegy to two brave men fails in impressiveness, C.A.L.: In your. work there is always apparent some element that ereates interest, but the last two poems miss the mark, : Francois: Say it in prose, or even in slang.