Let your ‘five kings’ do the talking and win £500

DYLAN Thomas would have appreciated the opportunity to have let his five kings (fingers) do the talking for a chance of winning £500 for a poem.

Well, that’s the opportunity in a poetry competition organised by Carmarthenshire Council on the theme of this summer’s Commonwealth Games being staged in Glasgow in July.

And Dylan would have appreciated an element of the prize which helped launched his globally rhythmic poetic acclaim – that’s with the competition winners having an opportunity to read their Welsh and English entries at the Dylan’s Boathouse on April 27th when the Queen’s Commonwealth Baton will be in the town.

It was the broadcast reading his own work that propelled Dylan and his creations on to the international stage.

In Dylan’s acclaimed poem “The Hand That Signed the Paper” he refers to fingers of the hand in various ways including being depicted as “the five kings…”

So let your five kings do the talking and send in an entry. The competition is open to anyone under 30 years at the time of writing but get busy because the closing date for entry is April 25th.

County executive board member for leisure services Cllr Meryl Gravell said: “We are celebrating the centenary of Dylan Thomas in the same year as Glasgow hosts the Commonwealth Games so it is fitting we should have a poetry competition on the theme of the Games.”

And as a tribute to the great poet’s worldwide acclaim the Queen Commonwealth Games Baton will be paraded past Dylan’s Boathouse on the morning on May 27 when it arrives in Carmarthenshire to be celebrated at events in Llangharne, Carmarthen, Ammanford and Llanelli. The prizewinners will read their triumphant pieces there that day.

The competition will be judged by Menna Elfryn, writing director of the Masters programme in creative writing at University of Wales Trinity St David, who is a prolific Welsh poet, playwright, columnist. Fellow judge is journalist and editor of Golwg Dylan Iorwerth who has completed completed a unique treble winning the National Eisteddfod Chair, Crown and Prose over his Eisteddfod career.

For a competition entry form please contact Carmarthenshire’s principal arts officer Eleri Retallick on 01267 228236