Listen to the world’s best poetry read out loud.
Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2022: Proof
by Graham Clifford
This is sci-fi day dream about needing some hope and trying to generate it. It comes from the reliance we have on tech and how we look to it for more than it can give us. It's also about short-circuiting and disrupting the flow of things, trying to get something better all the time, and confronting a full stop. And I suppose it is about working out when enough is enough; when do we give up on something? I think of Borges when I read this poem.
Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2022: Proof
I made a machine to simplify everything.
It was enormous and very complicated
so I made another
and ran the second machine through the first.
What came out didn’t appear to work
but was a pleasing teardrop shape, smooth
and the shivering it did when activated
seemed to approximate high worth.
I put this outcome back into the first machine.
It hasn’t come out yet. A noise offers hope
but I need guidance on how long
is too long to seek.
Poem recorded as part of Poetry Archive Now: Wordview 2022. Used by permission of author.
A special thank you to our WordView 2021 poets.
Chair of the Judging Panel, Joelle Taylor, says: "We were thrilled by the range and scope of the poetry and techniques explored throughout the wide submissions. I have said before that to write a poem is an act of resistance but to then perform it as well is a revolution. It takes a bravery to face the page, and a further one to stand by your words. While we’ve all become more used to filming ourselves over the pandemic, all of us were deeply aware of that courage.
Often when on a judging panel we find ourselves faced with impossible decisions. If you can imagine, after sifting, it’s as though a hundred people have crossed the finish line at precisely the same moment but there are only three medals. How do we come to these decisions? Through the objective unpicking of the poems, through our individual passions, through a consideration of narratives, especially those lesser heard. We come to it through uneasy negotiation and through heart, and above all through our shared love and understanding of the possibilities of poetry.
Our honest applause goes to all who submitted, and I hope you can hear it.
Congratulations to those we selected. We hope to see you all again soon."
See the collectionWatch the full Wordview 2022 playlist