Label Features recently ran a poetry competition. The winners were featured in our New Year issue of Label Magazine: congratulations to our winner Serena Gainda, and our runners up Jess Metson and Rose Hiles. The following poems were also entered, and we thought it would be nice to share them! Many thanks to all of our entrants.
Anarchy of a Sort
I don’t want to be
Just another face in the crowd
I want to stand up tall
And rise against what’s not allowed
I want to be
An adolescent revolutionary
A unique individual
The one and only original
I’m an anarchist of a sort
But not the sort you might expect
I just want to be free
Of the world and how it wants me to be
I wish I could see
How to attain the things I require
I want to retain my composure
I’m chasing a single desire
I want to see
Freedom in its simplest form
And to achieve a peaceful state
Because in my mind I’m seeing straight
I’m an anarchist of a sort
But not the sort you might expect
I just want to be free
Of the world and how it wants me to be
Let those who believe they profess the truth
About our lives be thrown down from upon their thrones
Let them bear witness to those they reject
Rising up against the way things seem to be
Let us reflect and elect
One who believes in anarchy
Rupert Ibbotson
Some Days
Some days
I have no thoughts to light the way
Just an empty canvas
And no fruits for my labour
Rain comes
I stare, but no inspiration
Travelling is an option
To satisfy my mind
So take a ride
To that tide
Climb the mountain
To that fountain
Don’t try too hard to find it
Because when it arrives it’s unexpected
A poet puts the unexpected into words
Digression is an artist’s worst nightmare
It always gives him a scare
And the monster never leaves his wardrobe
Trying to find the right words to use
I write, scattering them here and there
Creating nonsense, but nothing else
So take a ride
To that tide
Climb the mountain
To that fountain
The experience will lead you
To the goldmine for a second
The second is gone and you’ve got a song
From that holy treasured goldmine
Don’t try too hard to find it
When it arrives it’s unexpected
A poet puts the unexpected into words
Rupert Ibbotson
Ah Youth
Ah Youth, what is Youth?
My beautiful days, my joyful days,
The time of exploring, the time of deep learning.
A Student’s life what a joyful time,
Meeting and greeting and bonding with people,
But most of all reading, and reading, and reading.
Discovering and learning new things, great things.
Ah Youth, what is Youth?
The time of my life, the time for my flight.
The wings of my knowledge, the wings of deep learning,
They take me up high and high,
Into the beautiful sky, blue sky,blue sky,
The sky of perception and sky of assertion.
Ah Youth, what is Youth?
Its time for my triumph,
Its time for my riding,
Long riding, hard riding,
Into the world of researching and learning.
Ah Youth, what is Youth?
Its time for creation,
Its time for formation,
But most of all time for perfection.
Perfection of heart and perfection of soul,
Which is hidden deep down inside of each us, each us,each us.
Ah Youth, what is Youth?
The time of my life, the time for my fight,
The fight against odds,
The fight against weakness,
And finish, what is in the finish?
The born of your potential,
The time of self realization,
Ah Youth, what is Youth?
So many questions in the air,
Just live your life, just be yourself,
And shine and shine,
Like the brightest star in the sky.
Gulchekhra Shamakhmudova
Zombie to the Greater Plan
Alienating those who had become your closest friends
Without a reason why, not trying to make amends
Is it a question of, who’s in the wrong and who is right?
Why am I still thinking I can ever win this fight?
I’m spiralling, going into my own demise
Will I ever see reason and learn to use my eyes
Or am I a mere speck, within the greatest play?
Will I live my life, will I have my say
I wish I could just live my time
Without hitting walls, looking for a rhyme
My head, it hurts; it hurts more than you could believe
Living with self-doubt, I don’t think I can achieve
Old friends turned against me, they talked behind my back
Thinking I could trust them, but they never gave me slack
They lied, they had no alibi, they never told the truth
Spreading false accusations, it’s a trait of our youth
Like a bird of prey that is waiting for its chance
Forgetting past romance, it’s maintained a subdued stance
Becoming the monster from your worst childhood dreams
It never left the wardrobe, or at least that’s how it seems
Memories, the memories of past affliction, never buried in the grave
A constant reminder of life and how I’ve become the slave
A slave to my own inner demons, the inferno of the mind
Trying to fight myself, being constantly redefined
Sometimes I question what everything is for
Because mankind’s consuming itself; it’s wanting more and more
I may be one in a million, but I do not have a voice
Loud enough to be recognised, enough to make the choice
I haven’t lived enough years, to be considered matured and smart
I’m still learning my way, whether I play an important part
The dreams of childhood innocence left me long ago
Making way for realistic values, they’re becoming all I know
Will I work at a desk, becoming a zombie to the greater plan?
With every second dragging on, how it has since time began
Or will I actually do something, one thing to make a change
To help better mankind, to help it rearrange
Forgetting past troubles, looking upon the rising sun
Searching for light in this world, when there appears to be none
By attempting to predestine change, for the greater good
Can unity and harmony be introduced, with the hope it’s understood?
Rupert Ibbotson
Nothing Bringing Me Down
It’s a happy little day
Perfect and unique in its own way
It’s a calming reflection on how things are
The mind’s at its best
When there’s nothing leaving it distressed
It’s coincidental of my latest trend
My eyes are seeing
My ears are hearing
The world and all around
My body is feeling
My life is revealing
That there’s nothing bringing me down
So tell me what I want to hear
I’m wasting time in my own little sphere
I’m living exactly how I want it to be
I cannot see what’s in front of me
But that’s the beauty in how it is
Nobody will tell me what I have to be
My eyes are seeing
My ears are hearing
The world and all around
My body is feeling
My life is revealing
That there’s nothing bringing me down
I don’t want to live without a care
Like a millionaire who’s able to afford the life he lives
I’m standing here with my dreams
Being the only thing of importance
Or at least that’s how it seems
My eyes are seeing
My ears are hearing
The world and all around
My body is feeling
My life is revealing
That there’s nothing bringing me down
Rupert Ibbotson
