A GOLDEN retriever is being hailed as the inspiration which led to his owner winning a major poetry prize.
Brighton based poet John Davies has won an award at the Wales Poetry Awards after being inspired by his dog Wilson’s reactions on a walk.
The competition judge Pascale Petit described John’s poem, Caliban, as ‘a poem in praise of green space’ and a successful attempt to imagine an animal’s consciousness.
Mr Davies who came third in the competition said: “There were two main inspirations for the poem, I took part in a multi-disciplinary eco-writing series organised by Kin and Kin’d (Kay Syrad and Clare Whistler) and one of the challenges was to walk barefoot around a local territory and record one’s impressions.
“At the same time I was very involved in the successful campaign to protect a local green space, Varndean Green, from development.”
John explored his garden and the green spaces nearby with Wilson and used Wilson’s reactions in the poem. Mr Davies said “Wilson is very expressive, what he can do with a pair of slippers is amazing!”
