Carol Howarth, Chair of Bilston Writers, has won the WV Postcode Prize in the Wolverhampton Literature Festival Poetry Competition 2023 for her poem 'Wolverhampton Takeaway'. The judge was the Poet Laureate of Wolverhampton, Kuli Kohli.
Two other members of Bilston Writers, Fraser Scott and Ros Woolner, were commended in the same category.
The awards ceremony was held on Sunday 5th February 2023 at the Arena Theatre.
You can read Carol's poem below, and watch her reading it on the Poets Prattlers & Pandemonialists website, along with the winners of the main poetry competition.
Carol was the branch librarian at Wednesfield Library. She was often invited by Sikh elders to visit the nearby Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara. The sounds of Wolverhampton, and the diversity of Wolverhampton, are expressed in her poem.
Wolverhampton Takeaway
by Carol Howarth
I take away
the sizzle of the curry in Jivan's Balti house,
the whoosh of flames from the gas rings,
the searing heat of the tandoori oven,
the rise and fall of Urdu spoken by Mr Shah, the chef.
Bye Bye Miss American Pie, sung by Don McLean, its constant beat.
I take away
the rhythm of the priest reading from Guru Granth Sahib
in the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.
Always the sound is the sitar. I've captured it on vinyl -
on Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.
I'll take the murmur of bus drivers chatting in Punjabi
and a tape of more languages heard on the buses -
some Jamaican patois, a shiver of Eastern European,
a beat of Nigerian, a song of Mandarin.
And a record of Black Country 'spake'.
I'll take away the warm hum of Wednesfield Library,
of learning, of conversation, of fun -
a reading group discussing the book of the month,
a mothers' and toddlers' group singing Shake it all about.
The roar of football fans at Molineux
shakes St Peter's stained glass windows -
its bells ringing out at New Year's.
I've bottled it all up.
My takeaway is ready,
wrapped up in The Beatles' music sheets -
And life flows on within you and without you.
I am ready and I'm leaving.
Approaching platform one is the 12.37 train to Glasgow
stopping at Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western,
Preston, Lancaster, and beyond.
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