A poet and she didn’t know it

INAUGURAL WINNER: Helayna Ruifrok won the open category of the first Te Tairawhiti Poetry Competition. Spring was the theme. Picture by Paul Rickard

“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance” . . . and the shadows certainly danced in the inaugural Te Tairawhiti Poetry Competition run by The Gisborne Herald during lockdown.

With over 100 poems inspired by the competition theme “Spring”, choosing winners proved no easy task but judge Benita Kape took up the challenge.

The winner of the open category is Helayna Ruifrok for her poem Would We Have Noticed?

“I've always loved writing,” Helayna said. “I've had journals my whole life documenting my travels and my life as a mum.

“This competition sparked the poet in me that I didn't know was there. I really enjoyed the process actually, sitting outside with a pencil and notebook, putting words together.

“I was constantly rubbing words out, adding new ones and switching lines around. It was real fun making sense of the jumble in my head and seeing it come to fruition as a poem.”

The winners of the rangatahi section are Amy Adcock for Come Back Golden Hypnosis and Sam Mason-Green for 7am.

Helayna won a $100 voucher donated by Warehouse Stationery. Amy and Sam won family passes for minigolf at Gisborne's i-Site, courtesy of Trust Tairawhiti,

The ultimate prize, however, was the coming together of community to create beautiful words in a time when the normality of life has been disrupted by Covid-19.

A big thank you to poet Benita for judging the competition. It was no easy task choosing favourites from the many pages of wonderful words sent in.

• You can see more on the competition in the Arts & Entertainment section online .