The open category of the 2008 Devon Poetry award organised by the Plough Arts Centre, Torrington, was won by Jenny Mayor and her poem Interior with Forget-me-nots (Matisse 1916)

Each time she walked into his attic room,
unbuttoning her blouse, she would enter
the painting that hung above the wide bed:

among its chalky greens, she could remove
her rings, put them on the three-legged table
next to the bowl bursting with blue flowers.

She’d take off her skirt, her best underwear,
kick her sandals under the curved black chair,
stretch out like a cat on the coverlet.

Beyond the gauzy curtains, the rush-hour
traffic crawled and hooted along the street.
They whispered like thieves; she stayed far too late.

Under his gaze she’d stand on the patterned rug,
one foot out of the frame, gathering clothes,
putting on her watch, inventing excuses.

2nd – The passing of hay – Virginia Hobart who comes from South Molton
3rd – The company of the invisible – Christopher North
• The People’s Republic of South Devon will soon be running a poem of the week, with a selection from the latest collection from the Moor Poets, Uncharted