Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Poetry
The Word
In the beginning it was light
and the moment was one
and all was one and all was light
Everything that was or would be
all contained in the light
all condensed in the moment
which was Always
Perhaps there was a you and a me in the light
but there was no separating us
All was energy and all was mass
and all {Was}
In the beginning it Was
and it Was Light
It Was Everything
Let there be
and there Was
and next there was next and next
there was time and there was space
Space for Everything to move about
and time to let the particles and waves dance
Yes
They danced and did not grieve their
separation from the Was
It was good and now is good
and what is to come will be good too
For Everything will split and recombine
and dance at different tempos
And there will be
Radiation and sound and atoms and gravity and dust and fission and hydrogen and stars and iron and fire and water and air and planets and days and nights and sunsets and sunrises and moons and storms and temperature and plate tectonics and molecules and carbon and miracles repeating over and over and over again all throughout the Was which IS and minerals and microbes and salt and algae and grass and macrobes and little swimming creatures and big swimming creatures and oceans and rivers and lakes for them to swim in and crabs and a shore and sand and land and beautiful beasts and wonderous trees and fruits and ferns and beetles and flowers and rainbows and creatures with senses to take it all in and scales and bones and breath and blood and hope and feathers and joy and fur and family and air for flying creatures to soar through and magnetic fields to guide them and seasons and songs and aurora borealis and creatures like you and me (Yes! You and Me!) and Love
(which was there in the beginning because there was Light in the beginning
which Was
Everything
that Is)
Remember?
Because we were there
and if we were there
then then Love Was
Ashley Williamson is the winner of the 2026 Letter Review Poetry Prize for her long poem, “The Word.” An Oxford-educated poet and radiographic interpreter in the aerospace industry, she explores the intersections of science, myth, memory, and the natural world. Her pamphlet, Particles and Waves, was longlisted for the 2023 Mslexia Pamphlet Prize, and her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Mantis (Stanford University), Juste Milieu, The Write Launch, and La Piccioletta Barca. Originally from the American South, she now lives, writes, and adventures in the English Lake District. Website: www.ashleywilliamson.co.uk