If You're a Poet, We Want to Know It! Volume 10

The 10th Annual Kāpiti Coast District Libraries poetry book celebrates a milestone for our If You’re a Poet, We Want to Know It! competition. As always, we invited poets to freely interpret the theme for this year, Ten! More

It is incredibly exciting to be writing the preface for the 10th Annual Kāpiti Coast District Libraries poetry book which celebrates a milestone for our If You’re a Poet, We Want to Know It! competition.

To be able to celebrate 10 years is an impressive achievement, one which reflects the dedication and hard work over many years of library staff, judges and most importantly our local poets whose creativity we have been able to shine a light on over those 10 years.

As always, we invited poets to freely interpret the theme for this year, Ten!

You’ll find in this volume over 110 poems submitted across the three age groups:

Children – age 6-12

Teens – age 13-18

Adults – age 19 and older

We were particularly pleased to see a new generation of poets coming through with a record 50 submissions received in the Children’s category.

As in previous years, we are providing the book in print and as an eBook. You’ll also find it available in our libraries’ collections.

Thanks are due to our library team members who coordinated the competition and open mic readings and prepared the book for publication both in print and electronically.

Special thanks to our judges: Jane George, Gill Ward, and Dani Deluka who themselves are writers and/or poets and who generously gave us their time and expertise. Thanks also to Phantom Bill Stickers, who helped fund the competition again this year.

I will be the first to admit I don’t have a poetic streak in me, but it seems appropriate to finish this preface with a poem. My own exploration of this year’s theme led me to a book of poetry themes of which the number 10 recommended theme was Destiny. It strongly resonated with me, as did the first part of this poem by Brian Taylor entitled, I Follow My Own Destiny:

I know left from right.
I know right from wrong.
I am capable of creating my own poetic song.
I follow my own destiny going on my own.
I follow my own path and journey.
I follow my own destiny.

Ian Littleworth
Libraries & Cultural Services Manager
Kāpiti Coast District Libraries

Download: epub