WINNER, 8-11 years

 

Who created it?

Kaihan, age 10

 

Biography

"I am ten years-old and I adore playing football for Northwood FC. I play piano and I also play trumpet in my school concert band. I am in my school debating group and I like art, reading and creative writing. I have a passion for writing, not just poems but also songs and stories."

 

My creative response

My Eyes Like Diamonds

My eyes like diamonds flicker ‘round the lake

Distractions bubble up like noisy fountains. 

These frenzied thoughts are what I seek to break

Focusing my gaze on distant mountains. 

 

Across my mind-scape a tornado blows. 

I train my orbs on one bright flowery hill:

Hillside to bush to one specific rose,

Her magenta petals strangely still. 

 

Old Greek Zephros does not make her cower,

As gusty thoughts do burst my stiller phase. 

What magic doth possess that fragile flower!

In marvelling her strength I tame my craze. 

 

I have divined the recipe for calm:

My philosopher’s stone is nature’s psalm. 

 

About my creative response

"I chose a Shakespeare style sonnet. I looked up the rhyming pattern he uses and read several sonnets. I tried to use some of the same techniques he does, making reference to emotions and seasons and mythology and following a specific theme. The hard part was making it fit in iambic pentameter!"

"The theme I chose was nature, and how the weather can also create a swirl of activity all around us. In my poem I find myself trying to focus in the tornado of my own mind and spot a single rose that’s not moving in the wind all around it. At the end of the poem I realise that I have figured out that a way to still my own mind is by taking the example of nature’s own poetry."

 

What does this Shakespeare quote mean to you?

"The Shakespeare quote means a lot to me because we all have so many activities to do and we are constantly learning new things so it’s hard to slow down our minds. My favourite physical activity is playing football and whenever I want to distract myself and not think about one million things, I simply go outside with my ball!"

 

What is your favourite Shakespeare quote?

"My favourite quote is ‘If music be the food of love, play on’ from Twelfth Night. It is one of the first Shakespeare plays I have read and it has stuck with me. Plus, I love music!"