Category: CultChallenge2023

I’m pleased to say that the submissions were phenomenal for this wee book, but in the end I had to make a choice and, err, chose 22 out of the 20 I was aiming for.

So the poets to have work included in the anthology are:

1. 1. 1. Iris Anne Lewis
      2. Greta Ross
      3. Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon
      4. Carol Lee Saffioti-Hughes
      5. Lisa Lopresti
      6. Suzanne Davies
      7. Liz Kendall
      8. Patricia M Osborne
      9. Kerry Darbishire
      10. Simon Tindale
      11. Stephen Bone
      12. Helen Openshaw
      13. Jackie Truman
      14. Dawn Gorman
      15. Kate Young
      16. Nigel Kent
      17. David Punter
      18. Karen Francis
      19. Brian McManus
      20. Catherine Heighway
      21. Rhiannon Lewis
      22. Katrina Moinet

Again, thanks to everybody who made my life difficult.

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This month’s Challenge is  the first time that we will be using our sparkly new Little Black Book format for an anthology, and it seemed perfect for the purposes of this Challenge.

February will see the publication of our third Little Black Book and it would be great to include poems from Cult Members.

So if you are up for the challenge, what I would like for you to do is write a poem that talks about Nature in some sense, using one of the existing Shorter Forms, or even in a form of your own devising.

The way that you put the poem together is entirely up to you – I won’t be counting syllables, so be free to innovate as  much as you like on that front.

To be clear:

1. Write a Poem that focusses upon Nature
2. The poem should be based upon an existing Shorter Form or one of your own devising
3. If you are creating your own form, please feel free to include short notes explaining it, to be printed along with the poem

Rules:

1. There are no length constraints
2. You must be a Cult Member to submit your poem – sending it to competition@hedgehogpress.co.uk
3. Send the poem by 11.59pm on the 30th of November 2023

The best poems/responses will be included in a Little Black Book to be published in February 2024

 

I’m pleased and chuffed to be able to announce that the winning poems, who will see their work appear in this quite gorgeous book, to be published in April, are:

1. 1. 1. 1. Margaret Royall
         2. Rhiannon Lewis
         3. Sharron Green
         4. Nigel Kent
         5. Sarah O’Grady
         6. Patricia M Osborne
         7. Brian McManus
         8. Carol Lee Saffioti-Hughes
         9. John Herington
         10. Isabel Miles
         11. Oz Hardwick
         12. Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon
         13. Christine Tokunaga
         14. Saskia Ashby
         15. Hazel Starritt
         16. Greta Ross
         17. Jackie Truman
         18. Moira Garland
         19. Cassia Stevens
         20. Felice Hardy
         21. Mick Yates

Congratulations all!

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This month’s Challenge is a change of pace for the Cult, as it heralds a few things to come, not least that with the slowly fading Sticklebacks, from next year I would very much like a lot more of our Challenges – although still not all, sadly – to have a Print Edition, rather than just the eBooks.

The other is that next year there will be a bit of a theme for Japanese art and artists, and so this seemed a fine time to start.

So to the Challenge and I’m pleased to say that I’m aiming to publish a book in April next year that will celebrate the art of Watanabe Seitei, And the best way that I can see to do this is have some fine poetry that takes as its trigger some of his artwork.

I’m not thinking that poems will react to individual paintings, more the general feel of his work, but that is up to you.

Here are some of the images that will appear in the wee book:

• See more of his art work curated by RawPixels HERE
• Find out more about the artist HERE

To be clear:

1. Write a Poem that responds to the art of Watanabe Seitei
2. The poem can be of any type or style and should reflect his art generally rather than an individual painting

Rules:

1. There are no length constraints
2. You must be a Cult Member to submit your poem – sending it to competition@hedgehogpress.co.uk
3. Send the poem by 11.59pm on the 31st of October 2023

The best poems/responses will be included in a wee book to be published in April 2024

Find out more about the artist HERE

See the source Artwork we will be using, curated at RawPixels HERE

I think we all have times where the future is opening up before us, but it is difficult to take a step forward even though it is exactly what we want to do.

It is that fear of trying that sometimes holds us back, but one we all have to overcome.

And that is what the challenge is for September, I want you to tell a story of a fear that you overcame, and how it made you feel once you had, all in the form of a poem.

To be clear:

1. Describe a fear that you overcame
2. Write a poem that tells the story

Rules:

1. There are no length constraints
2. You must be a Cult Member to submit your poem – sending it to competition@hedgehogpress.co.uk
3. Send the poem by 11.59pm on the 30th of September 2023

The best poems/responses will be included in a wee Stickleback as soon as possible.

William had never been one for thoughts of reincarnation, so it had came as a bit of a shock when he reached that strange place of collegiate clouds and soft light, where he was asked what he would like to do next time around. And as he hadn’t given it much thought, he had just said that he would like to spend undistracted time enjoying the landscape.

And so he finds himself as a Scarecrow, which is good as he has nothing but time and the company of unimpressed avians, though equally no way to record his thoughts. Perhaps the Almighty has a sense of humour, or he was somewhere warmer after all.

To be clear:

1. Describe a Day in the Life of a keen observer of nature, from the perspective of the most sensitive of Scarecrows
2. Write a poem that tells its tale

Rules:

1. There are no length constraints
2. You must be a Cult Member to submit your poem – sending it to competition@hedgehogpress.co.uk
3. Send the poem by 11.59pm on the 31st of August 2023

The best poems/responses will be included in a wee Stickleback as soon as possible.