Adam

by Lesley Saunders

This is not all your own work.
The light that has hollowed
you out is virginal, like rain
not yet touched by the earth,
milky and lush with birdsong
and the soft slow hush
of suppressed engines. It's
as if you still can't quite believe
yourself, the industry
and fieldwork of your ribs,
their alarming spaciousness
like the first draft of a person.

Judge's Comments - Martin Malone

By going all the way back to the beginning, this poem manages to address the competition's main theme whilst taking in creation, gender, nature and the meta-text of its own written genesis. I could, myself, write so much more in praise of this poem but I shall leave it with the observation that it has genuine Wow Factor.