The 39th annual Frogmore Poetry Prize is heading south to Glasgow-born poet Sharon Black, who now lives in a remote valley of the Cévennes in France, where she runs writing retreats. Sharon was previously awarded the Frogmore Prize in 2011 by Tamar Yoseloff and thus joins a select group of poets who have won the Prize more than once – Caroline Price, John Latham, Howard Wright and Emily Wills.
Her most recent publications are The Last Woman Born on the Island (Vagabond Voices, 2022) and The Red House (Drunk Muse Press, 2022). Of her Prize-winning poem, ‘Pont des Arts’, adjudicator John Greening writes: ‘It handles all the resources of poetry with a sure hand. It is a monologue, although that’s not immediately obvious. The free-verse couplets allow for some imaginative bridging (how appropriate) from line to line, from stanza to stanza right through to the finely judged ending. Imagery is unshowy, consistently striking, and even what could be a cliché (confetti) becomes in the context ironically original. The poet is listening – from that very first ‘chink’ to the clatter of ‘ended up in municipal trucks’. The bridge’s voice is constantly varied too: direct speech, questions, a phrase in French. I particularly like the Larkinesque shift from description to meditation (‘Love is not beyond endurance’).’
First runner-up for the 2025 Prize is Michael Greavy, a Manchester-based teacher for his poem ‘Belgians’, which, John Greening notes, ‘stood out for its unexpected subject. The style is unusual too, a kind of stand-up Geoffrey Hill: densely packed lines, not unmusical but with a determinedly forward motion like a combine harvester. I thought it was terrific, and I liked the fact that some corners of the terrain are deliberately left inaccessible. Perhaps all poems should have verges where wild flowers can flourish.’
Second runner-up is Jonathan Edwards from Crosskeys, Gwent for his poem ‘’84’, which Greening notes ‘caught my attention from the start because of its unaffected plain style – harder than you might think. There were other poems more lyrical, more ambitious, but this tells its story deftly, economically with a sure sense of tone and a crucial understanding of line breaks. It’s also a quietly political poem, not easy to achieve without tub-thumping.’
Other poets shortlisted were Isabel Greenslade for ‘How swifts hold the sky’, Wendy Klein for ‘Soup of the Day’, Richard Lister for ‘Mystery wrapped in a puzzle’, Sue Moules for ‘Thomas Gainsborough Paints Mr & Mrs Andrews, 1750’, Yvonne Salmon for ‘Pilgrim Syntax (Seeking the Wells)’, Mark Totterdell for ‘Quinag’ and J S Watts for ‘Fen Shadow’.
All shortlisted poems will be published in the September edition of The Frogmore Papers. Copies available from The Frogmore Press at £5.00 inclusive of post and packing.