Sixth Form student, Safiya Tiotto-Smith, has won the Bloom Poetry Competition; part of Exeter Phoenix, a vibrant multi-artform venue in the heart of Exeter’s city centre. The competition formed part of Bloom; its virtual festival celebrating Mental Health Awareness Week.
The theme for Mental Health Awareness Week 2021 was nature and the environment and poems were invited on this theme as well as on the topic of wellbeing.
Safiya’s entry won the Bloom Junior Poetry Competition, for ages 17 and under. Entitled “Help Me Moon”, it is a dialogue between the sun and moon and can be found here.
Bloom Poetry Competition judge, Naomi Turner, says: “The entries were evocative, playful, heart-warming and funny – the quality was so high and made for some difficult judging! Thank you to everyone who opened themselves up and submitted their work.”
“I did some writing in lockdown last year - a personal challenge to write roughly a piece a day… this poem features the dialogue between the sun and the moon, with the sun asking the moon how to have the strength to keep going forward with life. This reflects how lost everyone was feeling last year during lockdown, and by using some bright and beautiful natural imagery, I wanted to revive our appreciation of this world.”
Safiya Tiotto-Smith, Lower Sixth
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