Leonardo: 2020 Visions

by Mark Richardson

"Ron Vearncombe joined PGS as a maths teacher in 1948, becoming head of Mathematics in 1954, and he remained at the school until his retirement in 1978.  He combined academic excellence with modesty, lightning wit, compassion and common sense.  Not only was Mr Vearncombe an inspirational maths teacher, but also a dedicated cricket coach, a talented artist and a gifted piano player – a true polymath.  He established the Leonardo Competition in 1958 because he wished to foster creative talent in the school.”

Having by that time run the Leonardo Poetry Competition six times, I received the above information out of the blue in an email from Mr Doyle about the genesis of the competition, and suddenly the true value of the event came into sharp focus. Having only arrived at PGS a year earlier, I was excited by the idea of taking on the running of the poetry competition. I loved the idea of a public performance as the central part of poetry at PGS. Too often at schools poetry is a solitary art and act, printed perhaps in a small booklet or the school magazine, but never given pride of place in the way in which, music quite rightly is.  But the added realisation that this was all part of a tradition of creativity, with a specific person and date of origin, made it far more real and organic for me: this was not just an English department event, but a PGS one, with a history that was almost as lengthy as my own!

Back then, as now, the event took place at the end of the summer term; back then, as now, it was open to all; and back, as now, poets and parents were invited to an evening to celebrate the act and art of poetry. There were changes in venue: first in the Cathedral, then in the Memorial Library and latterly in the Sixth Form Centre. But each year, we followed a pattern, unbroken. All was seamless: we planned as usual for this, with the added twist that it would be my final event at PGS, with my impending retirement sharpening my approach to this year’s event. What I did not notice was its numerological significance: it would be my thirteenth!

So, not so seamless! No public event, no rehearsals with poets, no speeches, no applause. And, because it was always completed by its award to the overall winning poet, no presentation of the Leonardo Poetry Cup. Well, no physical one at the moment, that is.

But with change comes opportunity. So many great poems emerged from a bumper crop of entries: over 350 this year. Each year the competition has a theme: this year’s theme of 20 20 Vision seemed particularly apt. The year date, the events of the year thus far, its impact on all of us, leading to hopes and visionary dreams of the future, all seemed very fruitful. And so it proved.

The poems reflected all of the above and more. They showed how the writers have engaged with their own selves (both positively and darkly) and with the world around them. Indeed, the overriding view from these poems gives us a brief flash of how turbulent this year has been, but also how much it has given us all to think about in terms of what we value, of what we have realised is really important to us. These writers have found ways to combine familiar words (and some less so familiar ones too) in new ways to help make some sense out of the challenging events and unfamiliar perspectives that we have all been granted on the world around us: the importance of hope, the destruction of a fragile world, the need to strive for social justice, the importance of nature, the fragility of life, the threat of loneliness and the importance of friends and, above all, family.

Below, are the winning poems from Years 7, 8. 9, 10 and 12.

We Will And We Are 

Naomi Miesi (7Z)

We’re hiding 

We’re destroying 

We’re Burning

Fires crash down swallowing lives of innocents

We’re shooting 

We’re killing 

We’re crashing

Bombs of anger, hatred and greed destroy 176 lives

We’re threatened 

We’re terrified 

We’re lost

On the brink of war.

We’re coughing 

We’re choking 

We’re sick

Seas of masks and isolation. Mentally and physically trapped.

We’re falling 

We’re crying 

We’re cherishing

Kobe and Gigi fly as angels

We’re oppressed 

We’re mourning 

We’re tired

I CAN’T BREATHE, BLM

We’re marching 

We're dying 

We’re fighting

Day after day we wonder when will this stop

We’ll hope 

We’ll realise 

We’ll be happy

One day 

We’ll see the hope and light in every situation

We’ll rejoice 

We’ll accept 

We’ll stand together

All as one 

We’ll get through this 

We’ll finally see what is right what is wrong 

And our lives will all be lived in harmony.

I See Hope

Tom Clarke (8V)

I see hope.

In the future I see

Only darkness

There cannot be

Good

Lght

Innocence

There will be no room for it now

Selfishness is for everyone

Though

Light will try and shine through the cracks,

Despite everything

It failing is inevitable

Darkness will rise

It does not matter that

Some humans are good

They do not matter

There are more bad people than good

And this may be our future unless we change

And this may be our future unless we change

There are more bad people than good

They do not matter

Some humans are good

It does not matter that

Darkness will rise

It failing is inevitable

Despite everything

Light will try and shine through the cracks,

Though

Selfishness is for everyone

There will be no room for it now

Innocence

Light

Good

There cannot be

Only darkness

In the future I see

I see hope.

Now You See Them 

Grace Alexander (9Z)

Now you see them,

Now that it affects you

Only now do you see them,

That it fits with your busy, busy life,

Now that it causes you bother

Now you see the issue,

After it’s taken over five decades to reopen your eyes,

To acknowledge your privilege

Now you see them, 

Now we fight for justice,

To end the oppression and suffering that you are privileged enough to be oblivious to.

After years of fighting and progress, 

We are still in this place filled with hatred,

But we are still fighting for a change that has to come.

One day all this effort and rage will be worth it,

But the lives lost can and will never be, 

Nor can they be forgotten or forgiven.

For the loss of a brother, son, father,

Sister, daughter, mother

But most importantly a human being to be the only way for people to truly see the brutality and reality of the situation, 

Is a tragedy

A disgrace.

How were we so blind?

How do we let them just cover up the true wrongs in the world?

Change must come.

Time 

Eli Merrigan (10T)

Twenty twenty.

It is the time for resistance,

The time for uprising,

The time for change.

Twenty twenty will go down in history.

It is the first glimpse of the tides shifting, 

The moment when the waves roll back before crashing to the shore.

And these waves will be loud, 

And they will be harsh.

And they will wash away the dirtied sand of corruption

And replace it with a glowing stretch of hope.

Red faces, bulging veins, shouting voices.

You say violence isn’t the answer 

And that equality has been achieved,

That we live in a post-racial society, 

While you join your hands with others that look like yours

To protect a monument of hatred 

That you hold so dear.

You spout your hateful rhetoric,

Saying “all lives matter” in your blood red hats.

But tell me, 

If you truly believe that then

Why does black lives matter bother you?

If all lives matter then what about

Immigrants?

Disabled people?

Trans people?

Black people?

People who don’t have a soft warm blanket of security 

And walls built out of their own ego surrounding them wherever they go?

Or to you does all lives matter mean

I want to keep my privilege. I want to be proud of my culture

That is built on bloodshed and racism.

Your life only matters when it benefits me.

I am a white person.

I was born with privilege.

And now is the time to use that privilege for good.

We cannot stand, watching from a distance 

At the bang of batons hitting and bullets piercing into black skin.

We cannot sit by as friends and family

Spit venom in the form of words.

We must be better. 

Black people should not have to

Convince you that their lives matter. 

We need to ensure that the attitudes of white people change.

Because all lives cannot matter until black lives matter,

So we must make everyone know that they do.

How Many Must Die ?

Emma Moseley (Y12)

How many must die before things change?

Their lives remembered

Only as numbers.

The world is unravelling, frantically winding out of control

But how was it held together before?

Black skin is a death sentence.

Black skin has been a death sentence for the past 400 years.

Children lie dead in the streets. We step over their corpses.

They deserved it.

We called them super predators

stripped them of their innocence

forced them into the streets

locked them in prison cells

killed their parents.

And we pat ourselves on the back: this is how it is.

Things mustn't change.

They can't.

13% of the USA population is black.

43% of the victims of fatal police shootings are black.

How many can you name?

How many must die before things change?

We drank the kool-aid.

We've been drinking it for centuries.

It's time to wake up.

But I am tired.

Existence is hell.

My gender demonises me, it damns me.

I am not your plaything.

I am not your sexual currency.

I am numb.

137 women killed by a partner every day.

How many can you name?

How many must die before things change?

It's time to wake up.

How many fear holding hands with their love?

Do you?

I do.

I cannot love who I choose.

12 countries can legally kill me.

Will you remember my name?

Will things change if I die?

Our soil is saturated with tears,

Our oceans are filled with screams.

No one is safe until we are all safe.