Winner: Maisie Goodfellow,

Maisie Goodfellow’s poem ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’ is the recipient of a 2020 Newcastle Poetry Competition Young People’s Prize.

Frankenstein’s Monster

He always loved looking at himself.

It was a hobby,

a passion.

He’d take in his whole image –

his hair, his skin –

but now he knew his own eyes

would draw him in

like the call of the void.

He wore eyepatches

and sunglasses;

goggles,

painted eyes on

the back

of his gloves;

tried to bring himself to

pour vinegar in his pupils,

but remembered some past life

with deep brown

coffee to go.

Maisie Goodfellow, 18