Lilly Rigden, United Kingdom's National Honour
September 2026
A Changing Mind
Forget the weight of the world, I couldn’t bear the weight of my mind
A mind such as mine, that when turned inside
is a sweet scented mist of serenading cyanide
It’s a shower of artillery fire in hopes that I’d die
it identified a threat and said it’d rip me to shreds
we strapped it to a bed with drugs to quell it with rest
To circumvent the dreadful things it said in my head
we did this many times, expecting to re-exorcise
A past spiritual enterprise? Or an existential threat’s demise
to pull and prise apart my pride, unveil light that might propel my mind
to wider skies, an astounding size, to breathe the cloud’s energetic ties
holding memories of reality
to lacerate the shrouds upholding systems and brutality
I’d evaporate troubled waters, and precipitate some sanity
but I’m not God, just a pea in his pod, besotted with humanity
Score: 75 out of 100.
A sincere, sonically energetic confessional poem about a self-destructive mind, with a few striking images but rhyme-driven padding and a slack, fragmented middle that keep it competent rather than strong.
Read the September 2026 National Honours