The three winning poems from our 2024 Open Competition are posted on our Competitions page. In this section of our website, we will be publishing each month one of the highly commended or commended poems from the prize anthology, starting with "The Lucky Generation" by Peter Sutton, which was highly commended.

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The Lucky Generation

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We few, we happy, blessed, lucky few

were spared the pomp and circumstance of war,

the hobnailed hammer of the bleak tattoo,

the naming of parts and the cannon's roar.

We learnt instead what we believed our due

in arts and science medicine and law,

all free for us to waste or to pursue,

and seldom thought of what such wealth was for.

But as we now book tickets for the stalls,

for trips to exhibitions, galleries,

museums, stately homes and concert halls,

the briefest unwise glance behind us sees

approaching a tumescent, angry swarm

of thunder clouds, outriders of a storm.

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Peter Sutton

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