Teacher wins UK poetry prize with poem on dual heritage

Marvin Thompson, of Jamaican heritage, says he wrote it as a gift for his children, ‘to their future selves’

A startling poem with allusions to a rich range of subjects ranging from Salvador Dalí and the Bible to an abused footballer, a revered hip-hop band and the Welsh language has won a prestigious literary award.

The Fruit of the Spirit is Love (Galatians 5:22) by Marvin Thompson, a school teacher in Wales, was judged the best from more than 18,000 poems entered into the National Poetry Competition by more than 7,000 writers from 95 countries.