Showcasing inspiring writing has always been at the heart of Hay Writers’ Circle, so we are delighted to reveal the 2nd and 3rd placed poets and poems from our recent 2025 Poetry Competition.

Thank you to our amazing 2025 Poetry Judge, Gareth Writer-Davies whose comments on the prize winning pieces are printed below. Also, congratulations once again to our 2025 winner, David Shields whose poem, “Old Mortality”, accompanied by the judge’s feedback is featured in our previous online article – HERE. Well done!

SECOND PLACE

“Collector Sahib’s Distractions“, by Pushkar Mankar

Pushkar Mankar is a writer and photographer from India, currently pursuing an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham. He is primarily prose writer of sci-fi and historical fiction, but recently branched out into poetry. Pushkar is currently working on his first collection, and hopes to publish soon.

Judge’s Comments: COLLECTOR SAHIB’S DISTRACTIONS

An extremely intriguing poem. It has enough tension in it to keep it together even as it risks faltering, which is perhaps a style choice for this tale. Is the collector one of stories or impressions or distracting new technologies that take him from his true purpose? This is not clear but this is part of the poem’s beauty “Not unlike the imprints of sahib’s mother’s hands/ On the gates of the ghat by the river…” shapes of suggestion that will not last beyond the next flood.

Collector Sahib’s Distractions 

Collector sahib squaks at the moon
In the hopes that it might impress Artie Shaw
Even though he does not understand English
But understands perfectly the carried subsound
Of needle scratching against the vinyl
A white noise language of clear thought 

The radio static is interrupted by an address
From the King, breaking Collector sahib’s sleep
Out on the verandah the sweeper curls his lip
Sticks a finger on like a mustache and pretends
To be a person who pretends to have a point
Important enough to talk over natural degradation

A tube and a phosphorescent curved screen
Traps the Collector Sahib in a Platonic cave
Attempting to project some coherent thought
Stitching together moments unstuck in time
Not unlike the imprints of sahib’s mother’s hands
On the gates of the ghat by the river, whose foam
Speaks the same dialect as the fuzz on the TV
When the distraction of programming goes away 

THIRD PLACE

“Ines“, by Corinne Harris

Corinne Harris is the current Chairperson of Hay Writers’ Circle since October 2024, prior to this she was the group’s Treasurer. Corinne’s pantoum poem, “Golden Rose Synagogue, Lviv” won first prize in our 2018 Poetry Competition as judged by Libby Houston.

Judge’s Comments: INES

A poem of near universal experience, touching in its gradual acceptance of love for a small, defenceless newborn. This is a conversational poem that starts off confined and then undoes itself through small sensory gradations and then sudden visceral episodes  of “…startling eructations and vomit on my shoulder” A poem of the ordinary but also of the extraordinary connections which surprise us. This is a well written poem that does not shout but murmurs its message.

Ines

It wasn’t there at first
Not in the curtained confines of the ward
In its overheated clinical air.
I smiled, cooed, posed for photos
Holding the small unresponsive bundle.
Seeing the marks of labour,
Blood rimmed ears, white waxed creases.
Breathing in the smell of birth – blood and amnion.
I watched my son, his face soft with love and pride
And wondered at myself.

No, it wasn’t there at first.
It came with baby tasks –
Bottles, nappies, texts to her anxious mum.
It came as I watched her dark unfocussed eyes,
Tiny hand grasping my finger.
Feeling her soft skin, her delicate limbs,
Breathing in her baby scent – milk, urine, baby hair.

It came with her frantic rooting, her eager sucking,
Little grunts and sweet squeaks.
Her startling eructations and vomit on my shoulder.
Then the sudden warm heaviness
As she slept on my chest.

Watching her face, lips pursing with milky dreams,
I realised it was there.
It had crept in when I wasn’t looking.

If you didn’t get a chance to get to Hay Festival this year then you can relive all the best bits from the comfort of home via Hay Festival Anytime. The 2025 Hay Writers Live! event was recorded and is available to listen to again via Hay Festival Anytime subscription. You can access audio & film from your favourite Hay Festival writers and thinkers for an amazing £20 per year.

CLICK HERE for Hay Writers Live! 2025 audio and enjoy our readings once again. Enjoy!

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