January 21st – 28th 2020
mirror spill cycle fine skin
Every Tuesday around noon (UTC), from the 16th of April 2019 until the 28th of January 2020, five words will be posted on this competition page. Entrants have one week to compose and submit one or more poems which include all five words given for that week.
A prize of 500 euros is awarded to one winner, who, if available will be invited to read at Ó Bhéal’s twelfth anniversary event, on Monday the 13th of April 2020. An additional travel fee of 100 euro plus B&B accommodation will be provided for this. The winner also receives a physical award, hand-crafted by acclaimed glass artist (and poet) Michael Ray.
The shortlisted poems and winning entry will also be published in Five Words Vol XIII – the next annual anthology of five word poems, to be launched at the same event. A shortlist of twelve poems including the overall winner will be announced by the first week of March 2020.
The five words offered each week for the 7th Five Words competition (2019-20) are sourced from Ó Bhéal’s seventh year of live Monday evening Five Word Challenges (held during 2013-14). A small, varied selection of additional words are also used due to deletion of duplicates, colloquialisms, etc.
Entry is open to all countries. Poems cannot exceed 50 lines in length (including line breaks), and must include all five words listed during this week. A modicum of poetic license is acceptable. As long as the original spelling is intact within your syntax, you’re welcome to pluralise, join or even split the word to form two adjoining words. Poems should be newly written, during the relevant 7-day period. There is no limit to quantity of entries, although each payment and submission should be made separately.
Submissions carry a 5 euro entrance fee.
Payment should be made via this paypal button before continuing.
Once payment is made, please copy your poem into the completed submission form (one poem per form), and email to
or by post (postmarked by Tuesday at latest) to:
Ó Bhéal
Five Words Poetry Competition
c/o Civic Trust House
50 Popes Quay
Cork
Ireland
For postal entries, please print out and complete the submission form, and post together with your attached poem (on which nothing other than the title and poem appear).
Email entries should only be sent via the above email address, not via the submissions [at] obheal [dot] ie email link on the home page, which is only for non-competition entries, written and performed live during each Monday evening event from words derived randomly by the audience.
| Monolith | by Mary Anne Smith (England) winner |
| The Idea of Snow | by by Jenny Pollak (Australia) highly commended |
| My grandmother goes to the temple |
by Sophia Li (USA) highly commended |
| The Lyric Impulse | by Steve Xerri (England) highly commended |
| Omens | by Joan Gooding (England) |
| Detachment | by Geraldine McCarthy (Ireland) |
| Peckham Flaneur | by Giles Constable (England) |
| La Llorona / Weeping Woman |
by Derek Sellen (England) |
| What you woke to | by Steve Xerri (England) |
| Karst Landscape | by Gillian Laker (England) |
| Vardo | by Jill Munro (England) |
| Nexus | by Tamara Miles (USA) |
| Ptarmigan | by Jill Munro (England) winner | |
| Among Starlings | by Margaret McCarthy (Ireland) highly commended | |
| A Dream of my Dead Grandmother | ||
| in the Modern Art Museum | by Derek Sellen (England) highly commended | |
| Disciplining the Modern Satyr | by Mary-Jane Holmes (England) | |
| Nothing To See | by Giles Constable (England) | |
| How We Are | by Ted O’Regan (Ireland) | |
| Writing for the Ó Bhéal | ||
| Open-Mic | by Jim Crickard (Ireland) | |
| Amber | by Ted O’Regan (Ireland) | |
| Reindeer Moss | by Tamara Miles (U.S.A.) | |
| Every Sunday Ever | by Kirsten Irving (England) | |
| Centenary | by Ted O’Regan (Ireland) | |
| My Mother’s Birthplace | by Tamara Miles (U.S.A.) | |
| Identifications | by John Baylis Post (Ireland) winner |
| Milk | by Siobhan Campbell (Ireland) highly commended |
| The Safety | by Tamara Miles (U.S.A.) highly commended |
| Eve | by Siobhan Campbell (Ireland) |
| LOVELOCKS | by Jane Boxall (U.S.A.) |
| Only Connected | by Margaret McCarthy (Ireland) |
| Perspective | by Ted O’Regan (Ireland) |
| THE ZOMBIE-MAKER | by Derek Sellen (England) |
| Minor Deities | by Tamara Miles (U.S.A.) |
| A fickle god | by Margaret McCarthy (Ireland) |
| STITCHES | by Jane Boxall (U.S.A.) |
| The Buttonhole | by John D. Kelly (Northern Ireland) |
| The Dancehall on the Summit of the Bloodiest Head of the Twenty Six Headed Giant | by John W. Sexton (Ireland) winner |
| Tuesday on a Fulcrum | by Beth Somerford (England) highly commended |
| Commuter | by Janet Lees (England) highly commended |
| The Night of the Nightjar | by Mary Anne Smith (England) |
| Tribes | by Pam Szadowski (England) |
| An awful hush | by Jenny Pollak (Australia) |
| Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Fire Monkey |
by Tamara Miles (formerly Gantt) (U.S.A.) |
| An unread novella in a charity shop |
by Janet Lees (England) |
| Igloo | by Shirley Bell (England) |
| Ragwort | by Derek Sellen (England) |
| A Coin in the Soft Machine | by John W.Sexton (Ireland) |
| Sky, an Open Window | by Tamara Miles (formerly Gantt) (U.S.A.) |
| Survivor | by Derek Sellen (England) winner |
| Sonnet in B Major | by Afric McGlinchey (Ireland) highly commended |
| Home Cooking | by Adannaya Igwe (UK) highly commended |
| Saved | by Liz Smith (England) |
| Breakfast | by Sheena Blackhall (Scotland) |
| At the Hair Clinic | by Derek Sellen (England) |
| The Snooze Button | by Margaret Mc Carthy (Ireland) |
| The Sectioning | by Bernadette McCarthy (Ireland) |
| I Coin a Line | by Mary Fahy (Ireland) |
| The Stereogram | by Anthony Scott (England) |
| Black Mountain Rebel | by Tess Sheridan Adams (Ireland) |
| False North | by John W. Sexton (Ireland) |
| Old Maps and Books | by Don Nixon (England) |
| Fado in a Lisbon Bar | by Don Nixon (England) winner |
| Gipsy Girl | by Eithne Reynolds (Ireland) |
| The Magician’s Hat | by Linda Mills (USA) |
| Matinée Idol | by Richard Hawtree (Ireland) |
| Postcard | by Joy Howard (England) |
| A boy of six thousand parts | by Janet Lees (England) highly commended |
| Palimpsest | by Janet Lees (England) |
| Frozen moment | by Afric McGlinchey (Ireland) highly commended |
| Life on Mars | by Colm Scully (Ireland) |
| The Choice | by Tom Dredge (Ireland) |
| At the Banquet | by Máire Wren (Ireland) |
by glass artist
Michael Ray
