Louise Greig, the initial winner of the Caterpillar Poetry Prize, has once again claimed the accolade after a decade. This award recognises unpublished children’s poems penned by adults. “Foster Child”, the poem penned by Greig, won the admiration of UK children’s laureate Joseph Coelho who described it as a highly polished, captivating piece of literature.
Reacting to her victory, an astounded and grateful Grieg commented on the honour of reconnecting with the prestigious Caterpillar Poetry Prize. She expressed her gratitude towards Rebecca and Will for their commitment to preserving children’s poetry. She also thanked Joseph Coelho, a figure she greatly admires in the world of children’s poetry. The victory, she noted, has served as an adrenaline shot to spur her creativity and bolster her confidence in writing.
Grieg first captured the Caterpillar Poetry Prize in 2015, which paved the way to her lifelong aspiration of crafting children’s picture books. She has since authored 13 picture books, with more in the pipeline and is currently working on a middle-grade verse novel. Her literary prowess has earned her a shortlisting for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Teach Primary Book Awards in recent years. She bagged the Manchester Writing for Children Competition and the Wigtown Poetry Prize aside from others. Greig resides in Aberdeen, where she indulges in reading, gardening and has a profound obsession with animals.
The winning poem, “Foster Child”, explores the readjustment of identities within a foster family setting, using the metaphor of a forest to depict the support and love a foster mother provides.
‘So let’s rearrange the letters you see,
An enchanted forest child you will be. What say thee?’
‘Does that make you my guardian of the trees?’
‘Indeed, I am the steadfast tree,
And you, my darling, are the sapling nurtured by me.’
‘Do I belong to you?’
‘We own our own selves,
but within my leafy shelter, I guarantee you dwells,
To you, I will summon the bird’s melodic spells,
The fawns and foxes by your side, as well.’
‘So what will they do?’
‘They will see you grow, upright and true,
As will I, nurturing you,
Watch you bloom, unrestrained and new,
You will be our cherished forest child, it’s true.’
Coelho expressed admiration for the poem, likening the experience of reading it to being a silent observer to a heartfelt, private discussion. He praised the sophisticated wordplay that drew connections between “foster” and “forest”, and the fertile dialogue, calling it a beautiful tapestry woven from words. He felt that the rhythm and rhyme gave the whole piece a dreamlike quality, conjuring vividly the sensation of parent and child transformed into mystical forest spirits. According to Coelho, the piece succeeds in capturing a fleeting instant and crystallising its enchanting splendour, a hallmark of exceptional poetry.
Greig, the writer of the poem, will spend a week at the Circle of Misse in France, an idyllic haven for creativity, nestled beside the lush Thouet River, a tributary of the Loire, as his prize. In addition to a €1,000 monetary award, he stood second in the contest.
The second prize went to Dean Atta, a London-based poet. He is well-known for his poem titled Boy in Uniform with Drum. An esteemed author and performance poet, Atta bagged the London Poetry Award in 2012, earning accolades for his contributions to the LGBT community. Furthermore, his novel-in-verse The Black Flamingo, after rocketing to the top-sellers list in 2020, also earned him a spot in the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize shortlist, as well as nominations for the Jhalak Prize, CILIP Carnegie Medal, and the YA Book Prize. The Black Flamingo was also bestowed the Stonewall Book Award and the Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Award 2020. His debut non-fiction work for adults, Person Unlimited, is scheduled to be published by Canongate this upcoming summer.
The poem Boy in Uniform With Drum explores themes of identity, food and subjugation, framing the protagonist as a boy lending his body to fight someone else’s battle, struggling to affirm his own identity amidst societal pressures. The poignant lyrics make clear that despite the uniform he wears or the cause he fights for, he remains, above all, “my mother’s son”.
Coelho expressed his admiration for a particular poem that powerfully described the experience of a young enslaved boy, possibly aged 12 or 14, serving as a drummer boy in the US Civil War. The poem impressed him with the way it used scarcity of punctuation until the last line to convey a sense of unrestricted freedom. Moreover, it provided an insightful perspective on how narratives and histories are shaped.
The third position of the competition was secured by Rose Rahtz, a resident of Kent and mother of two, for her accomplished piece ‘How to Metamorphose’. An English teacher in a secondary school, Rahtz started weaving words into poems, stories, and novels from her early ages. Her first poem penned at age 5 was a poignant one about a blind aged elephant crushing a sprouting seedling. It was in an Arvon Foundation poetry course led by Greta Stoddart and Hugo Williams that Rahtz started building her confidence in her literary abilities. Only recently, she began opening up about her writings. In the recent times, she has managed to have her short stories published by Fictionable and Nightshade Lit. The Caterpillar Poetry Prize winning the third position left her completely astounded. She felt honoured to know that Coelho appreciated her work and she hopes others would feel the same.
Her winning piece “How to Metamorphose” showcases a deep cognitive exploration. The words create vivid imagery, from a feeling of warmth in the stomach to a sense of perception from within one’s skull. The poem gradually accelerates into an emboldened roar, depicting a powerful transformation, replete with dramatic images of feathers, scales and fur. The poetic voice calls its words to rally, signifying the unleashing of a storm of thoughts from within. The final surge is an ecstatic explosion of symbolic plumage, fangs, tail spikes and most importantly, uncontainable roars.
Coelho described the piece as an empowering poem that promotes personal growth and transformation. He noted its rich and challenging language, exemplified by the phrase ‘Oh Wonderful! The lightning in your thorax’, alluding to an awakening of strength and optimism, the overcoming of challenges and the discovery of inner power. The poem encourages the reader to examine their inner reservoir of power, offering myriad potential interpretations. Coelho remarked that each reader may perceive the poem differently. The repeated phrase “And the roaring. The roaring. The roaring.”, he confessed, sent shivers down his spine.
The Moth, in addition to The Caterpillar Poetry Prize, administers three annual literary competitions. The Moth Short Story Prize, judged this year by Louise Kennedy closes on June 30th. The Moth Nature Writing Prize, overseen by Cal Flyn, concludes on September 30th. The Moth Poetry Prize will reopen in August. Past editions of The Moth and The Caterpillar publications can be purchased via their official website.