WritoryWRITORYWrite Your Own Victory

National Honour · August 2026

🇳🇿

Frankie Kebbell

🇳🇿 New Zealand · leading poet of the nation's field


“Admiration”

60out of 100
Creativity15/25
Emotional Impact19/25
Structure14/20
Language13/20
Theme10/10

I want to lay in bed with you Draw patterns on your skin Watch sunlight dance upon your eyes Reflecting what’s within I’m captivated by your voice You need not raise it further I’d listen to you talk all day Decipher every murmur Your brain is my favourite part of you I know you fight it often Though when I need you to be there for me You’re strong, you’re still, you soften I know that I can’t have you So I keep it to myself I write to purge what’s in my chest Then slide the book back on the shelf

From the judges

A sincere, competently shaped ballad of hidden love whose understated final image lifts otherwise familiar material into genuine tenderness.

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Frankie Kebbell retains all rights · published with the poet's byline as a National Honour