Tararua District celebrates National Poetry Day

These three poems were collaborative creations in Roll The Dice Poetry. Photo / Dave Murdoch

Sometimes, life just does not give us the time to relax and have fun, says Dannevirke librarian Pamela Dais.

Her comments come in response to a relatively meagre response by locals to the Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day Challenge, held last month, which saw eight people come along to the Roll The Dice workshop in the Dannevirke Library.

Across the district, only 12 entries were received for the Book Spine Poetry challenge and as there was only one entry received for the Open Mic evening in the Woodville Library, it was cancelled.

Nevertheless, those who participated had fun.

The eight participants in Dannevirke Library’s Dice Poetry created some thoughtful poems when the rolling of two dice generated themes such as love, loss, money and light to set the creative juices flowing.

Together they brainstormed options that led to considerable discussion and the creation of three poems entitled Reflections and Betrayal, Love and Escape and Cracked Money, all of them deeply philosophical about influences in our lives.

Meanwhile, others wandered the four libraries looking for inspiration from book titles on the spines of books – the challenge to place five on top of each other in order to create a five-lined poem.

The winner of the Book Spine Poetry Contest The Murder Game by Nirvana Kennedy. Photo / Dave Murdoch

These two had variety. Photo / Dave Murdoch

Entries in the Book Spine Poetry Library Competition. Photo / Dave Murdoch

There were 12 eventual entries and the winner of the adult section was Nirvana Kennedy with her poem The Murder Game. The junior winner is yet to be informed. Both won a book voucher sponsored by Phantom Billstickers.

Dave Murdoch is a part-time photo-journalist working for the Bush Telegraph and based at Dannevirke. He has covered community stories telling good news about the district for the past 10 years.