COMPOSITION WRITTEN IN DETENTION
Chris Walker

DERGAM Salah was in detention at North Parramatta’s Redeemer Baptist School when he penned Fear , a moving poem that won rst prize in the prestigious Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards.
The awards have a 30-year history, and this year attracted more than 10,000 entries, but Redeemer students stood out. Just 2 per cent of entries earned a prize, but Redeemer had more students recognised for excellence than any other school in Australia.
These included a second for Connor Mishalow, nine highly commended, and 32 commended, along with Dergam’s rst. The 12-year-old said he was inspired by a photo of a man being attacked by a jaguar. ‘‘I was on detention at school and my teacher said to me, ‘have a look at this picture’,’’ he said. The ‘‘totally scary’’ image, together with the help of an online visual thesaurus, was enough to win him the national prize. ‘‘I never thought that I would win. That was the best detention – without it I couldn’t have won,’’ Dergam said.
Connor, 14, drew his inspiration for A Special World , from the images of war he had seen in World War II movies and online games. ‘‘I was thinking about people getting hurt and the destruction of war, and I wanted to show what is going to happen because of the war,’’ he said.
 

FEAR by Dergam Salah
He is unaware that he is the prey,
Stalking him is a silent killer
Ready to pounce the beast waits, In an instant he attacks,
Fears dagger-like clawstear at his throat,
His heart racing,
His skin wet,
The battle is on.
Feeling the shock of the surprise,
Feeling the beasts breath on his cheek,
The strength of his muscles on his neck,
The predator never gives up.
But the prey is also determined,
To win the battle.
Drawing strength of a source so deep,
With shoulders squared,
He risesfrom almost certain death,
To win the battle.

Principal Jonathan Cannon said Redeemer had a whole-school approach to literacy, and promoted the idea that it could be cool to write poetry. ‘‘It is so important to provide students with tools to communicate what is deeply important to them, and poetry is among the most important of those tools,’’ he said.