Wednesday 11 January 2012

Sentinel Literary Quarterly Competitions

SENTINEL LITERARY QUARTERLY POETRY COMPETITION (JANUARY 2012) | CLOSING DATE: 20-JANUARY-2012
For previously unpublished poems in English Language on any subject, in any style, up to 50 lines long (excluding title). Poems submitted must not have been accepted, or currently be under consideration for publication elsewhere and must not be simultaneously entered into another competition. Judge: Derek Adams.
PRIZES: £150 (First), £75 (Second), £50 (Third), £10 x 3 (High Commendation). All winning and commended poems will receive first publication in Sentinel Champions magazine. The authors will each receive 1 free contributor's copy. All entrants to this competition will also be automatically entered into a draw to win 1 year's subscription to Sentinel Champions. 1 poet and 1 short story writer must win the subscription this quarter.
Results will be announced at
www.sentinelquarterly.com on 20-Feb-2012
ENTRY FEES: £3/1 poem, £6/2 poems, £9/3 poems, £11/4 poems, £12/5 poems. Cheques/Postal Orders in GB£ to SENTINEL POETRY MOVEMENT, Unit 136, 113-115 George Lane, South Woodford, London E18 1AB
Enter online and pay securely by PayPal or print off Entry Form from website at
http://sentinelquarterly.com/competitions/poetry-0112/


SENTINEL LITERARY QUARTERLY SHORT STORY COMPETITION (JANUARY 2012) | CLOSING DATE: 20-JANUARY-2012
For previously unpublished short stories in English Language on any subject, in any style, up to 1,500 words long (excluding title). Stories submitted must not have been accepted, or currently be under consideration for publication elsewhere and must not be simultaneously entered into another competition. Judge: David Caddy.
PRIZES: £150 (First), £75 (Second), £50 (Third), £10 x 3 (High Commendation). All winning and commended stories will receive first publication in Sentinel Champions magazine. The authors will each receive 1 free contributor's copy. All entrants to this competition will also be automatically entered into a draw to win 1 year's subscription to Sentinel Champions. 1 poet and 1 short story writer must win the subscription this quarter.
Results will be announced at
www.sentinelquarterly.com on 20-Feb-2012
ENTRY FEES: £4/1 story, £8/2 stories, £10/3 stories, £12/4 stories. Cheques/Postal Orders in GB£ to SENTINEL POETRY MOVEMENT, Unit 136, 113-115 George Lane, South Woodford, London E18 1AB
Enter online and pay securely by PayPal or print off Entry Form from website at
http://www.sentinelquarterly.com/competitions/short-stories-0112/

Thursday 5 January 2012

My eyes have seen the year of our Lord 2012.

 

 

My cluttered table bustles like a tech carnival; laptops,

BlackBerries upon a Clarks shoebox stuffed with receipts,

cables, i-gizmos and a screwdriver. No shoes. No red socks.

My daughter has left a sieve entangled with a USB cable

beside a batteryless digital camera atop my wife’s books.

 

I scan this mess with tired eyes, my back to the lit, over-

decorated Christmas tree we bought from Tesco last year.

The air is filled with sleep sounds of my family carried

in here by the gentle morning breeze of the new year.

Happy New Year, my loves, sleep well, sleep sweet.

 

O, what a marvellous Christmastime this week has been;

Ugbagha with showboy and stockfish has been eaten,

turkey and chicken, broccoli and sprouts, ‘eddoes’,

pounded yam, bitter-leaf soup and peppersoup too

led home with wines and beers, malts and juices, and water.

 

This time, our children - four and three - have learnt jingles,

so we have daily been sing-along-ing and dance-along-ing;

‘Must be Santa’, ‘Father Christmas, he got stuck, coming

down the chimney’ and ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’.

We have had ourselves a wonderful Christmastime.

 

We rode on choo choo trains and the London Eye

and the kids touched a starfish at the London Aquarium.

O yes, we have created so many memories this Christmas

and for every beautiful second I have praised Him with joy.

Especially now my eyes have seen the year of our Lord 2012.

 

Nnorom Azuonye

Plumstead, 01 January 2012

 

An everyman poem © 2012 Nnorom Azuonye