The Mons. Amante Bountempo National Poetry Contest, set up by Gฤงaqda Poeti Maltin in collaboration with the National Book Council, is a relatively new initiative which was first launched last year. The announcement of the winning entries and the prize-giving ceremony are among the events planned for the Malta Book Festival Poetry Day, which this year will fall on Friday 10 November.

There are three prizes to be won โ€“ first, second and third prize. In the first edition of the Contest last year Louis Briffa won first prize with his poem Falco Peregrinus and third prize with Storja Antika. Second prize was won by Paul P. Borg with …binti Aลผil…

You can read the poem that won first prize hereunder. The National Book Council and Gฤงaqda Poeti Maltin invite all poets to participate in the upcoming 2017 Contest by downloading and filling in the application, whose deadline is on 4 September 2017. Applicants can download and read the criteria and regulations from this link.

 

FALCO PEREGRINUS

 

Ingarฤกi l-hena tiegฤงi minn ฤงalq taโ€™ rdum jirbombja

fejn it-tifqigฤง tedjanti tal-buful ma jeลผistix.

Bil-granfi taโ€™ difrejja ganฤ‹ maz-zokk imqabbdin sewwa

ma tlumunix jekk bโ€™ฤงarsti niskrutinja kull moviment taโ€™ dinja fraฤกli taฤงti.

 

Perfett inฤงloqt bโ€™erodinamika tbikkem l-opponenti, bโ€™gฤงajnejja teleskopi niffidin.

 

Hekk kif inqum imniegฤงes nerdagฤงhom tas-sebฤง il-bลผieลผel vermiljun.

Niลผลผarฤกan bโ€™rixi jsaฤงฤงar (li ฤงadu ลผ-ลผmien biex saru)

u nfarfarhom min-nida ลผibeฤก ลผibeฤก kristallin.

 

Rispett u ฤงajr gฤงad-disk ฤกgantesk fuq rasi rroddhom bir-rabass…

Bฤงal iben Dedalu ma taฤงtafnix ix-xemx bโ€™nifisha kaฤ‹ฤ‹atur.

 

Imnieฤกel aฤกli l-ฤกwienaฤง maโ€™ denbi โ€˜l ฤกew nilwihom, u ntaฤงฤงat lil saqajja mlebilbin.

Nissaltja noftoq l-arja reลผistenti.

 

Bฤงal dell spettrali naqaโ€™ bโ€™apprensjoni.

 

Veloฤ‹itร  feroฤ‹i nilฤงaq li โ€˜l isfel issabbatni.

 

Fโ€™korteo sฤงab imgฤงabbar, fโ€™nebbja twaฤงฤงax…bโ€™teptipet il-membrana

Il-vista tibqaโ€™ ฤ‹ara, bil-priลผa tidher akbar kull sekonda.

 

L-ispid tisfida l-ฤงin ma joqtolnix.

Tuberkโ€™l i ลผgฤงar gฤงadmija fuq minฤงari jgฤงinuni nieฤงu n-nifs fโ€™kull gฤงadsa โ€˜l isfel.

 

Atletiku jien u pellegrin fatali.

 

Spettakolari l-mewt li noffri fโ€™nofs is-sema

jisfronda bil-minaฤ‹ฤ‹ja xkattata u sfiqa tiegฤงi, li ddarras lid-dgฤงajfin.

 

Pristin l-istil tad-daqqa bโ€™difrejja ponn li taf tikkawลผa t-tmien tat-tajr magฤงลผul, jew tistordih.

 

โ€˜Kk bid-daqqa kalkulata ma jmutux

Bit-talja taโ€™ munqari mโ€™nn gฤงonqhom naqtaโ€™ l-kolonna vertebrali bla rimors.

 

Bโ€™demmhom qabbieลผ u bโ€™dgฤงifhom nutrittiv jitrejqu l-frieฤง u jien.

Fโ€™kolonja tal-mejtin inฤงalli l-fdal tal-prejjeลผ smien.

 

Bโ€™kirurgu taโ€™ demm biered u preฤ‹iลผ li tama ma joffrix, hekk iลผommuni.

 

Tafuni ukoll bโ€™renjant vendikatur u persistenti taโ€™ qtil Osiris lili.

 

Sa mill-iลผmna sfumati taโ€™ lil hinn, fil-ฤงolma imqalleb tiegฤงi

sajjetta xtaqtni kont li tagฤงlaq l-aฤงฤงar xaqq tal-kreazzjoni!

 

 

Louis Briffa, 2016


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