Nechama Davis, a Year 8 student at Beth Rivkah Ladies College, has won ISV’s Student Poetry Competition 2021 in the Years 7-8 category for her poem, Dancing with Tempestas.
The competition, part of the Arts Learning Festival, was open to students from all school sectors, and attracted some 350 entries.
Watch Nechama read the poem in the video below, and read it for yourself, along with the students awarded honourable mentions in the category for their outstanding work.
“A well-constructed, joyful poem that illuminates the poet’s knowledge of mythology and the goddess of storms and sudden weather.”
One day the heavens parted,
And the blue sky departed.
She let out a torrent of sound,
As the rain heavily hit the ground.
I twirled in the long grass,
As Zephyros and Tempestas,
Came to an impasse.
I cried,
As my mother
Called me inside.
‘Mother can’t you hear her, the storm’s silent song?
She dances alone with no-one near her for long.
She cries to me day and night,
And it is such a sorrowful sight.
None of the children come out and dance,
To come out and skip and prance.’
Thunder rumbles outside,
As my mother argues despairingly inside.
‘She’s been lonely all her life,
She can handle more strife.’
‘Please, let me leave.
She will sing and I will dance,
Please just give us a chance.’
Mother gives in with a terrible groan,
And I was out the door,
Before she could know.”
I hop and skip and prance outside,
But nothing could compare,
To the joy we felt inside.
She and I are one,
Long after she dissipates,
To the land of none.
- Kierah Haywood-Beaston, Year 8, Homeschool – Joy is…
- DL Hoenders, Year 8, Beth Rivkah Ladies College – My Little One
- Zoe Ryan, Year 7, Geelong Lutheran College – Untitled
- Harvey Sayers, Year 8, Peninsula Grammar – Swimming
- Israth Shaik, Year 7, Al-Taqwa College – The Small Joys of Life
- Yolanda, Year 8, Presbyterian Ladies College – True
Watch other winning poems in this year’s Student Poetry Competition.
You can also find full results and view the winning poems on The Parents Website.
