Hi poets and enthusiasts alike,
I would like send a big shout out to the first two winners of the Fern Poetry Prize,
Jennifer Noxolo Musangi and Redscar McOdindo K?Oyuga. I would also like to thank and
appreciate every poet who has ever sent in their poem for consideration. We are
celebrating a different type of love this Valentines. They say that birds of a feather
flock together, but what if birds of a delicate feather desire to flock together? That?s
what this month?s poem is about. We live in a fast changing society and can?t afford to
bury our heads in the sand. It?s a love poem with a difference, don?t let the title fool
you. It is my voluminous pleasure to announce the winner of the Third Edition, which is
also the Love Edition of the Fern Poetry Prize worth Kshs. 3,000. And the winner is? Lee
La Poeta ?with her poem titled ?Forgive me mother?. The poem speaks of a new type of
love, and no it?s not about mothers, but something perhaps new to our culture but
nonetheless existent.
I?m also happy to announce that we are extending the coverage of the Fern Poetry Prize to
include schools through a project funded by Koinonia Advisory Research and Development
Service (KARDS). This will be a new segment of the poetry prize targeting students in
high school with a theme on anti-human trafficking. The project is slated to start in
March with the pilot phase targeting five schools. It will involve poetry recitals on
human trafficking and a poetry competition where the students have a chance to win Kshs
1,000, Kshs 500 and Kshs 300 for the winner and runners up respectively. I sincerely
thank KARDS and Consolation East Africa for sponsoring this project and for appreciating
the role played by poetry as an impetus for change in society.
Here is the winning poem by Lee La Poeta titled ?Forgive me mother?
http://www.bernardmuhia.com
