An open annual writing competition which aims to take people on a poetical wander across Douglas was launched earlier this month.

The 2020 Poetry Trail, organised by the Isle of Man Poetry Society and held in conjunction with the Manx Litfest, was officially opened for entries on April 8 and is available for any local writer to enter and take part in, regardless of ability or previous writing experience.

Poems can be written about any subject, with the only content stipulation being that they are clean, family-friendly and suitable to be put on public display.

Each poem submitted must be 25 lines long at the most. The deadline for submitting any entries is Wednesday, July 1, with a charge of £3.50 for each poem entered.

The competition looks for 10 short poems which, normally, would have been posted up at certain points between the Sea Terminal and Victoria Road in Douglas, forming a walking trail through the town centre.

If things return to something like normality in the near future, the poetry trail will be made public on Tuesday, September 15 to coincide with the 2020 Manx Litfest and remain up on display in participating shop windows for a month until Thursday, October 15.

However, with the current situation of public restrictions and social distancing, the organisers are waiting see if it will be suitable to host the public trail.

The organisers are keeping an eye on the situation and are hopeful that the trail will go ahead as planned.

’Hopefully, things will get back to normal later on in the year and we will be able to hold the trail in September as planned,’ said Bethany de Legh-Runciman, the chairman of the Isle of Man Poetry Society.

’So with that in mind, we decided that we should open the competition as normal.

’ Possibly, if the worst happens, we may look into holding the trail online, but we’ll see what happens over the next couple of months.

’The trail is a way of promoting poetry in the Isle of Man, and to encourage others to get involved with the poetry scene,’ she added.

’We want to encourage people to write poems that entertain, inspire or provoke a response.

’Also, it is a great way of encouraging people who already write poetry to improve their writing and technique.

’It is great to see so much poetry about the town too. I think it makes a nice and engaging feature for the month that it is up and we get a lot of feedback from people who have followed it and read it in the past.

’People understand poetry a lot more these days,’ she continued.

’More people are aware of the impact of poetry around them, whether it is from song lyrics or children’s stories, or anything like that, and more and more people are taking it up as a hobby or an art form.

’It is so adaptable as a form of writing. You can literally write poetry about anything.’

More details and entry forms are available from the Isle of Man Poetry Society by emailing [email protected] or the ’IOM Poetry Society’ Facebook page.

The opening of this year’s trail is the first poetry event hosted by the Isle of Man Poetry Society since the death of the society’s founding member and former secretary Jeff Garland.

Jeff published several books of poetry and remained an active member of Manx literary circles.

Bethany said he was constant source of inspiration and encouragement, and that his sense of humour shone through his work.

’Jeff was my "wise owl"’, said Bethany.

’As one of the founders of IMPS he knew a lot about the Society.

’He was a gentle and kind soul and I never heard him raise his voice. He had a very dry humour which was often in his poems. He published his poems in an anthology called Treasured Island.

’He is greatly missed by every poet and writer in the island. We send our condolences to his wife Muriel and son Tony.’

ALL

Scanning a Noble’s corridor,

A tiny old lady murmurs awful ...

alert at her elbow, concerned nurse quizzes

What’s awful?

Swift she is answered All ...

With hand on the stooped shoulder

the nurse leads her on.

All?

The other does not reply.

Indeed no need at all,

she’s said it, all.

Written by Jeff Garland

by Mike Wade

Twitter:@iomnewspapers