Category: CultChallenge2023

Since its opening in the 19th Century, HMP Winson Green , like I’m sure all prisons, has many a tale of woe and hardship, tragedy and redemption it could share, but none I dare say as unusual as the late Victorian love of education and reform that led to the introduction of Morris Dancing.

It may seem funny now –  in the main we love the traditional dances of far-flung nations, but titter at our own historic recreations-  but what began perhaps as a joke was taken extremely seriously by the prisoners within Winson Green’s walls and quite literally became a matter of life and death, especially among the guards as it provided a backdrop to an audacious, attempted prison break in full costume.

Which of course is what led to the curtailment of Morris Dancing in prisons across the UK and was written out of history by the authorities with alacrity.

But the prisoners themselves never forgot the momentary freedom performance gave or the opportunity to hit a screw with a pig’s bladder as they tried to escape, but it has never been recorded formally until now.

As we write this, George ‘The Face’ Bradshaw  the last surviving member of the HMP Winson Green Morris Dancers, has sadly met his maker and it is your job to tell the story of the prison break that never was, in the form of a poem.

This can be from George’s perspective, that of one of the guards that George ‘bladdered’ or as a ballad or lament for what might have been if the dancers had managed to make their escape.

The regret of course, is that the prisoners found that they had killed the thing they love.

To be clear:

1. Create the story of the last of the Winson Green Prison Morris Dancers
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 July 2023

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

There may be a little poetic license involved in all of the above.

AND THE WINNER IS…

I’m delighted to say that our winner is HELEN OPENSHAW who put together a beautiful Wee Collection that  is to see the light of day in early 2024.

Many congratulations to Helen and thank you to everybody that made the choice so difficult again.

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I do so love our wee pamphlets when we do them, and so I didn’t want to wait another year for a Cult Member to join Gaynor Kane, Des Childs, Valerie Bence, Manning Goodwin and Caroline Gill in seeing their collection tripping the light.

I just like glitterballs, what can I say?

Anyway, June’s Cult Challenge then is a simple one – let’s find another wee collection to enjoy in early 2024.

So, as before I challenge thee to put together a wee pamphlet of 4-16 pages of poetry. This time there is no pre-defined theme, so whatever works for you.

We don’t mind what the angle you come from is, but think of it as a set of poems.

To be clear:

Collect together 4 – 16 pages of poetry
Send them to us as single collection

Rules:

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

The chosen collection will be published in early 2024

The winner will receive 100 copies of the collection

As a writer, a poet, I’m sure you spend as much time as I do, looking at strangers and wondering, imagining what their life is like. It starts young and never leaves you, the stories we weave.

The first time I remember being fascinated, I was reception age – 4 or maybe 5.

Angela McCormack had dislocated my arm and I was on a bus and on the way to casualty with my Mom, crying as it hurt so much, but I couldn’t take my eyes off this strange looking man, silhouetted against the window, the outline of his hat strange and unusual. It didn’t even have a bobble on it.

By the time we had got off the bus, he was a murderer, a saint, an artist and I don’t know what else.

Fifty years later I can still remember him and his glowing outline and remember the mixed-up stories he inspired.

May’s challenge is to imagine your own be-hatted stranger and tell a tale about him, he may be kind or cruel, old, young or in-between, it is up to you. But write a poem, tell his tale and share it with us all.

To be clear:

1. Give your poem the name of the stranger or a wee description that fits
2. Write a poem that tells his 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 May 2023

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

AND THE WINNERS ARE…

1. 1. 1. Eileen Carney Hulme
      2. Amanda Hill
      3. Mandy Willis
      4. Nigel Kent
      5. Rebecca Lacey
      6. Miriam Otto
      7. Phil Santus
      8. Kerry Darbishire
      9. Margaret Royall
      10. Kate Young
      11. Eileen Carney Hulme

Many congratulations to all who were selected and thank you to everybody that took part

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What is poetry if it isn’t a lover’s tale, and there is no brighter burn than the first time the spark turns to flame.

I think I need a lay down.

April’s Challenge is a dose of  unashamedly mushy nostalgia, as I ask you to share the feeling of your first love – you can name names if you like – how it started, how it felt and (assuming it did) how it ended. It is entirely up to thee.

The first cut doesn’t hurt at all, until it stings, after all.

To be clear:

 

1. Give your poem the name of your first love, real name, imagined, initialled or even a wee description
2. Write a poem that paints the picture

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 April 2023

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

*** Due to our teeming technical ‘difficulties’ I am re-publishing the January Challenge, as it seems that most people didn’t see it. ***

The revised Deadline is therefore 31st of March 2023

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And so here we are, a New Year yawns and our first Challenge of 2023.

January’s Challenge is one of the imagination, where I want you to write a poem that both asks a question and imagines a reply, from a poet living or dead.

In a sense then, it is a Conversation between you and a poet you admire, love or even dislike greatly, with you imagining their response to your question.

To be clear:

1. Choose a poet about which you have some kind of feeling, good or bad
2. Write a poem that asks them a question (or a series of questions if you prefer) – if you want to turn it into a conversation, that is fine
3. Either continue the poem or write a responding poem, that imagines their answer.
4. Extra Hoggy points if the response is in their style – but it isn’t obligatory

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 March 2023

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

*** AND THE WINNERS ARE… ***

I am pleased to say that after one of the crazy large numbers of entries we have ever had for a Cult Challenge,  I am pleased to say that in the end I managed to choose just the Three to be included in this brilliant book.

So Congratulations are due to:

ANNA COWELL

KERRY DARBISHIRE,

and

PATRICIA M OSBORNE

Who will share the anthology later this year.

Many thanks to everybody who took part :)

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*** Due to our teeming technical ‘difficulties’ I am publishing our March Challenge EARLY.

I know, it comes as a shock to me too. ***

The Deadline is therefore 31st of March 2023

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As you may have noticed, here in Hogland it has all been a bit of a todo for far too long, but I’m pleased that we will finally be publishing our three, Tree Poets Anthologies over the next couple of months.

To celebrate, I thought it would be nice if the March Challenge would let me find Three More Poets, each to be featured in a Fourth Tree Poets Anthology to be called ‘A Life of Sand’, which personally feels quite apt recently.

What you need to do is submit FIVE Poems, and the best three submissions will be published in ‘Tree Poets: A Life of Sand’.

To be clear:

1. Submit FIVE poems
2. THREE Winners will share a Tree Poets Anthology in the soonerest of times
3. The Tree Poets anthology will be published in Printed and eBook form
4. Each poet included will receive Fifty copies of the final book by way of a royalty

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 March 2023

And I am pleased to say that the winning entries to be featured in our anthology, are:

1. 1. 1. Rhiannon Lewis
      2. Neil Windsor
      3. Nigel Kent
      4. Kerry Darbishire
      5. Chris Hemingway
      6. Kate Young
      7. Stephen Bone
      8. Phil Santus
      9. Margaret Royall
      10. Annie Cowell
      11. Philippa Hatton-Lepine
      12. Nigel Kent
      13. Catherine Heighway
      14. Rhiannon Lewis

 

Many congratulations to all involved!

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February’s Challenge is one I have been meaning to do for a while. I’ve always loved the chaos of inspiration, and poems based upon art, or paintings based on poems are many kinds of glorious.

The Challenge then can be simple or more complex depending upon what is available to you, as I would like you to choose a piece of art, whether famous or better still, by an artist that you know, and write a poem in response to it,

To be clear:

1. Choose a piece of artwork that you love / hate
2. Give your poem the name of the artist / work
3. Write a poem that responds to the art in some way

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 March 2023

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

And I am pleased to say that the winners are:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Oz Hardwick
               2. Phil Santus
               3. Chris Hemingway
               4. Caroline Gill
               5. Kate Young
               6. Mick Yates
               7. Margaret Royall
               8. Karen Francis
               9. Patricia M Osborne
               10. Catherine Heighway
               11. Sue Lewis
               12. Annie Cowell

All of the winning poems will be included in a Free to Download Stickleback Anthology:

Title: Eating Dark Chocolate Hobnobs With W.B. Yeats

Release Date: 1st of August 2023

Many thanks to everybody that took part.

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*** Due to our teeming technical ‘difficulties’ I am re-publishing the January Challenge, as it seems that most people didn’t see it. ***

The revised Deadline is therefore 31st of March 2023

---

And so here we are, a New Year yawns and our first Challenge of 2023.

January’s Challenge is one of the imagination, where I want you to write a poem that both asks a question and imagines a reply, from a poet living or dead.

In a sense then, it is a Conversation between you and a poet you admire, love or even dislike greatly, with you imagining their response to your question.

To be clear:

1. Choose a poet about which you have some kind of feeling, good or bad
2. Write a poem that asks them a question (or a series of questions if you prefer) – if you want to turn it into a conversation, that is fine
3. Either continue the poem or write a responding poem, that imagines their answer.
4. Extra Hoggy points if the response is in their style – but it isn’t obligatory

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 March 2023

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