JRR. TOLKIEN is known to have said, “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
The creative writing course at Whitireia Community Polytechnic understands this and has formulated a competition from it.
Eat Your Words encourages Wellingtonians to wax poetic over their favourite cafes for the chance to win one of more than 40 prizes. Food prizes, of course.
Adrienne Jansen is a tutor with the programme.
“We’re always interested in ways of making creative writing a part of everyday life. Poems and cafes go hand in hand,” she says.
“This competition is really for everybody, not just for people who write seriously or often. It’s for anybody who’d like to have a go at writing a poem,” she adds.
So what is it about café’s that is so conducive to writing?
“Cafés are so full of stuff going on, there’s always a mix of people and conversations. And cafés are sometimes situated in very interesting places.”
Judging the competition is Wellington poet Jenny Bornholdt, who also sees coffee and poetry as a complementary pairing.
“I think lots of poems are written in cafés, certainly lots are read in cafés and I think a lot of poets drink a lot of coffee,” she says.
Bornholdt finds it hard to summarise what makes a good poem.
“I like the condensed moments that happen in a poem, but I love poems that tell a story too. In the winner, I’m looking for interesting use of language, a poem that makes me look at its subject in a new way and the kind of poem that jumps of the page. But there are no rules, just go for it.”
Entries for Eat Your Words close October 15. Poems must be 30 lines long or less and are to be sent to cafepoetrycompetition@whitireia.ac.nz  with a title plus your name and contact details.