National Poetry Contest: Last Year’s Winner

The Mons. Amante Bountempo National Poetry Contest, set up by Għaqda 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 – 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 Ażil…

You can read the poem that won first prize hereunder. The National Book Council and Għaqda 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

Ingarġi l-hena tiegħi minn ħalq ta’ rdum jirbombja

fejn it-tifqigħ tedjanti tal-buful ma jeżistix.

Bil-granfi ta’ difrejja ganċ maz-zokk imqabbdin sewwa

ma tlumunix jekk b’ħarsti niskrutinja kull moviment ta’ dinja fraġli taħti.

Perfett inħloqt b’erodinamika tbikkem l-opponenti, b’għajnejja teleskopi niffidin.

Hekk kif inqum imniegħes nerdagħhom tas-sebħ il-bżieżel vermiljun.

Niżżarġan b’rixi jsaħħar (li ħadu ż-żmien biex saru)

u nfarfarhom min-nida żibeġ żibeġ kristallin.

Rispett u ħajr għad-disk ġgantesk fuq rasi rroddhom bir-rabass…

Bħal iben Dedalu ma taħtafnix ix-xemx b’nifisha kaċċatur.

Imnieġel aġli l-ġwienaħ ma’ denbi ‘l ġew nilwihom, u ntaħħat lil saqajja mlebilbin.

Nissaltja noftoq l-arja reżistenti.

Bħal dell spettrali naqa’ b’apprensjoni.

Veloċità feroċi nilħaq li ‘l isfel issabbatni.

F’korteo sħab imgħabbar, f’nebbja twaħħax…b’teptipet il-membrana

Il-vista tibqa’ ċara, bil-priża tidher akbar kull sekonda.

L-ispid tisfida l-ħin ma joqtolnix.

Tuberk’l i żgħar għadmija fuq minħari jgħinuni nieħu n-nifs f’kull għadsa ‘l isfel.

Atletiku jien u pellegrin fatali.

Spettakolari l-mewt li noffri f’nofs is-sema

jisfronda bil-minaċċja xkattata u sfiqa tiegħi, li ddarras lid-dgħajfin.

Pristin l-istil tad-daqqa b’difrejja ponn li taf tikkawża t-tmien tat-tajr magħżul, jew tistordih.

‘Kk bid-daqqa kalkulata ma jmutux

Bit-talja ta’ munqari m’nn għonqhom naqta’ l-kolonna vertebrali bla rimors.

B’demmhom qabbież u b’dgħifhom nutrittiv jitrejqu l-frieħ u jien.

F’kolonja tal-mejtin inħalli l-fdal tal-prejjeż smien.

B’kirurgu ta’ demm biered u preċiż li tama ma joffrix, hekk iżommuni.

Tafuni ukoll b’renjant vendikatur u persistenti ta’ qtil Osiris lili.

Sa mill-iżmna sfumati ta’ lil hinn, fil-ħolma imqalleb tiegħi

sajjetta xtaqtni kont li tagħlaq l-aħħar xaqq tal-kreazzjoni!

Louis Briffa, 2016