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Michael Morpurgo has chosen Christine McBeth’s poem Herman the Hermit Crab as the winner of this year’s Caterpillar Poety Prize.
Previous winners include Louise Greig, Coral Rumble and Laura Mucha.
‘Here’s a poem where the words play a music of their own, a poem which teases you into a smile, but the smile soon turns to anger,” said Morpurgo of the winning poem.
“A poem with a story that leads you by the hand, takes you to the Indian Ocean, shows you the life of Herman and his friends, all hermit crabs, his perfect and peaceful life on the beach that is suddenly so cruelly threatened, and by us, by you, by me. It’s a powerful piece of writing, a poem that everyone should read. That good, that important, to us, and to hermit crabs.”
The poet Ted Hughes was a neighbour and friend of Morpurgo (he fished in the river that ran through his farm), and encouraged him to keep writing when he was finding it hard, so it seems fitting that Morpurgo should take such pleasure in judging this year’s prize.
“These poems have been a sheer delight to read,” he said. “I want to congratulate all of you who sent in poems. Please remember that the competition is simply to spur you on to write, to find your own voice as a writer. Keep writing, keep reading, and you will discover the power of your own voice. And that’s important.”
McBeth grew up in the English Midlands and now lives and works as a doctor in Cardiff. Her interest in writing was rekindled while reading to her children when they were young. She loves to walk her dog along the coastal paths of west Wales and Cornwall, and the fate of our beaches and the marine environment inspired her winning poem.
“I was astonished and delighted to hear that I had won The Caterpillar Poetry Prize,” McBeth said. She now hopes to spend a lot more time writing for children in the future.
Morpurgo also commended poems by Mhairi Helme (UK), Sarah Ziman (UK), Latorial Faison (USA), Stephen Comerford (Ireland), Sophie Lewis (UK), Emma Hill (UK) and Jonathan Sellars (UK). The winning poem is published in the summer issue of The Caterpillar, available to purchase at thecaterpillarmagazine.com.
Herman the Hermit Crab
Herman the hermit crab lives on a beach
in the Indian Ocean, way out of reach –
a dot on the map, a far-flung place
thousands of miles from the human race.
But he’s not on his own in this exiled spot –
this latitude, where? This longitude, what? –
for Herman’s no hermit in search of autonomy.
He’s part of a crowd, a hermit crab colony
with Hattie and Hector and Heinrich and Hal,
Horatio, Hilda and Haitem as well,
all scuttling and scurrying to and fro
inspecting the tide as it ebbs and flows.
Myriad crabs, a crustacean commotion,
eyes on stalks, patrolling the ocean
searching for shells, for secondhand homes,
abandoned houses to make their own.
Delicate spirals in aquamarine
or knobbly scrolls of celadon green,
pyramids striped with coral and peach,
miniature treasures washed onto the beach.
Herman the hermit crab needs a new shell.
His old one’s too small and it’s starting to smell.
There’s no housing stock to find close at hand
and hundreds of rival crabs roaming the sand
so he ventures off the beaten track
on his ten tired legs, old shell on his back.
He turns a corner – a hidden bay!
Far from the crowds and out of the way.
And stretching as far as the eye can see
mile upon mile of plastic debris,
a polythene surf, polystyrene foam,
to Herman it looks like potential homes.
He climbs in a bottle, slides down the spout,
but the sides are slippery and he can’t get out.
The plastic’s too hot, the bottle’s too small,
he starts to struggle, he tries to crawl.
Instead of a beautiful spiral shell
he’s encased in a man-made prison cell.
He can hear the sea, he can see the waves
but he can’t escape from this plastic grave.
Herman the hermit crab’s trapped on a beach
in the Indian Ocean, way out of reach –
a dot on the map, a far-flung place
polluted and spoiled by the human race.
But he’s not on his own in this lonely spot –
this latitude, where? This longitude, what? –
here’s Hattie and Hector and Heinrich and Huw,
and Haitem and Hilda, his hermit crab crew!
A rescue party, crabs linked claw in claw,
an unselfish shellfish tug-o’-war
heaving and dragging him onto a rock
where poor Herman sits in complete shell shock.
Safely back home that night by the shore
Herman the hermit crab’s starting to snore.
In a shiny new shell he’s tightly curled,
dreaming crab dreams of a plastic-free world …