27/08/2026
Congratulations to Vallen Lippenberg for this wonderful poem, which won the first prize in our annual poetry competition. Competition judge Bassie Gracie commented: 'This poem is so powerful and beautiful. It has such a visceral description of child birth and the description of the mother-daughter relationship really moved me'.
LIBERTY - Dimensions of Birthing Freedom
You keep waiting for someone to hand you permission, to tell you it's alright to want this much, to take up this much room.
Nobody does. So you take it anyway.
You grow a whole person under your own ribs while still going to work, still paying bills, still being told to smile more, ask less, shrink a little for comfort's sake.
And then your body just goes ahead and does the one thing no one can shrink, no one can talk down, no one can schedule around a meeting. It becomes the loudest thing in the room.
Nine months of being underestimated while quietly building a heartbeat from nothing.
Then labor comes, and it is not delicate. It is not polite. It doesn't ask permission either.
It arrives like something ancient, finally getting to speak, your whole body clenching and releasing like a fist unclenching after a lifetime of being told to behave.
You sweat through it. You swear through it. You grip a hand, a rail, a stranger's shoulder, because for once nobody is asking you to be graceful.
They just need you to be strong, and you are, in the oldest, rawest way there is.
Every contraction is a door slamming somewhere far off, a door that used to say quiet, that used to say smaller, that used to say wait your turn.
And your body says no. Not this time.
Then the room goes still, and a cry breaks it open, sharp and furious and completely unapologetic, the first sound of someone who hasn't learned yet to make herself small.
They put her on your chest, damp and blinking, fists already curled like she's ready to fight for something, and you think, good. Start now. Don't ever put those down.
You look at her and understand, maybe for the first time, that your body was never something to apologize for. It just did the one thing nothing else on earth can do.
It made a person. Out of blood and breath and sheer will.
No one gave you permission for that. You didn't need it.
Somewhere in the exhaustion and the joy and the shaking hands you feel it settle into your bones, quiet but sure, that freedom was never going to be handed to you.
You were always going to have to push for it yourself, the way you just did, screaming and glorious and unstoppable, bringing a whole new life into a world that will now have to make room for both of you.
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Again, we congratulate everyone who submitted their work. It's a delight to see so many people engaging in creative writing and producing such wonderful poetry. Carry on the good work, we hope to read more of your poems next year!
The winning poems will shortly be published on our website . We will also be publishing an anthology of the winning and highly commended poems. Copies can be purchased by contacting us via [email protected]
The price is £6.00 plus postage.
Thank you once again to all our poets and our wonderful judge, Gracie.
Thanks also to our sponsors The Radical Tea Towel Company and our local estate agent Courtney Green Estate Agents for your ongoing support.
The winning poems will take centre stage at this year's Celebration evening, which once again will be held in St Margaret's Church in Warnham Parish
For details of the evening and how to purchase tickets for this wonderful event follow this link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-shelley-memorial-presents-a-sparkling-evening-of-poetry-and-jazz-tickets-1992596408497
Horsham District Council West Sussex County Times Keats-Shelley Memorial House Keats-Shelley Association of America Horsham Museum & Art Gallery Horsham Town Council HorshamArtists The Horsham Society
