Congratulations to Saul Handy (Year 12) who has been named our Senior School Poet Laureate 2021-2.
Here is his winning poem, Take Me
Take me, my hand – ligaments and spindles,
With splinters from dragging along bannister ribs,
Fingers clasping keys, chinking as chimes,
Rusted and drawn through the paint of the car,
Stupid, red, acrylic epidermis peeled and scratched,
Tyres punctured, stabbed, attacked.
Take me, my hand – nails chewed down to the skin,
A bruised lunula smile, retreating,
Crawling beneath the lip, that blanket of frayed cuticle.
Take me, my hand – trembling, white blushes blooming
In plains of visceral pink,
Blood taking time to re-enter,
Spreading through like ink in a napkin
After the tight hugs and strangles of the dog lead
While he pulls on through the field.
Take me, my hand – that crumbled flakes into your fish bowl,
That plucked aphids from your woody hair,
That hooked beads of snot form the tip of your nose
And let them sit there in the fold of my knuckle
The car now repainted, the fish fed,
The dog walked and the nose blown.
You took it, held it, kissed it, then crunched it under your feet and had it returned.
I wish I hadn’t keyed your car,
I wish you’d take my hand back.
Take my hand, me. Take it.
By Saul Handy
