I wrote the following poem for the Telegraph’s 2026 Poetry Competition. The theme of this year’s competition is “mothers.” After writing the poem, I realised I couldn’t submit it, because I’m not a resident of the UK, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man.
Anyhow, I think poetry competitions are a bit dumb anyway. Who decides if a poem is any good—let alone better than another?
If you are British, Channel Islandish, or Isle of Manish, feel free to steal the below poem and claim it as your very own. Who knows, maybe you’ll even take away top prize?
Men Into Monsters
A baby boy — toddler — trips and falls
on a marble airport floor, and then gets up,
and runs — collapsing — into his mother’s open arms.
She consoles him, wiping the tears that spill down his cheeks
with the cuff of her sleeve pulled over her palm.
The mother — she smiles at me.
And I wonder, how is it that loving mothers
raise baby boys that turn into men
that become monsters?