Eleanor Hough

We Played Drinking Games

We played drinking games
Because we're kids and that's what we do
Not quite adults and not far off
But it's still a rebellion, still a taboo
We spent all of our seventeenth year destroying
Half with the bottle between our teeth
And half with the edge of the toilet seat
Imprinted on our skulls because
Christ
I feel better when I know it's not going to go all over me.

We played drinking games
Because you can put on a film and play it right through
'Withnail and I', 'Where Eagles Dare'
Or Michael Caine in the great 'Zulu'
And you take a drink when old Jack Hawkins
Rides off into the desert shouting
'You're all going to die,' he keeps on shouting
And you've got to take a drink because
It's in the rules
And God knows school kids are used to following those.

We played drinking games
Because it's something to do on a Friday night
In with your friends and out of the cold
And with any luck you'll be out of sight
Of any damn figures of authority
Away from them and on your own
Far from them and completely alone
And the only danger's you because
You're stupid
Or too young to know for sure you're not immortal.

We played drinking games
Because it killed us and that's where we aimed
To self-destruct and show all the rest
That we weren't the ones afraid to be blamed
By the people who told us what we were to do
That we weren't the ones afraid to explore
And ignore and endure and forget the encore
And face every one of our demons because
Dying
May be a demon but it's never going to happen at this age.

We played drinking games
Because they helped us escape back into reality
Out of the falsehood of childlike innocence
And into the hard truth of teenage fatality
Of soft breath and skin like pearls of blue
The medical term for which is cyanosis
And then for which the awful diagnosis
Destroys any romance behind it because
This poetry
Cannot make an ugly death beautiful.

We played drinking games
Because there was never anything else to do
We were children and children play games
Knelt on the hard bathroom tiles and threw
Up into clockwise curling cascades of
Clear water while we slurred and cried
And heard his parents ask us why he died
And I said it's because
That's what we do when we're bored
Which answered their question almost as little as it answered mine.

Eleanor Hough (17)

2011 Slam Final! 10/02/2012 All 100 finalists should have now received their letters of congratulations and an invitation to the slam final, however please check out our top 50 under 18s and top 50 over 18s just in case your letter  has been delayed! This year’s slam final will take place on Saturday 21st April 2012, at The Burghley Club, Peterborough, PE1 2QA. The event will kick off with the under 18s slam starting at 3pm until 6pm, two champions will be crowned and awarded with the top prizes, laptops! The over 18s slam will start at 6:30pm until 9:30pm, with the three runners-up receiving cash prizes and the champion having the choice of a publishing contract with Bonacia Ltd or £1000! Finalists are welcome to invite friends and family to the event but tickets must be purchased before the event because of capacity limits within the venue. Contact our customer services team on 01733 890099 or email info@poetryrivals.com to order tickets (£5 cost). Read other news: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

What was the inspiration behind your poem?

I suppose I wanted to write about the issue of underage drinking because it's something that's been in the public eye a lot in recent years, and at seventeen I was around the sort of age where you see it firsthand. I didn't want to romanticise anything about it either – I wrote it just after my friend died of alcohol poisoning, and while I didn't really want to preach, I wanted it to be realistic. Not the lightest topic, but it worked as inspiration.


What inspired you to enter Poetry Rivals?

I first heard of it through a friend, and I'd recently had a bit of a poetry phase, so I thought I might as well send one of them off. And I thought that on the off-chance I got through to the final fifty I'd love to have a go at performing it, as terrifying as it sounded, so that made up my mind.


What did you think of the Poetry Rivals Slam?

It was fantastic. It was the first time I'd been to anything like that, and I didn't really know what to expect, but I thought it was great. It was a change to see poetry performed like that rather than just reading it on a page, and it made a difference, because you could get a sense of the emotion the poet intended when they wrote it, how they meant it to be read. It was a great insight into other people's work.


How did you feel when you found out you had won?

Oh, well. Thrilled. Surprised. Definitely surprised. Not complaining, though.