Given Poems – National Poetry Day 2025 – Under 16s

Here is our selection of the entries for Best Poem by Under-16s for the Given Words competition for National Poetry Day. They all had to include the following five words: pair, endure, lightfast, hold, and justice.

You can read the winning poem The Menu by Miranda Yuan and the poems Photos taken the day they said it was over by Sabrina Li, My Purple Life! by Gia Beckett, and Thread of Reality by Lily Richards—which all received a Special Mention—along with the judge's comments here and the poems from the Adult's category here.

❆ ❆ ❆

Kia kaha
Be strong and
Endure
Keep hold of justice
Pair mana with whānau
Stay lightfast and keep
Living
Mauri ora.

Saoirse Johnson, aged 14
Taupō

❆ ❆ ❆

The painter who forgot to use lightfast paint

Miss Dae Vincy
accused of scamming
an unwary customer
searching for decor
for his grey home.

The evidence, a pair of innocent-looking paintings,
are held in the hands of the Honourable Judge.

'She is innocent,' cried her lawyer, 'blame her not,
for she has a memory of a leaky pot.
It was a fluke, an accident,
a disruption caused by a mistake!'
he called out in dismay.
'Mr. Lawyer, you may sit down,
this is what we call justice.
Now we will hear from the prosecution.
You may present your closing argument.'

'To do justice, this is what we must do;
She must endure two years, alone, abandoned.
For she must have realised that the paint she used
was NOT lightfast. But she never told anyone,
and sold it right away, to an unwary victim, who was led astray.'

'Yes, Ms. Lawyer, thank you for your time
though this case is quite particular…'

Lilly Pan, aged 11
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

The Stars Build Shadows

A pair of paper-flower
candles lightfast in the moonlight.
Trees of kelp
The seal endures melting ice.
Holds onto the light.
Finds her mother under the piers
Wrestling inside a plastic net.
No justice in these broken seas.

Claire Zhao, aged 12
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

I know everything but I know nothing

I know how to endure
cleaning up my dog’s poo.

I know how to make
lightfast underwear.

I know how to rob cats
for their lunch money.

I know how to use
justice against evil.

I know how to eat
washing detergent.

I know how to pair
soap and lego.

I know how to walk
a marathon in 5 minutes.

I don’t know how to
hold an apple.

Charlie St John, aged 9
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

Artistic Justice

The pigments, once vibrant,
now faded whispers on the page
lightfast memories holding on
to the curling paper

Rain leaving dewy drops on the windowsills
slowly rotting, art forgotten
in the empty room

The bristly paintbrush
lies next to the painting
pairing with the dusty theme

left forgotten
in the attic, enduring
through the thick coat
of time, now dusted off
and held to the light,

finally the golden mane glimmers
gallops into the dawn.

Maya Swann, aged 13
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

Colour blank

Once I dreamed I was a dancer,
fleet footed, untouchable;
pirouetted through midnight gardens in the arms of infinity.

The world was lightfast,
I held 1000 colours in my palm;
whispered them like visions to the breeze.

But to wake to a bleached sunrise,
blank paper, bed sheet, cornstarch —
Where are the pulleys to lift the curtain?

Grapple with permanence all I do,
play tug of war, cry in the cacophony,
is this justice?
Yank helplessly at the arms of the airborne clock,
can't pull them back 'round to midnight.

How to ward away nightmare contortions,
existence in monochrome pairs:
2 leafless trees,
2 boneless fish,
2 songless birds.
Washed-out timescape, colour blank.

Twice I dreamed I was a dancer,
lethargic, fragile.
Stumbled through mid-day desertscapes of pure-white sand,
couldn't quite endure the burning tides beneath my feet...
Maybe infinity only lasts so long.

Lucia Sampson, aged 15
Titirangi, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

❆ ❆ ❆

Cowboy Wars (Sibling Rivalry)

Welcome to the Wild West
Where fights are all too common
This feud is a bitter one
Brewing for what seems like an eternity (actually, a couple of hours)
Bang, BANG!
Here we go again
My brother and I are a pair of outlaws
It’s noon, time for our showdown
I push           He smacks
I punch         He kicks
He does karate, who cares if he’s a black belt
I spoke too soon
He holds me down
'Heeyah!'
Delivering his final blow,
'OWWWWW!' I scream
The pain is too much for me to endure
With my free hand, I scramble for my Nerf gun
It’s out of reach
This is it, I’ve lost the duel
But justice always comes on lightfast feet
'You’re both grounded!'
The sheriff has spoken
'No, mum NOOOOO'
The punishment, two weeks of solitary confinement (no device time)
Just wait ‘til I break out of here
I’ll get my revenge

Isabelle Holmes, aged 10
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

Hate
How sometimes,
Sometimes it
Feels
Like parts of me are
Lightfast. Unfading, undying
Holding to justice, waiting for consequence
Nothing
It endures my self righting self discipline like it is
Nothing
What can I be like this if not
Nothing
It just won’t fade falter it just keeps
Creeping
Back up on me I can’t
Escape
Lightfast. Unfading, undying, unjustifiable
Only a divine pairing can make me
Free
I have been
freed
Held in the flowing rivers of my heart
And in the oceans of the sea
Paired
Encased, embraced, enveloped by
Love

One Two
One to one
One pair

I am
Loved
I can
Love
Sometimes.
But always
Together
I can
Love

Anastasia Wongcharupan, aged 15
Lower Hutt

❆ ❆ ❆

The starry horizon

I gazed out to
the endless navy sea venturing
out to the night.

My shirt, lightfast and
bold captured the moon's
eerie glow.

It was like guilt was
holding my heart captive,
like a shadow over my
soul.

A pair of entwined,
thick branches covered
my pale face in the
cold wind.

I had endured this so far
to wind up at a dead end,
stopped in my tracks.

But justice was still out there,
sailing on the starry horizon.

Mia Lock, aged 10
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

I have to endure the annoying pair – Lilly and Lucy.
I will have to hold on for some justice to come between us,
the one other thing that is not really good is that Lilly and Lucy
are lightfast,
not like they won’t fade
their annoyance won’t fade.

Jaanvi Singh, aged 8
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

The Day The Earth Broke Into Two

It made a horrible sound
All over the ground

We drifted from the sun
When the power cut

The light was only one
I had to endure

The pain was pure
A man screamed justice

We were in a crisis
The sun was not as bold

I saw a pole I had to hold
Now the Earth is a split pair

And I really do care
From the southside

The moon held lightfast
Then it boomed a blast

Rye Eoin Stafford, aged 10
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

I LOVE GUMMIES!!!

I can eat gummies lightfast.

I endure the pain of watching my enemies eat gummies
in front of me.

I take justice on those who steal
others’ Gummies.

I hold a gun to the robber’s head
because he tried to steal my gummies.

I pair gummies with tomatoes (it’s really good).

Rylan Bowler, aged 10
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

Dawn’s Heir

Snowflakes dance to the ground,
the lush land endures the bleak white,
a pair of snow-laden trees,
lightfast sentinels stand still,
bowing low,
towards the ground,
burdened with regal reverence.

She sits there,
waiting,
fearing for the time
when justice is held,
when night wanes into day
and melts her into light.

Samuel Hu, aged 14
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

Mountains hold the breath of life
tied to a kea’s back
Tawhirimatea blows a lonely pair of wings – the tide of the sea
Insects cry after man’s no justice to the trees
Ancient rocks lightfast
enduring tears of Ranginui
to his long lost love

Alfred Lash, aged 11
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

She Left

We were a perfect pair
We held hands to withstand our despair
She sought justice for our
            friendship
Walked in sync to endure
            our hardship
We were like lightfast fabric
            a bond that never fades
Tears fell under the shade
She was like a sister to me
            we skipped around carefree
On my own now, she found
            a new friend
I guess its just me now
            until the very end…

Ila Rutherfurd, aged 12
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

What would the world be like

if we ran out of food
and billions starved to death.
If we stopped getting rain
and billions had to endure thirst.
If we stopped being able to grow crops
to eat.
If the cost of living became so high
we couldn’t afford food anymore
or even a pair of new slippers.
If the sun became so blindingly hot
that all the plants withered and died
and even lightfast paint
wouldn’t be able to hold colour
against the sun’s light.
What if our hospital’s became so unequipped
that newborns only had a small chance of surviving
so that only some mothers
would be able to hold their child.
If our world became so chaotic
there was no justice for anyone.

Emma Zhang, aged 12
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

Two makes a team

Two makes a team.
Two swallows dip and curve, ripping insects from the lightfast fabric of the sky.
Two makes a team.
A pair of willow trees stand sentinel over a roaring river as the sky opens up and the world is torn apart by winds and water, ever-enduring.
Two makes a team.
A young couple lie in jade-coloured grass, holding each other with the fierce desperation of two who know they will stay together until their bones are nothing but story.
Two makes a team.
A teenager sleeps in a hospital chair, waiting and wishing for good news, for justice, even in their dreams.
It never comes.
Two makes a team.
But what happens when there is only one left?

Briar Jarman, aged 12
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

To endure the agony of mistakes
Is what justice must do
Must be
It must hold its anger when confronted
To stay and not budge
To choose correctly,
Even when it seems impossible

To plaster the walls with fair rulings
That remain lightfast when exposed
To the most hateful rays of UV.
This is what justice must do
Must be

To be the embodiment of good and evil
Held together as one pair to endure
What is left of people's humanity
After they are found
Guilty, Innocent
Words, heavy and light at the same time
Depending on who holds them
This is what justice must do
Must be

Moon King, aged 13
Glen Eden, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

❆ ❆ ❆

'A body still mine'

He made me a stranger
inside my own skin.
Called my 'no'
an invitation,
my silence
a win.
But I learned to hold
the pieces he tried to break—
a fractured pair:
me and my soul,
he tried to take.

Justice isn’t loud,
sometimes it’s a quiet claim—
a steady breath,
a whispered name.

This body is still mine
even if I’m broken inside,
even though his hands are etched,
into my mind,
til shame lingers
like a second skin.

He never asked,
only stole,
the innocence
of my lightfast soul.

This body—
now scarred and tainted,
he left me to endure
a promise still broken,
a life I question
and try to forgive.

But he could not
dim me.
Not completely,
that is.

Lilly Van Rooy, aged 15
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

The lonely bird

The lonely bird flits through the forest, the last of its kind,
As it flies around, it sees birds in their pairs,
It twits and twoos, even though in a bind.

Yet it keeps flying, even enduring bears,
As it flits through the forest, sad and alone,
It soars up the kauri; no need for stairs.

It is small and lightfast, and far it has flown,
As such, it is tired, so settles for sleep,
But a storm whips up, and far leaves are blown.

The bird is picked up, with no time for a peep,
And it flips and it turns, the wind has its hold,
And it takes the bird far, and over some sheep!

It is taken over a town, where a house has been sold,
Over a building where justice is done,
Over a mountain, mined for gold.

The wind takes the bird back, its had its fun,
Dumps it back down in its nest,
Then turns and leaves, it thinks it has won.

The lonely bird flits through the forest, not part of a pair,
‘Til it meets a small bird – one of its kind!

Joshua Taylor, aged 14
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

❆ ❆ ❆

Eternal

It’s easy to name them:
A pair.
One syllable,
quick on the tongue,
But heavy in living.

People say what they see.
How the woman paid
For what should’ve been free,
How the man was calm
Sitting in the shade.

Love is always good.
But they don’t see
The pieces fading away,
The small cuts made just to hold it whole.

To endure
the distances,
The silences,
The moment one gives more
While the other doesn’t notice.

Romance novels promise,
Love is eternal
Is it really?
Is eternal also the moments
That feel like pain

Or maybe love
Is whatever comes after pain?
The kisses,
The birthdays,
the children’s parties?

Maybe one day,
Sharing a cupcake
turns into many little mouths
Waiting to be fed.

So, try to hold on,
For the sake of love.
Because justice…
Justice is a blanket
That wraps around you
After the night you spent
Feeling almost alone.

Love is a short word,
Pair is too.
But it’s everything they carry;
To hold, to endure,
To remain lightfast,
That makes them eternal.
A blanket of justice,
Pulled over both,
Even if one is fading.
That’s what keeps
A pair alive.
That’s what makes them eternal.

Maryam Sarwar, aged 13
Mt Roskill, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

❆ ❆ ❆

Universal Collapse

At the end of the Universe,
Hidden in the beautifully shattered remains of what was,
the pair of us stand and stare at the total collapse.

With your hand in my hand,
We watch and endure as the world crumbles and falls,
Our hold on each other is steadfast,

'Is this the end?' you ask.
Your grip falters,
but I hold fast.

'No,' I say. 'It is simply a new beginning.'
But we both know that not even I believe my words,
They ring hollow - and do not do the universe justice in this moment of decay.

'Then,' you whisper, 'I hope we rot together.'
I smile, sad. 'I suppose it would be fitting, and I cannot wait to join you in the ground.'
We stand together, our love is lightfast,

but when compared to our societal collapse,
it will not hold
and we will rot together at last.

Carly Armstrong, aged 15
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

The Pain Experience

I endure this pain
and cry out for justice.
I lost to a game,
holding my lightfast ball.
As I suffer from losing,
sitting alone with my hope
strip off my pair of shoes
and start to give up,
tears well up in my eyes.

Jharred Jacinto, aged 13
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

I pair those who
Have to endure their lightfast life
And those who hold a sense of deeper justice
Ones hand must lift up on another from strife
And one that will drag down of those he trusted

One will see the tunnels ending light
And one will see the distance from where he stands to the end.
One will be gifted of a golden heart and follow what's right
And one disobey to see the world has compassionate trend

Why would one pair such opposites! I must know.
So one can pull them out of the trenches
And one can have someone to follow

Vahin Setty Sivakumar, aged 13
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

❆ ❆ ❆

The city’s drainage system works fast

A droplet of water
Falling, falling, falling…
Drip
A pair of wispy clouds hangs above the skyline
The storm still holding on
Falling, falling, falling…
Drip
The city’s drainage system works fast
Gutters and pipes, channels and drains
Carrying away water as if it were never there
No trial, no hearing, no justice
Falling, falling, falling…
Drip
Looking up, one roof
A thousand pipes
All vibrant vermillion
Despite the burning sun, remaining lightfast
Falling, falling, falling…
Drip
The city silent despite the time
Strange
The last of the clouds slips beneath the horizon
No longer there, no longer enduring
The sun bright, lasting, mocking overhead

Hudson Blyde, aged 13
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

The wind

An invisible surge of power
whistling past my ear,
almost knocking off the pair
of lightfast glasses
held tightly to my face.

Searching for justice, sword in hand
ready for a long battle,
ready to endure the mountain climb,
ready for anything.

Maddison Matthews, aged 11
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

Lying in silence,
my ragged breathing the only sound.
Cold seeps through the earth beneath me,
icy fingers creeping into my bones.
Time ticks—slow, cruel—
minutes dissolve into hours.
My eyes drift shut
for what I know will be the final time.

The voices rise,
begging me to endure,
to claw my way back from the edge.
Each breath is a battle
I can no longer win.

Warm, dark red spreads from my wounds,
its heat fading too fast.
The voices grow faint,
their urgency swallowed by a lightfast dark
that will not release me.

Gone—
the steady pair of lungs that once kept rhythm.
Gone—
the heartbeat I used to hold like a promise.

And in the end,
there is no mercy—
only the quiet justice of the earth,
closing over what remains.

Lilly-Marie Douglass, aged 15
Ōtautahi Christchurch

❆ ❆ ❆

Continue reading the winning poems along with the judge's comments here and the poems from the Adult's category here.

Given Words 2025

This year, international poetry film makers responded to our Call for Word Films and we have selected five (from Germany, Canada, the United States, Austrailia and Ireland) for this, the tenth edition of Given Words. In order of appearance in the presentation video, the word films are by: Ebba Jahn, Tom Konyves, Cindy Stockton Moore, Ian Gibbins and Colm Scully. You can find out more about each filmmaker below the video.

We invite you to write a poem which includes the five words and send it to us before midnight on 22 August, National Poetry Day. Please see the full rules below.

We will award prizes for the Best Poem and the Best Poem by Under-16s. The winners will receive books courtesy of The Cuba Press and Massey University Press (see below).

And the five words are…

(If for some reason you cannot see or hear the words in
the video you will find them at the bottom of this post.)

We are very grateful to all the people who responded to the Call for Word Films. We could only choose five for the competition, but you can find some of the other entries on the Given Words Instagram. Some have made new word films specifically for Given Words while others sent in fragments of existing works, where we can see how individual words colour our perception of the images presented. You can find out more about each of the five selected filmmakers below (in order of appearance in the video) and there are links to their websites where you can find examples of their poetry film work.

Ebba Jahn graduated from the Film and TV Academy Berlin (DFFB) and has worked as a 16 mm documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. 2018 her focus shifted to the creation of short video collages with original sound and improvised music, own and found footage, artworks, photos and poetic texts. Since the experimental award winning 67 min. music video collage 'IDEA - Miniatures by Improvisers' made 2021/2022, several longer Video Editions in cooperation with musicians followed. 2024 she published her first book in German: COLLAGE Ü. Web

Tom Konyves is a Canadian writer, poet, videopoet and videopoetry theorist. In 1978, he coined the term videopoetry to describe his first interdisciplinary work, Sympathies of War, and is considered to be 'one of the original pioneers of the form'. In 2008, he began research in the field of videopoetry, publishing the groundbreaking 'Videopoetry: A Manifesto' in 2011 to define the hybrid genre, assign constraints and categories to differentiate its various manifestations and specificities. YouTube | Insta | FB | Web

Cindy Stockton Moore is a Philadelphia based artist who creates site-responsive multimedia work that engages the history, environment and poetic narrative of a landscape–with an emphasis on materiality and process involving natural pigments and aqueous media. Her experimental, often collaborative, videos have been screened in festivals and exhibitions nationwide and abroad. Web

Ian Gibbins is a poet, video artist and electronic musician living in South Australia. His poetry has been widely published in Australia and overseas, and includes four books, two of which are collaborations with visual artists. His award-winning poetry videos, video art and soundscapes have been exhibited to acclaim at festivals, installations, galleries and public art displays around the world. Until he retired in 2014, Ian was an internationally recognised neuroscientist and Professor of Anatomy at Flinders University, South Australia, having originally trained as a zoologist. FB | Insta | Vimeo | Bandcamp | Web

Colm Scully is a former Chemical Engineer turned Poet and Poetryfilm maker from Cork, Ireland. He is a judge on The Drumshanbo Written Word Weekend Poetry Film Competition and the Ó Bhéal International Poetry Film Competition. His films have been shown internationally and he won the Deanna Tulley Multimedia Prize 2022. His poems have been published in PoetryIreland Review, Cyphers, Crannóg and Orbis. FB | Web

THE RULES:

• The theme is up to you.
• The words can be in any order.
• You may change the tense of verbs and change nouns between plural and singular. (For example, hold can be a noun or a verb, and so can change to the plural holds and the verb held or holding, but cannot be used as the noun holding.) If you are in doubt about any word you can send us an email.
• Maximum length 200 words.
• If you intend to use AI in any way in the preparation of your poem please read the following supplementary rules first: Use of AI in Given Words. NOTE FOR TEACHERS: You can decide whether or not the use of AI is appropriate for your students.
• Entry is free and open to all NZ citizens and residents.
• Only one poem per person.
• Poems by under-16s must also include the age of the poet. We would prefer parents or teachers to send the poem on the child's behalf.
• FOR TEACHERS: We have prepared a lesson plan for teachers. You are very welcome to get your classes to participate, but please help us out by only sending in a selection of up to 10 of the best poems from your students.
• Participation means you allow us to reproduce your poem on Given Words.
• The deadline for entry is midnight on 22 August 2025.

Submit your poem by email including your full name and town of residence + age if under 16 to: nzgivenwords@gmail.com

To receive updates about the competition please subscribe to our newsletter here. We only send emails related with this competition and you can easily opt out at any time.

Winning poems will be selected by Sophia Wilson, Pat White and Charles Olsen.

Sophia Wilson grew up on unceded Anaiwan land in Australia and is now based in southern Aotearoa New Zealand. An arts graduate and former mental health worker, she is the author of Sea Skins, a poetry collection published in 2023 by flying island books.

Pat White is a poet, essayist, memoirist and artist. His writing often directly reflects his interest in rural life and the natural environment. His first collection of poetry, Signposts, was published in 1977, and he has since published a range of collections that draw on his experience living in different places around New Zealand, from the bottom of the South Island to the far north of New Zealand.

Charles Olsen is an artist, poet and filmmaker based in Spain. His third poetry collection, La rebeldía del sol ('Rebellious Sun') is published by Olifante Ediciones de Poesía. In April 2025 he was a special guest of Cadence Video Poetry in Seattle where his poetry film Wandering Houses—co-directed with Colombian poet Lilián Pallares—was premiered. His videopoem Vanitas based on an ekphrastic poem by Mary Jo Salter was featured in Filmetry 2025. You can watch Vanitas on the Filmetry Archive.

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About the prizes

The winner of Best Poem will receive Tackling the hens by Mary McCallum, courtesy of The Cuba Press, and The Lobster's Tale by Chris Price and Bruce Foster, courtesy of Massey University Press.

The winner of Best Poem by Under-16s will receive Iris and Me by Philippa Werry, courtesy of The Cuba Press, and Sylvia and the Birds by Johanna Emeney and Sarah Laing, courtesy of Massey University Press.

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(The five words are: pair, endure, lightfast, hold and justice.)

Coming soon – Given Words 2025

Watch this space for the 10th edition of Given Words! This year the words will be presented in Word Films made by international poetry filmmakers who responded to our Call for Word films.

On 1 August 2025, we will publish here the five words which you have to weave into a poem by 22 August, Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day.

We will be awarding a prize for the Best Poem and a prize for the Best Poem by Under-16s. The winners will receive prizes courtesy of The Cuba Press and Massey University Press. In addition the winning poems will be translated into Spanish and published in the journal of island literatures, Trasdemar.

If you want to be the first to know what we are doing please subscribe to our newsletter here. We only send emails related with this competition and you can easily opt out at any time.

You can also follow us on Instagram @givenwords

For further enquiries you can contact us at nzgivenwords@gmail.com

In the meantime you can hear the winners from 2023 read their poems' on NZ Poetry Shelf and read the poems from last year in the previous posts.