The whole poetry team are (from left) Neill Gordon, Peter Janes, Tessa Moffett, Rosheen Fitzgerald, Jeremy Roberts and Louise Ward.

The Bay was pumping with poetry for this year's National Poetry Day. Poets on street corners, poets with pizza, and poets captured on camera, as part of the prize for winners of the Wardini Books Poetry Competition 2022.

Entrants were invited to submit one poem that would fit on one side of an A4 sheet of paper. Entries poured in, with the most submissions in the young adult and adult categories.

The winners were filmed by legendary cinematographer Peter Janes and the film published by Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day and Wardini Books.

Judges Rosheen Fitzgerald (2019 Hawke's Bay Poetry Slam champion, professional wordsmith in poetry, analysis, journalism, biography and marketing) and Jeremy Roberts (MC at Napier Live Poets and winner of the Earl of Seacliff poetry prize 2019) had a tough job on their hands, but eventually settled on poems that felt authentic and moved them in some way. Tears were shed.

Tessa Moffett, age 13, with Speaking

Oh the fear of speaking the trembling feeling cold to hot Oh the tear of speaking A tedious silence the gleaming eyes Darting right back at you Oh the fear of speaking Oh the worried thoughts zooming throughout your head Oh the tear of speaking Oh the looking side to side Oh the judgment

And Neill Gordon in the adult category, with Wondering why the sun rises?

There are days Days when he wonders why the sun rises Does it? Days when the whole galaxy implodes The moon eclipses the sun Days when that stuff - dark matter That physicists say makes up 27% of the universe But is never seen Is seen Days when he resolves to move to a lifestyle block Or soundproof the section To shield reality From them next door And it's the umpteenth time And How many times do I Will you please do what you've been And we've moved onto Heavens to Murgatroyd Into Holy Flippin Hell, and beyond And it's no use waiting til your father gets home Because he is home And it's a mess And there are other days When he cradles the earth In the crook of his arm Juggles Mars and Venus Runs rings round Saturn Bakes a beautiful batch of Milky Way muffins Days when everything moves to a graceful cosmic order When every word spoken is gentle When he longs for a lapel mic And outdoor speakers So the neighbours can eavesdrop And weep At the tenderness of his parenting Days when you ask Really hard questions Right out of the blue But he knows the answer And can demonstrate it With an orange, a head of garlic and a balloon Days when you take it upon yourself To collect buttercups for mum When with you on his shoulders he really is ten feet tall When the crusts have been cut off The broccoli banished The undies stay clean He's so delirious he sprinkles 100s and 1000s on top of your jam sandwich A day when There are no knots in the hair No snot No sulks Burglars break in and vacuum The puppy pulls all the washing off the line And folds it neatly An earthquake lifts every toy off the boys' bedroom floor and drops it in its allotted place A day when he has time To write this poem.

You can find the film on the Wardini Books Facebook page.