A talented poet from Watford is to receive a special mentoring mentoring programme over the next year to help her develop as a writer after being chosen as one of the winners of a prestigious competition.

Brigitta McKeever’s poem Polaris was chosen as one of the top 15 in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award and it is now set to be published in a printed winners’ anthology which will also be available online from March.

The 17-year-old said: “Foyle gives young people the opportunity to share their voices, and has given me confidence in my own voice and what I choose to say with it.”

Organised by The Poetry Society and supported by the Foyle Foundation, the award has been running since 1998 and aims to find, celebrate and support the best young poets from around the world. It is now recognised as the leading competition for young poets aged 11 to 17 years old.

Almost 16,000 poems – 44 per cent more than in 2019 – from more than 6,700 young poets living in 118 countries entered the awards and from these the judges selected 100 winners, consisting of 15 top poets and 85 commended writers.

Polaris

slit through the belly and you will find hot air, slippery fat, rabbit bones, a beer belch swallowed. ask him what he has done, and he will say / nothing.

flush out the acid and you will see what it has ravaged. what remains of the forest is its rot; of its birds, a feather. ask him what can be done, and he will say / nothing.

break open the chest if you desire bleach, oil, gold. let it smother you and see how your skin blisters, your eyes turn to dust, the rib cages nothing. ask him what he has gained, and he will say / everything.

burrow into his palm and drain your milk; the North Star thrashes in his paper folds. let it blind you and you will see the narrow skull of a boy, his hollow cheeks ruddy, the bullet between his eyes bleeding light. ask him what he regrets, and he will say /