Winners 2001 : Runner-up : Swithun Cooper

Summer School 2010

The 7th Tower Poetry Summer School (24-27 August) for young poets aged 18-23 will be held in Christ Church Oxford.

Poetry Matters

Poetry Matters is an exciting on-line poetry magazine which provides a fresh, dynamic perspective on poetry issues through a mix of news, reviews and comment.

Swithun Cooper

Battered in Blue

The door slams shut – I walk from room to ruminate;
You, like bad movies and like good banking schemes
Have developed a shockingly low interest rate
Which I cannot meet. Now you have gone, it seems.

The shade of sea and sky becomes quite poignant:
We’re pretty in pink, but battered in blue.
To call this misery would be too lenient,
Something is missing, and I know it’s you.

I spend the evening drinking with a housemate,
We pass the drinks round one by one.
His name is Paranoia and his friends (Hate
And Jealousy) join us now you have gone

Which leaves me picking up romance’s litter:
Tonight, Matthew, I’m going to be bitter.

About Tower Poetry

Tower Poetry exists to encourage and challenge everyone who reads or writes poetry. Funded by a generous bequest to Christ Church, Oxford, by the late Christopher Tower, the aims of Tower Poetry are clear: to stimulate an enjoyment and critical appreciation of poetry, particularly among young people in education, and to challenge people to write their own poetry. Creative writing should be a central element in literary education, and learning about writing poetry can help students to think about ways of reading poetry.

Publications

Change Promises:
The Christopher Tower Poetry Prize Winners 2010 (Digital Edition)

The winning poems from the 2010 prize are brought together in this exclusive digital-only edition.