Competition

5-13 Years Winner

A Day Out
by Sarah Hobson
Raceview State School, Raceview, Qld

The sun shining through the blinds,
The moon, crawling down the sky,
Your last glimpse of the stars above
Until you welcome a morning hug.

Brushing your hair and cleaning your teeth,
Saying Goodbye, when you leave,
Breathing in the cool, refreshing air,
On your way to the City Square.

Catching a bus for the day to begin,
Looking out the window to the people looking in,
A beautiful sight, the gardens behold,
A beautiful scent, where the flowers grow

Here at last, on a glorious day,
You can’t help but smile, as you watch the children play,
Queens Park, The movies, Ipswich City Square,
One city, one family, a place that cares.

And when, sadly, the day is done,
You reluctantly trudge back the way you've come,
One last look at the city you love,
As the stars twinkle in the sky above.

14-17 Years Winner

Crisis? What Crisis!
by Casey Beaumont
Ipswich, Qld

Did Supertramp have a crystal ball?
Did they have some insight  into the amount of rain to fall?
Questions, more questions and even fewer answers for all.
The Ipswich floods 2011 would surge like a brawl.

Tuesday January 11 the disaster would strike.
No warnings of the calamity or dangers alike.
The rain had been steady but no cause to highlight.
The little boy and his finger seemed safe in the dyke.

As time wore on the predicament became grim.
The water continued to rise and relief prospects seemed dim.
Volunteers stepped up, like heroes without a whim.
To help ease the plight and let some sunshine in.

So now we reflect on the catastrophe that was.
We are thankful for the aid and relief given by OZ.
The Ipswich community so grateful give pause.
To thank all those wonderful people who rallied to our cause.

Open Age Winner

Limestone Park
by Vanessa Page
Rosewood, Qld

Night is pulling close, one lungful at a time
so cold and so clear, at the top of Limestone Park

a fist of glow worm streets show themselves to
June’s dead sherbet sky, and the gloaming answers

you can cut perfect words from this looking glass sheet
one hand cupping the world and another lost in stillness

as transitions are made on porches all over the city
and evening is an avalanche of opened doors and ears

up here, floodlights have turned the trees into spectators
over children scooping and tumbling like confetti flakes

all around, endings and beginnings are being marked
out in tail light parentheses and keyless exits

as darkness falls, thick and familiar
over a thousand tin-lidded anthologies