Winning ANZAC Poem for College Student

Beating a large field of entries, some coming from afar as San Francisco, Year 11 College student Chava Arymowicz has been judged a winning finalist in the Auckland Museum ANZAC poetry competition. Chava was one of six finalists who were invited to read their poems in the World War One Sanctuary at the Museum during this year’s ANZAC Day commemorations.

The ‘Lest We Forget’ competition is part of the lead up to the First World War Centenary commemorations in 2015, and was open to three age categories, of which there were over 280 entrants. Using a historical or a contemporary lens, the competition invited applicants to articulate their responses to war in poetry or prose. This year’s focus and content was themed around Duty and Adventure and was judged by senior staff at the museum.

Congratulations on your achievement Chava.

My Boy

With big wide grins and stubborn minds
They marched right in, hearts surely blind.
So young they were 
So full of joy
Why did it have to be my boy?
He left one day, without a word
He went to join their growing herd.
And as they trained he lost his spark 
They put his mind into the dark.
And then he was off across the sea,
Never to return home to me.
With goal set hard he prepared to fight
He went on all throughout the night.
Until the day he was called up
The day my life went all corrupt.
He went into line so full of intention
So many precious things to him I never got to mention.
And in an instant he was dead
The bullet of an enemy straight through his head.
And then it was over and he was lost
One life just a fraction of the entire cost.