51��¥

The competition is judged across 3 age categories: school years 6 to 8, 9 to 11 and 12 to 13.  

Shortlisted poets are invited to perform in the Young Poet Laureate final. At this event, a winner from each age category is selected by the panel of judges. Of these three winners, one young person will be awarded the title of 51��¥'s Young Poet Laureate 2024.

The 51��¥ Young Poet Laureate 2024 final is on 28 April at The Hive in Worcester.

Word Metamorphosis

Abandoned, abhorrent, ablaze,

Abysmal accolades.

Backstabbing’s balance

Becomes blackened blandiloquence.

Cacophonies caliginous can cease?

Cloaking conniving’s creep.

Dark days dilating,

Discoloured, discombobulating.

Ephemeral ethereality,

Ever… felicitous, fictional,

Galaxy.

Galvanising gnarled

Habituality.

Happiness, harmonious,

Hastily hopeless.

Incandescently inky,

���Գٰ��������ٱ����…

It’s… jade, jagged,

Kaleidoscopes, kindred.

Less,

Lies life’s locked loneliness.

Magniloquence manifests-

Mellifluous,

Narcissism nasty-

Noiseless.

Obsequious oceans, orangutans,

Painful pangs,

Queries,

Regrets,

Revolutionaries.

Righting riots,

Serendipitous… silence.

Sobs soft still,

Tangible, tranquil.

Turbulent turmoil,

Unanimously uncontrollable,

Venerability vibrant…

Violent.

Wailing, wasting,

Whispering wonder,

Xs yelp,

�Ԩ�DzԻ���!”

Watching the letters evolve,

As they spill and flow,

I apologise for the empty dictionary,

Now its word count is…

Zero.

Watch a video of 51��¥'s Young Poet Laureate, Caleb Simon with a poem for Youth Mental Health Day.