ESU Formal Verse Contest 2024 - Shortlist

The English-Speaking Union Victoria Branch is pleased to announce the shortlist for the inaugural ESU Formal Verse Contest, for a metrical, rhymed or unrhymed poem of 70 lines or less.

We had a large number of entries from poets in Australia, the USA, Canada and Germany and thank everyone for participating. The resulting shortlist comprises fifteen outstanding poems. The final winners will be selected by Prime Minister’s Award-winning poet Stephen Edgar. An additional President’s Choice Award will be given by ESU Victoria Branch President Robert Furlan. Winners will be announced at an Awards Ceremony in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 14 December 2024.

Thank you to everyone who submitted poetry; keep writing! Congratulations to our shortlisted poets.

Shortlisted Poems:

“Continuing City”- Jesse Keith Butler (Canada)

“How It Was”- Clarence Caddell (Australia)

“To Silence”- Daniel Cooper (USA)

“Language”- Alex Dowthwaite (Australia)

“On a Briefly Held Job in a Long Island Suburb”- Alice Gunther (USA)

“Learning Greek”- Kevin Hart (Australia)

“The Library Wars”- Roger Macdonald (Australia)

“The Cooper’s Hawk”- Marybeth Rua-Larsen (USA)

“Preliminary”- Steven Searcy (USA)

“Tinnitus”- Leon Trainor (Australia)

“The Fabled Righteousness of Wu Tao Tzu”- Marly Youmans (USA)

“Ælfstan the Illuminator Begins a Work” - Marly Youmans (USA)

“Whippet Resting”- Jakob Ziguras (Australia)

“At the Denver Airport”- James Matthew Wilson (USA)

“Night Watch”- James Matthew Wilson (USA)

This page was created on 11 October 2024.