Poetry Contest
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!
Winter
By Alexandra Sherry, 11 years
The mouse scrambles into its hole,
beside the street,
and the lit lamp pole.
As the air begins to chill,
a flock of birds flies overhead,
above the tallest hill.
In a few moments it will be spring,
with budding flowers,
bringing ducks by flipper or wing.
Inside there is a table set for two,
with two hot chocolates,
one for me, one for you!
Flowers
By Catherine Sherry, 10 years
Buds blossom, sprout up into flowers,
Sunflowers grow till they tower and tower.
Buttercups bloom under the great blue sky,
Watching the clouds go passing by.
Flowers are odd things healthy, but small,
It is a wonder that some survive in Fall!
They bloom and they blossom, they sprout and they grow,
And oh how beautiful from head to toe!
Jump
By Lilly Stetina, 11 years
Crunch. Crunch.
Clip. Pull. Tighten.
Reach up.
Up.
So high.
Settle onto Honey.
Squeeze my muscles.
Clop. Clop. Clop.
Around and around.
Slow at first.
Faster each time.
Faster. Faster.
Finally ready.
Feel the ground leave her feet.
Swell of my heart.
Over we go.
In the air for just a second.
Thump.
Again I think.
So practice, practice.
Every week.
This is love.
This is jumping.
The One Thing That Survives
By Addison Burnett, 14 years
The darkness grows, gloomier yet,
The wind howls as though even it
Can sense the world’s pain.
But every in the suffering,
Hope lives on.
Seismic activity rocks Syria,
Disease spread to every corner of the globe.
Unrest thrives in Unkraine,
Chaos in Sudan and Afghanistan.
Yet still,
Hope lives on.
Shattering expectations like fallen glass,
Breaking through silence like a bullhorn,
Scattering darkness like a searchlight.
An anchor in a sea of uncertainty,
Hope conquers fear.
Though we may tremble,
We may shake,
Our nations may grumble and goan
Under the weight of the world,
We will not fall,
We will not break.
Because even then,
Hope lives on.
Even as the world comes tumbling down around us,
Hope
Lives
On.
Space
By Karlee N. Dyle, 17 years
the time between space and distance
where relativity is reality, and
you are only just a memory
a sacred span to be treasured.
i loved you,
and i lost you
when i sent you up
into the big, great beyond.
and i great up without you,
lived and breathed beyond you
because you were out there,
979 million miles away.
the hundreds of pages
i read about the stars
captivate you, though you
don’t even know who you are.
but i know you,
and i know us.
and i know of the planets that surround
those observed, written stars.
but though we are known,
time slips through my fingers
just like how you did
not too long ago.
so everyday i’d stare
into that bright blue sky,
and you’d stare back
through the great dark void.
then i got older
while you stayed younger
and i waited and waited, and waited,
until i could hold you again.
but that big blue sky
turned gray like your eyes
and time began to
slip and run away.
then you became a memory,
a placebo of hopes and dreams
and my hands slipped off the paper
writing about distance, space and stars.
Invisibility
By Elisa Wilson, 16 years
Would you rather
Have the power to
Fly or
To be invisible?
Every answer is different,
But I know mine.
I would choose to fly.
Not because I really want to soar through the sky,
Or because I don’t want to be
Invisible,
But because
In a way,
I have already mastered
The art
Of invisibility,
Though I did not choose to.
No one sees me.
They do not even notice that
I exist
When I fall down the stairs.
I am an ant, stepped on but unnoticed.
Not a laugh,
Or any acknowledgement
Of me
Escapes from them,
Which
In that case,
Is when it is good to be invisible –
Like a mouse hiding from a snake.
But when I speak,
No one hears my lost words,
A howling wind that dies
Before it can be felt on their faces.
And if they do listen to my wasted breath,
They shrug what I wish to share
Off,
As if I am non-existent.
Those are times
When I wish I was not seen
As invisible.
Though I am not physically
Unable to be seen,
I am invisible as a person.
My life,
My thoughts.
My poetry,
Go unseen, unheard.
Yet when I try
To make myself visible,
My efforts are pointless.
They avail to nothing.
Would you rather
Have the power to
Fly or
To be invisible?
Maybe I would choose invisibility,
So I never have the chance to fail
At being seen again.
I’m not who I’m supposed to be
By Artavia Bean, 27 years
I hate that I am living in a world
that gives more hate than love,
that bullies you
for not being perfect,
for not being a certain color,
for not being a certain shape,
for not acting the way majority does.
My life is so sheltered
I’m twisted up in so much fear
my heart beats quicker than it should,
my mind races faster
than they speed of light,
Who am i
if I can’t truly be me?
Why am I here
if I can’t truly by me?
I wish things could be different.
I want to be free.
I want to be opened.
I want to have a voice.
I want to have a true choice.
I want to dream big
and let those dreams become
my reality.
But I can’t do that
because my heart
it won’t allow me
it cannot tolerate
The hate.
The bullying.
The judging.
The mocking.
The pointing.
The words.
The stares.
The everything,
that stops me
from me, being me.
The Silent Side of Nature
By John “Arky” Leonard, 70 years
I saw a leaf fall from a tree,
It fluttered to the ground.
It landed in the arms of grass
And didn’t make a sound.
I saw a hawk fly overhead,
It flew from tree to tree.
It looked around for tasty prey
And did so silently.
I saw the sun rise in the sky,
Its light shone all a4round.
It traveled on its daily path
And didn’t make a sound.
I saw the moon come out at night,
Its wonder did astound.
It helped dispel the dark of night
While making not a sound.
Then suddenly the stars appeared
And oh, did they abound.
They filled the sky from end to end
And never made a sound.
While nature may at times be harsh
We take it all in stride.
For all that it may throw our way
It has its quiet side.
Radiating Thoughts
By Shannon Morgan, 50 years
Try to lay still.
Breathe calm and steady.
Resist the urge
To cough or sneeze or scream.
The lights go out
And the machine begins.
Its whirs and beeps,
So scary at first
Now soothe me like a box fan.
My thoughts wander.
Do my kids need lunch money?
I need to call my sister back.
My breast hurts.
I think I will do pizza for dinner
Again.
How much longer?
My nose itches.
I will it away.
I need to teach my children
To do laundry,
Make dinner,
Pay a bill,
Drive a car,
Live their lives fully.
My breast hurts.
All my thoughts radiate from there now.