Jason Conway - Director of Operations

OPC2023A - Black Eyes Publishing UK & Gloucestershire Poetry Society Open Poetry Competition 2023 Anthology

Edited by Peter Lay

It gives me great pleasure to introduce this anthology OPC2023A of poems from The Black Eyes, Gloucestershire Poetry Society (GPS) 2023 Open Poetry Competition. The total entry for the 2023 competition was 568 poems, with all entries being considered anonymously, throughout the process.

Longlisting was undertaken by Josephine Lay (Former Dir. Of Ops for the GPS & lead editor for Black Eyes Publishing) with assistance from Jason Conway (Current Dir. Of Ops for the GPS). The Longlist consisted of 77 poems. All longlisted poems were eligible for this anthology. However, several eligible poems, were withdrawn, once the results had been announced, to be either submitted elsewhere, or re-worked.

The Longlist was judged by Jessica Mookherjee (her judges report is included in this anthology) Jessica produced a Shortlist of 21 poems, before settling on the final results.

The GPS Friendship Prize was judged by Josephine, from the 75 poems submitted to The Black Eyes, Gloucestershire Poetry Society (GPS) 2023 Open Poetry Competition, by GPS Friendship Members. Josephine’s judges report is included in this anthology, together with the poems included in the results.

Finally, many thanks, and congratulations on their choices to the judges.

Peter Lay - Black Eyes Publication UK (December 2023)

Black Eyes / Gloucestershire Poetry Society 2023 Open Poetry Competition

Judge: Jessica Mookherjee - When looking for the winning poems among all the worthy long list, I asked myself some fundamental questions. The first set of questions were about the difficult arena of craft and the last couple of questions were about emotion and impact. For a poet walks those lines between craft and art as well as performance.

Winner: We dug a hole – Charlotte Stokes Meyer zu Natrup - I kept returning to this poem over and over again – its sheer exuberance and confidence left me breathless.

Second Place: Gloria holds my hand en San Bernardino – Linda Ravenswood

Third Place: Philip Larkin meets Josephine Baker – Emma Conally-Barklem

Highly Commended: Eating Goat Curry – Jenny Mitchell

Highly Commended: and when the children vomited – Owen Gallagher

Highly Commended: In the November Square, Kherson – Tess Biddington

Highly Commended: Strict and Immovable – Alan Dunnett

Highly Commended: Sky of loz Feliz – Linda Ravenswood

The Gloucestershire Poetry Society Friendship Membership Prize

Judge: Josephine Lay - This year, both the long listing of the GPS Open Poetry Competition, and the Friendship Prize, were challenging. There were many poems that caught my attention, some lyrical judging of the, some sharp on the page, some full of images and some that brought tears.

The GPS Friendship Prize: In the November Square, Kherson – Tess Biddington - This poem placed me, both visually and emotionally, in that recently occupied, and then recaptured, Ukrainian City of Kherson. The poetry was tight, cleverly executed and well placed on the page. I found myself reading it over and over again, finding a new nuance/insight each time.

Highly Commended: No Country – Sharon Savory

Commended: Aubade – Vicky Hampton

Commended: After the moon – Sally Aspden

Mentioned: The Scarf – Annie Ellis

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The Trawler 2022 - Gloucestershire Poetry Society Anthology of Selected Poems

Edited by Josephine Lay

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All of these poems were selected (trawled) from the Gloucestershire Poetry Society (GPS) group Facebook pages. The Trawler 2022 is the third and final edition in the trawler series, there was always only going to be three. Here are a further one hundred and eleven poems (posted between June 2021 and May 2022) by fifty different poets. Some of these poems may be rough first drafts, still in need of polishing, but never the less they are of sufficient value to be included within these pages. Some are by published poets, and some by people who have just begun writing, being published for the first time, but each poem has an element: a style, voice or passion that called to us as we read it.

We hope you’ll enjoy these poems which were penned and posted with an enthusiasm for the written word. These poets come from all parts of Britain and Ireland, from France, Germany and the Netherlands, and some from as far away as the United States, Australia, India, Togo and the Caribbean.

Adele Ogiér Jones, Agu Chinedu Ejorh, Akondo Nouhe-Dine, Amy Bingham, Ann D Stevenson, Ann-Marie Kurylak, Carol Sheppard, Charlie Markwick, Chloë Jacquet, Clive Oseman, Dane Ince, Darcey Royce, Derek Dohren, Devlin Wilson, Doreen Baidoo, Drea MacMillan, Elvis Gregory-Sayce, Henry Farrell, Ivor Daniel, Jason Conway, Jason N Smith, Jon Collins, Josephine Lay, Julian Roger Horsfield, Karlostheunhappy, Katherine Grace Hyslop, Kelly Owen, Kezzabelle Ambler, Kuma San, Lou Hotchkiss-Knives, Louise Diamant, Louise Longson, Marilyn Timms, Matty Blades, Morgan (I’m not a Poet) Rye, M. Palowski Moore (Silver Lion Poet), Nick Lovell, Nupur Chakrabarty, Peter Lay, Raine Geoghegan, Rebecca Mo, Sally Aspden, Scott Cowley (aka Rusty Goàt the Poet), Simon Townsend, Sue Finch, Sue Hubbard, Tish Ince Poet, Trevor Valentine, Vicky Hampton, Z. D. Dicks.

Published 25th October 2022

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The Trawler 2021 - Gloucestershire Poetry Society Anthology of Selected Poems

Edited by Josephine Lay

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All of these poems were selected (trawled) from the Gloucestershire Poetry Society (GPS) group Facebook page. The first GPS anthology, The Trawler 2020, was a great success; enabling promising poets to publish their work for the first time. So, we repeated the process, and here are a further ninety-five poems (posted between June 2020 and May 2021) by sixty different poets. As before, some of the poems are rough diamonds, in need of some polishing but they are of sufficient worth to be included within these pages. Many of the poems are first drafts, but each poem has an element: a style, a voice; or some content or passion that caught us as we read.

We hope you’ll enjoy these poems which were penned and posted with an enthusiasm for the written word. The poets hail from all parts of Britain as well as from France and the Netherlands - some from as far away as Tasmania, Australia, India, Togo and the US.

Adele Ojier Jones, Akon Nouhry, Alby Stockley, Annalisa Jackson, Ann-Marie kurylak, Ann D Stevenson, Becky Who, Ben Poppy, Brian Reid, Carol Sheppard, Catrice Greer, Charlie Markwick, Chloë Jacquet, Chris Barber, Clare Walters, Clive Oseman, Darryl John, Derek Dohren, Devlin Wilson, DrayZera, Drea MacMillan, Franchesa Kirkpatrick, Gabby Wiest, Gemma Crow, Ian Paulin, Isobel May, Ivor Daniel, Jason Conway, John Aubry, Jonathan Robert Muirhead, Josephine Lay, Julian Roger Horsfield, Katherine Grace Hyslop, Kay Hamblin, Kelly Owen, Keren Hermon, Kezzabelle Ambler, Kuma San, Laura Grevel, Lacey Tidwell, Lucia Daramus, Marilyn Timms, Darcy Royce, Matty Blades, Morgan ‘I'm-not-a-poet’ Rye, Nick Lovell, Nupur Chakrabarty, Polly Stratton, Richard Adkins, Robert Lang, Scott Cowley, Simon Townsend, Sue Finch, Sue Winspear, Tish Camp, Tom Cooke, Trevor Valentine, Unknown (c.17th century), Valerie Hartill, Viva O’Flynn

Published 22nd October 2021

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The Trawler 2020 - Gloucestershire Poetry Society Anthology of Selected Poems

Edited by Josephine Lay

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These poems have been taken (trawled) from the Gloucestershire Poetry Society group Facebook pages. Some of them are rough diamonds, still in need of cutting, polishing or setting, but never the less they’re diamonds and of sufficient value to be included within these pages. Here are 100 poems (posted between January 2019 and May 2020) by 47 poets. Many of these poems are first drafts, some are by erudite poets, and some by people who have just begun writing, but each poem has an element - style, voice, content or passion - that called to us as we read it.

We hope you’ll enjoy these varied poems posted out of enthusiasm for the written word, some from as far away as New Zealand, Australia and the Caribbean by the following poets,

Simon Alderwick, Sally Aspden, Chris Barber, Carolyn Black, Matty Blades, Tish Camp, Jason Conway, Scott Cowley, Gemma Crow, Lucia Daramus, Sheena Dell, Z. D. Dicks, Derek Dohren, Henry Farrell, Vicky Hampton, Adam Horovitz, Jan Illingsworth, Annalisa Jackson, Chloë Jacquet, Darryl John, Adele Ogiér Jones, Kuma San, Ann-Marie Kurylak, Josephine Lay, Peter Lay, Emma Lord, Nick Lovell, Drea MacMillan, Charlie Markwick, Stephen Moore, JLM Morton, Jonathan Robert Muirhead, Viva Andrada O’Flynn, Clive Oseman, Kelly Owen, Abdul-Ahad Patel, Ben Poppy, Ben Ray, Brian Reid, Belinda Rimmer, Morgan Rye, Dave Seed, Carol Sheppard, Alby Stockley, Marilyn Timms, Trevor Valentine, Devlin Wilson

Published 30th September 2020

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Book Cover Design: Jason Conway - thedaydreamacademy.com