The contest was judged by award-winning poet and academic, Associate Professor Peter Kirkpatrick from the University of Sydney.
He chose three winners and a highly commended entry from a shortlist of 20 poems selected by Herald editor Bevan Shields and senior staff.
Kirkpatrick said he was struck by the number of entries like Spittal’s that “sought to personify the tree as an exotic female, or as being fashionably ‘clothed’ in its blossoms”.
“Are gum trees or banksias quite as feminine? Or are we forever stuck with Mother Nature?” Kirkpatrick mused.
That thesis was supported by entries: the pronoun “her” was used 12 times, and “she” appeared 36 times. The colour purple was used 206 times, lilac 52, and blue 42. Only two entries, including Spittal’s winning poem, used heliotrope, the colour of the flower of that name.
Spittal said he was amazed and surprised when told he had won. As a senior government health official, he said he didn’t have much time to write poetry. “I don’t mind saying that one day when I am retired, definitely trying to get published as a poet is on my bucket list,” he said.
Other entrants took to maps and dictionaries to find a rhyme and a line: Matt Watson wrote that he dug Dirranbandi and honoured Yackandandah (a rhyme used four times by poets) because they provided a rhyme with jacaranda.
Kirkpatrick said runner-up Mason’s poem refreshingly drew on popular culture references. And as with 22 other entries, her rhyming of jacaranda with verandah had “Australianised” the tree.
Jacqui Hayes, whose poem came third, was the only poet to observe the “gunmetal grey” trunk of the jacaranda.
Kirkpatrick said this was laudable. “Not least because it underlines a metaphor of the tree’s flowering as an explosion, ‘this blossom burst’. As with any loud bang, ‘for a brief moment, we look up’.”
Mary Carson’s poem was highly commended, rolling off the tongue beautifully, he said.
Kirkpatrick, though, found the entries from Danebank’s students to be fresh and engaging, with many children commenting on the trees’ subtle smell.
Anna Sungaran, 9, elegiacally saw the jacaranda flowers providing a Spring wreath to mark the change of season.
The entries included haiku, traditional poetry and limericks.
Jon Edmondson-Jones wrote: There once was a man from Yackandandah, Who liked to drink tinnies on his verandah, One day after a few, He slipped, as ya do In the mess under the big Jacaranda.
At Danebank on Wednesday, the students read some of their poems to the Herald. Asked about whether their families complained about the mess of jacaranda flowers in gardens, pools, and on paths, they groaned in agreement.
Teacher Lena Cooper said the Herald’s poetry competition had been a wonderful opportunity for students to plan, connect ideas and work together.
Coinciding with their first creative poetry unit, the budding poets had produced heartfelt work celebrating nature and creativity, she said.
with Ricky Blank
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