MCW student wins the 2013 Cancer Council Victoria Arts Award with her poem ‘Daffodils’

Current Massey Masters of Creative Writing student Sue Wootton has won the poetry section of the 2013 Cancer Council Victoria Arts Awards with her poem ‘Daffodils’. The award was judged by prominent Australian poet Jennifer Harrison, who said, ‘‘Daffodils’ is a formally elegant poem in which subtle slant rhyme, extended metaphor and thoughtful pacing entice the reader emotionally into the poem. When reading this poem, one embraces the solitude, renewal and resilience of human experience more widely than before. An outstanding entry, this poem is full of delicate wisdom. Although Wordsworth is not explicitly referenced I like the way this poem resonates with the history of poetry, with the recurring, seasonal ‘daffodil’ in poetry, especially with Wordsworth’s ‘host of golden daffodils’.

The Cancer Council Victoria awards are held annually and include categories for visual arts, film, fiction and poetry.http://www.artsawards.com.au/about

A former physiotherapist, Sue has a long-standing interest in the intersection of science and the humanities generally, and poetry and medicine in particular. Earlier this year she shared second prize in the 2013 International Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine for her poem ‘Wild’.  Working with her supervisor Thom Conroy, Sue is midway through a critical-creative thesis which includes an extract from an upcoming novel.