WINNER: Coming of Age

Imogen in Year 7 wins for this moving and reflective poem about her grandmother and how dealing with her illness ushered her into maturity. Imogen said: I wrote a poem about my Grandma who was very ill and how it affected me and my family. When someone you love is very unwell, it makes you grow up very quickly and realise what is important.

Hospital

Beep, beep, beep

You should go now, she has to sleep

Fear creeps up inside me, I feel so weak

I whisper in her ear, maybe see you next week

I leave quietly and go collect my brother

He is telling jokes, being weird something or another

You know this isn’t funny, I hiss in his ear

Annoyingly, he doesn’t even hear

I took him to see the rest of our family

Everyone just sat around anxiously

He started playing with an old hospital gown

Ugh, I wish he could just grow up and settle down

But so did I, I felt so helpless

But I knew I needed to be more selfless

Maybe if I could support them better

We could get through this all together