It was a particularly powerful and emotional shortlist this month out of which Theophilus Kwek’s transcendent ‘Psalm 19’ emerged as the overall winner.
Theo is the author of three collections, They Speak Only Our Mother Tongue (2011), Circle Line (2013), and Giving Ground (2016). He won the Jane Martin Prize in 2015 and the New Poets Prize in 2016, and was president of the Oxford University Poetry Society.
He has asked that his £10 prize be donated to First Story, the charity that changes lives through writing.
Psalm 19
To the Fathers at the Paris Seminary
Jean-Marie Beurel, Priest, Church of the Good Shepherd, Singapore
On still days, when this meridian city
becomes an image of itself – masts
hung with cloud on the water, sky
turned to stone above white cornices –
I lock the church, and, skirting the yard, go
past the padang with its whinnying horses,
through orchards’ shade, across the narrow weir
where streets run out beyond the forest’s edge
and find, just a little north of here
cathedral silence, and a leaf-stained light
lifted as prayer into the trees’ transept
to join branches with the flood and flight
of tropical birds, like a jewel intact.
Wonder with me: how faith follows sight
in this small harbour, where the rich and wrecked
gather to be blessed at journey’s end,
sand’s soft language fills the buttress roots
and wears our feet like another land.
Here He is, still. God of the distance
and river’s overflow, stars’ luminescence.
Harvest’s full, fell hour. First snow.
*Psalm 19 was first published in Giving Ground (Singapore: Ethos Books, 2016)
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Voters’ comments included:
Hard decision, I loved them all…But admire Kwek’s ability to blend natural and supernatural, make us feel intimations of divine in the everyday; and courage to name it.
Original and haunting
Such vivid imagery throughout and the last stanza is simply stunning.
Great poem, very evocative of both source and Singapore then and now. And his way with words….
The imagery and use of language is beautiful and consistent with the Central theme and subject matter. The use of language speaks volumes of the sense of space and place. Contemplative, lovely and hopeful, this is a beautiful poem that is both clever and soul-filling.
The beauty of the language of the psalms is portrayed here in this poet’s song. It gives rise to a myriad of emotions and languages, evoking a swell of admiration as it reflects the creator’s marvelling of his Creator and resonates with his recognition of how small he is in comparison to the One whom he deems praiseworthy of All. A lovely piece; spellbound.
This poem combines words in surprisingly evocative ways, creating images that stay in the mind. “sand’s soft language” and “leaf-stained light” are among my favourites. the flow of the lines is precise, carefully balanced and all the energy is built from the poem’s core and brought to a graceful finish at the end, quite like a meditation and the release of breath.
Beautifully textured! I am deeply moved.
That stunning last line.
Artful and impactful portrait
I just like the imagery. The scenes´description is reflective and perceptive of the transcendent, in a positive way that uplifts.