Members' Poems

Every quarter, members are invited to submit poems to Poetry News on a theme set by the judge, a professional poet. The six best are published in Poetry News and on a dedicated members' poems page.

AUTUMN COMPETITION: Water

Deadline: 1 August 2013; entries must be unpublished as of this date

Liz Berry will choose poems on the theme of ‘Water’ (the same as this year’s National Poetry Day on Thursday 3 October) for the autumn issue of Poetry News. Liz is one of several poets commissioned for the Waterlines project, a collaboration between the Poetry Society and the Canal & River Trust. She was the winner of the 2012 Poetry London competition and is a 2012 Arvon/Jerwood mentee. Her pamphlet The Patron Saint of Schoolgirls was published by Tall-Lighthouse and her debut collection is due from Chatto & Windus in 2014.

The deadline is 1 August 2013; poems selected by Liz will appear in the autumn 2013 issue of Poetry News published in September.

Send no more than two poems, each max. 40 lines, typed on A4, with your membership number, not name and address, at the foot of each.

Post your entries to: ‘Water' poems, Poetry News, 22 Betterton St, London WC2H 9BX. Winners are published in Poetry News, receive books and entry into the annual members’ poetry competition. Selected poems are also submitted for the Forward Prize.

Please include an SAE if you would like poems returned. Winners will be notified one month prior to publication. Unfortunately it is not possible to respond individually to unsuccessful entrants.

Use the menu bar on the left to read the winning poems, organised by year.

Past judges of members' poems include Stephen Knight, Lorraine Mariner, W.N. Herbert, Ruth Fainlight, Sam Riviere, Polly Clark and Jane Yeh.