Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
ANN MARGARET Lim took a double at Redbones the Blues Café last Wednesday night, winning both 'Poet of the Year' and 'Poem of The Year' awards.
It was the fifth staging of the annual writer's awards by the Braemar Avenue, New Kingston, restaurant and cultural spot. The entrants are taken from the monthly guests at the regular last Wednesday readings.
Members of the Tuff Tuff Triangle poetry organisation took the other two named places from a field of six, Akinsanya coming second and Clement Hamilton third. The other competitors were Odette Baugh, Nadia Kiffen and Iyunda, with apologies given for Glen Laughton and Duane Francis.
The poets were required to read three poems each and Lim's last, Sea Dirge, complete with sound effects, was judged 'Poem of the Year' by a panel which comprised Trevor Rhone, Gyneth Barber-Wood, Raymond Mair and Karen Carpenter.
Lim also did Sylvia and Bingy Moses 2004. Akinsanya presented Ode To Drum, Ganja and Spectacular Senorita, while Hamilton went with My Superman, Here Is Something You Can't Understand and One.
Guest poet De I Am, who started off the evening, did I See, 400 Years, Black Man Time and Black Woman.
The writers were assessed on originality (45 per cent), content (30 per cent) and performance (25 per cent) and chief judge Mair said that the decision was unanimous.
"We found that all the poets showed confidence and originality and belief in their work. The level of presentation varied," Mair said. "The judges appreciated the work done and the effort of all the competitors."
After the presentations to the top three, Lim was invited to read the 'Poem of the Year' again and she did so, telling the poetic tale of going to the beach to write a poem ("I went to the beach for its beauty"), but finding none ("but there was no poem"). The scene was interrupted by a man ("and bloodstained were his jeans") who changed her focus and gave the poet a "gutless feeling as he walked past me and disappeared into the thatched shack I was trying to leave out."
She invited Hamilton and Akinsanya to read a poem as well, but Hamilton demurred, saying that the 'Poem of the Year' should stand alone.
