WINNER OF THE DOROTHEA MACKELLAR POETRY AWARD 2015:
ARYANNE CAMINSCHI
ARYANNE CAMINSCHI (YEAR 10) HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED AS THE WINNER IN THE SENIOR SECONDARY SECTION OF THE DOROTHEA MACKELLAR POETRY AWARDS ANNUAL NATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION WITH HER POEM, RIVERSTONE.
Above: Winner, Aryanne Caminschi
Above: Aryanne accepts her award at a cermony in Gunnedah, NSW
I am lucky enough to have been chosen as the winner for the 2015 Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Competition, in the Senior Secondary category of the award. There were 10,000 entries and the Award Ceremony was held in Gunnedah, a small country town near Tamworth, which was where Dorothea grew up. I created my poem relatively quickly. It began as a stream of consciousness about how specific objects, in this instance, a rock, can carry us throughout life. Then, I spaced it out, fine-tuned the language, proofread it a couple of times, and emailed it to my English teacher, Miss Persse. I think there are two points my poem creates or reflects upon. The first is about how these simple objects can stay with us throughout our lives, anchoring us somewhat to wherever we will go, and all the places we’ve been. The second is about the accessibility of literature and how we interpret poetry in the modern era. I wanted to create a piece that almost everyone could interpret and identify with, both quickly, and in their own way. Nowadays, people don't have time to dwell for hours on poetry, and if we don't almost immediately establish a connection with the words, it is cast aside. Because of this, poetry has evolved to be shorter, often less specific, but simultaneously, more rich and often more soaked in meaning, and I tried (and I truly hope I succeeded) to reflect these modern ideas in my piece. I returned from New South Wales on 4 September, after two days of ceremonies and dinners with the Dorothea Mackellar Committee, honoring Dorothea, and celebrating this year’s winners of the awards. It was really special and a wonderful experience to be acknowledged like this, and I won’t forget all the wonderful, kind and generous people I met. At the moment, my plan for writing is to continue entering competitions alongside my St Mary’s Extension English course, which has really helped me develop my writing. I'm planning on pursuing a commerce degree,
majoring in marketing, and I'd like to write for the corporate world, as well as writing short stories, a blog, and poetry in my spare time. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the judges of the competition and the committee for making this whole event possible, and so many thanks to my English teacher, Miss Persse, who has taught and encouraged me throughout the process. Aryanne Caminschi (Year 10)
RIVERSTONE Aryanne Caminschi It could have been any other stone, at the beginning, When it was Plucked from amongst icy riverwater, in curiosity and tucked, a treasure, Into an orange polar fleece coat pocket, warm But it stayed in that pocket longer than one might think, and became smoother every time It went through the wash And the child who picked the pebble from the rest Grew accustomed to the warm glassy reassurance in the right pocket Of whatever he was adorned with for warmth that day And as the polar fleece pocket changed from orange to navy And navy to black And polar fleece to leather and leather to silk The black riverstone went from a souvenir of a walk, To a relic of child’s wandering, To a token inadvertedly grasped in moments of alarm Or sometimes nostalgia for times simpler But as the pocket changed, as the child grew
10
Achievements
The pebble stayed.