Winner - Margate 2010

Our last stop on the tour of a New Poem for Margate ends with our winner, Vicky Wilson.  Here, then, is her winning poem, installed on Northdown Road in Cliftonville, Margate for the rest of the year.  If you haven't gone to visit the installation yet, featuring illustrations by local artist Daniel Bass, please do.

Margate, 2010

St Michael and all Angels descend from the bus,
heralded by the boom of carnival drum and bass,
to a sweep of sea and a golden curl of sand
where pink bikinis dance round tumbledown castles,
shaking down fried noodles and ice-cream, and
Polish teens call the score for volleyball
alongside swingboats where tattooed dads
look on as sticky toddlers rise and fall.
Girls in swimsuits and hijabs hunt for treasures
and a flock of nuns dares the incoming tide
while wrinkled hands unwrap blintzes and pittas,
watching as the twirl of sequins and boas creeps
towards the Turner, backs to Dreamland
where the wreck of the rollercoaster sleeps.

Vicky Wilson