Poem Highly Commended in Literary Nillumbik

My poem “Cartouche”, an ekphrasis based on the print ‘Frosty Night Cartouche’ by Jock Clutterbuck has been awarded ‘Open Highly Commended’ and published in the Literary Nillumbik Anthology of Writing 2018.  Of the poem, judge Helen Lucas said “The commended poem, Cartouche, makes the most of the limited lines – it is well edited and feels complete.  The poet has clearly taken joy working with this abstract image to construct a narrative.”  I did enjoyed the writing of this poem and as ‘Frosty Night Cartouche’ is one of eight prints in the ‘Baldessin & Friends commemorative folio which was conceived as a way to honour George Baldessin’s memory, I explored the notions of the friendship, loss, and the celebration of Baldessin’s life that Clutterbuck would have been working with in his painting.