Winners 2007 : Second Prize

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.

Annie Katchinska

St Dunstan’s College, Catford, London

Margarita
after Mikhail Bulgakov

This is the devil’s work. This magic’s black.
God wouldn’t dare let naked women fly.
Breathe in this godless air and don’t look back.

Now – cross the city, bloated with maniacs
who lose their heads, tear down the street and cry.
This is the devil’s work. This magic’s black.

The stars curl in, let the giggling zodiac
bind your cold limbs in sin. Is your mouth dry?
Breathe in this godless air and don’t look back

at your earth-stuck goodness, your sad grey almanac.
You’ve sworn, haven’t you, to love like a demon, fry
in hell and devil’s work. This magic’s black:

let it hold you – on this night for insomniacs! –
untouched. Don’t ask how, don’t waste love on why.
Breathe in this godless air and don’t look back.

The city’s glittering, wrecked, and mad. It smacks
of vapid panic – screams against the sky –
is this the devil’s work? Your magic’s black.
Breathe in this godless air and don’t look back.

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)