I first saw the call for submissions for inclusion in this anthology on the Comps and Calls website and immediately knew I'd be sending my poem Invisible Ribbons for consideration. Invisible Ribbons was a long time in the making. I first started writing it in 1998, inspired by a photograph of my family which sat on the desk in my uniform room in halls of residence. Back then it rhymed and was pretty longwinded, but it did meet the criteria I'd set myself - to reinforce that a family is still a family, whether or not it is complete, and that the person no longer alive is no less a part of it. I rewrote the poem for a competition in 2012, completely changing all of it but for the theme and a few key images. It somehow felt more honest, especially after eliminating the rhyme. It didn't win the competition, but the poem definitely benefitted from this reworking. So when I saw the call for Bear the Pall (which at that time was an u...