Winning or Losing
1st Prize Key Stage 4

Our colours mesh in blues and yellows
As we run toward the ball,
My team: a sea of uniformed blue-
Our faces wet with the reddish hue
Of perspiration.

The net is a trellis of silver and grey,
Like herds of cattle-
We run toward it.
Our steps are strained beneath
Invisible whips,
And our hips appear to
Be mechanical.

Our breath lingers
Like billowing smoke,
And our opponents are solemn-
Their faces grimaced with the desire to win.
And it is winning that
Leads us to hate them.
Losing to them,
Seems similar to dying.

It is everything to win
And feel that transient importance.
It is what drives us always-
From court to court,
In a mesh of blue and yellow.

Megan Leitch
Year 11G
Thornhill College

If
2nd Prize Key Stage 4

If my brain was made of honey
Lots of bees would rain upon me
And what if a bee, I dread
Actually broke through, into my head?
My golden sticky soul would seep,
Flowing down, down to my feet
What if though, this makes me free!
From all demons who haunted me?
Again these hell bound bees fly around
Making that terrible buzzing sound
It seems my mind, I no longer need
As these tiny insects start to feed
And as my brain these creatures eat
I hear my voice say “I want to sleep”.
Now as I lie here on the floor
The bees finally wanting no more
As rigor mortis makes me stiff
I think to myself what if?
What if I could start again
Would I change and avoid the pain
Or would I just accept my fate
Sure, who cares? It’s already too late!

Adam Kerlin
12F
St Columb’s College

Winning or Losing
3rd Prize Key Stage 4

In a world of no possibilities,
Where nothing is as it seems,
In a world of fierce desperation,
And to an end there is no means.
In a world of rhymes and riddles,
Where nothing meets the eye.
In a world of mass frustration,
And an eagerness to lie.
In a world that lacks in expression,
Where nothing ever rings true.
In a world of extreme rejection,
How can one win or lose?

Natalie Jackson
11E
Thornhill College