Last year saw the launch of the first Silversmith Poetry Competition organised by Sam Smith, esteemed editor of The Journal and my very dear ol’ Dad. (He always finds the most ingenious ways to support his daughter.)
The competition was free to enter, but not that free. All poems had to be on earrings. Other than that the poems could take whatever form the author wished – from haiku through sestina to sonnet to vers libre. The winner received not only their poem on the cover of The Journal, but also a pair of Maison Vee’s earrings of their choosing.
I’m pleased to announce the unanimously selected winner is Alethea Redfern, with her touching poem below. You can read this and our other favourites in the current issue of The Journal. (Alethea is yet to claim her earrings though!)
Earrings
my mother
lost
earrings everywhere –
caught up in my plaits and her rush on school mornings
tucked into the toes of her theatre-night heels
thick ten-year diamonds from my father
lost
cheap India bobs brought back from a trip I took
all lost
when I lost my mother
I searched for hours
hoping to find a pair
a single pair
in her pillow-case, or behind the frames on the mantlepiece.
Alethea Redfern
maison vee's 