Micropoetry Competition 2025

The micropoem is unusual as a poetic form, not just because it is brief but because it is immediately connected with other responses, and is framed by all that is social about social media.

This year, from a record entry, and much to the consternation of my fellow judge, Lemn Sissay, the winning poem directly addresses Lemn and takes its cue from Lemn's own characteristic images of light and dark, although – and here was the magic of the poem – keeping its own tone so clear and so affecting that Maryam Hessavi and I, reviewing what was a strong field, could not see past it as the winner.

John McAuliffe / Professor of Poetry and Director of Creative Manchester

I wrote this while missing parts of myself I no longer recognise. I imagined it as a quiet conversation with Lemn, but also with the past me, about fading friendships, changing faces, and the quiet ache of losing connection with who I was. But in that ache, I found a gentler version of myself still reaching forward – quieter, maybe, but still here. Still becoming.

Nasharil Ramli / Winner

I’m just thrilled to have this poem chosen as a runner-up. In Jamaican culture, nine night – literally a wake which continues for nine nights – is not just for mourning, it is also a cause for celebration, and for connection between both the living and the dead. These are connections which are never really severed.

Shannon Clinton-Copeland / Runner up

I'm delighted, of course. My thanks to the overworked and unsung judges. The very short poem has been around as long as poetry itself, but the micropoetry format gives it a new twist. It helps us think, even feel, in new ways and to be in the work.

Christopher Meredith / Runner up