Teen Poetry Contest Winners 2005


Announced at Café Muse
Friday, April 15 2005

Conterst Winners

Grades 6-8


1st Place "A Friend" by BriAnn K.
2nd Place "Snowfall in the Country" by Camille B.
3rd Place "Poetry" by Tyler L.

Honorable Mention
"The Battle for the Garden" by Kevin J.
Honorable Mention
"Gentle Fury" by Erica J.
Grades 9-12


1st Place "Stairs" by Anne S.
2nd Place "Triumphant Mischief" by Tasha R.
3rd Place "A Poem About Poetry" by Megan B.

Honorable Mention
"Strong Black Woman" by Kimberly W.
Honorable Mention
"Decisions: A Figurative Language Poem " by Laci V.


Grades 6-8

1st Place
"A Friend"
BriAnn K.

Give me a friend forever
one that is cheap,
they can have chips, smell of a broom.
their clothes all crooked and old,
wearing shiny Sunday shoes
that always show your red bald ankles
I want a friend

Give me a friend forever
who comes back tomorrow,
even if she's mad forever
who is fun as
spaghetti,
and as dangerous as
Hollywood Boulevard
I want a friend

Give me a friend
who can laugh about
crooked things
Where are you my friend?
Where are you?



2nd Place
"Snowfall in the Country"
Camille B.

Snow falls
to the blank plains
in a vast field, clear of
all but one tall evergreen tree,
alone.



3rd Place
"Poetry"
Tyler L.

Waiting for some inspiration
Pacing through your imagination
Every word bears great weight
On every word, you hesitate
Thinking
Like a stone it hits you
Swiftly and sharply
The words are static
Somehow still, yet very dynamic
When it is finished,
Poetry is magic



Honorable Mention
"The Battle for the Garden"
Kevin J.

On the Edge of the World
Up rose the Sun
A battle would be fought that year
A victor-only one

The dew on the grass
Shone like many gems
If an evil had its way
This place would be condemned
Around the base of all the plants
Swirled a grassy sea
Ferocious Snapdragons and Cupid's Dart divine
They all lived in harmony

In winter life is frozen
Except a single snowdrop
All else is cold and dead
In the Garden (up on top)

Then came spring
So vivid and full of life
Flowers and trees akin have made
Through the cold and barren strife

The winter past had lots of snow
And then came lots of rain
Quenching the thirst of all the plants
To help them live again

The icy rain sank through the dirt
Until it reached a seed
Its liquid chill was absorbed
And the seed became a weed

With this small transformation
The weed developed a plan:
To sprout, to grow, to multiply
And take over this land

Overnight a bud emerged
And more came the next few days
There was no stopping this new stuff
Soon an army it would raise

The plants fought back valiantly
But their numbers were too few
While they struggled
The weeds didn't stop-they grew!

The battle was short
Soon all plants were ensnared
A few brave ones struggled
But were killed, so no more dared

Then, raging like a thunderstorm
Came a gardener
He threw himself upon the weeds
Leaving freedom where they were

The gardener ripped up the weeds
Their roots exposed to all
The plants learned a lesson:
With help, big problems can grow small

Peace came to the garden
Restored was harmony
And every plant was free of weeds
From grass to Red Oak tree



Honorable Mention
"Gentle Fury"
Erica J.

What is the wind?
Wind is what ruffles the soft birds' feathers,
Insisting that they fly.
It caresses your grandmother's withered face,
As she sits in nostalgic silence, thinking of times gone by.
The wind stirs your pale lace curtains at night,
Forming ghostly tendrils that haunt your sill.
But beware, for wind does shift,
And wind is loathe to follow mankind's will.
Easily destroying both our homes and our lives,
It leaves us crying out "Why?" and "How?"
It is tentative, yet commanding, both calm and deadly,
Do you know what wind is now?



Grades 9-12


1st Place
"Stairs"
Anne S.

The path ahead is dark and shadowed
by the future I can't see
The way is haunted; some say hallowed
With eternal history

The stairs go up and onward, high
I climb, my aim the sun
And strive on to reach the sky
That one day I might be done

As time goes on I still ascend
Though now I know it's true
This stairway's one that never ends
Yet worth it for the view.



2nd Place
"Triumphant Mischief"
Tasha R.

Contemporary nonsense, temporary whore
Naked insanity, dirty worlds necessity
Triumphant mischief, actions not pure
Particular freedoms and existences hoped for
To become society's Tiffany box,
Every day never having enough
For women to stare and gawk
But their men willing
For just a miserable fuck
In the slummed backseat of one with a large wallet
Some slutty girl to put in your pocket
Salvation drug take its toll
Loose, eternally torn, damage from middle to mind
Just so this beauty can take her stroll
From husband to whore, a divorced mind
Only wanted a good time
Stoned gaze, high but never reaching
Searching for the wholeness not there but was,
Lesson never teaching
Die in false accusations, none a new
Slave of sex and desire dire
Only to make a new you



3rd Place
"A Poem about Poetry"
Megan B.

Letters, word, sentence, line
Rhythm, phrase, structure, rhyme

Emotion, expression, inspiration
Drama, feeling, thought, creation

Head, heart, hands, eyes
Mystery, metaphor, truths, lies

Imagery, tone, point of view
Style, sonnet, theme, haiku

Thinking, writing, supplication
And if you're lucky, publication!



Honorable Mention
"Strong Black Woman"
Kimbererly W.

Nothing is as it seems, but it's been like that for a while now.
Someone tells you they love you but you still don't know what that word means.

He stabbed her in the heart and the blood trickled out her front door and down to the next few blocks until it was out of sight.
She hasn't seen it since.

Now her heart is half empty, or half full, I don't really care how you look at it.
She's wallowing in self pity now, smiling for all the people but they will never know.

Haven't heard from her much, not since she was a little girl, but last Monday we had lunch and this is all I can make of her.

She finds pride in her coffee, dragging her heart around town.
A few people seem interested but never the right ones.

She's given up hope when the right one's right by her side; has been for years.

Each day that goes by she's playing tag with her feelings, trying to find happiness in her memory might work for awhile, but in a few years she'll be all alone.

Ripples in the water still leave her with a mental block.
She needs to find her self before time runs out.

A hostile world pushes her around but she pushes right back. With a heart of gold buried behind a few years of dismay leaves her cold.

She shuts out the world but only for a day. In a few hours she'll be waiting on the day to start.

She hates where she is and disrespects who and what has put her there.
Someday she will escape.

Only a few people really truly care.
This unfortunate truth leaves her with sweet conflict.
Terrified of change or when a new life begins, looking for love at fourteen, she thinks she knows what she wants.

People roll their eyes and laugh at the silly girl, who will never break away,
But the little girl grew up.

Her tender heart has turned to stone.
She turns her frown upside down as she takes on the world.



Honorable Mention
"Decisions: A Figurative Language Poem "
Laci V.

Decisions.
As lethal as a double-edged sword.
Decisions.
Slowly tightening like a gallow's cord.

Decisions.
Perpetually haunting like a persistent ghost
Decisions.
You're in his house and he is your host.

Decisions.
Like a mother nagging to clean your room.
Decisions.
Try to ignore them, but they catch up soon.

Decisions.
Silent pressures inhabiting your head.
Decisions.
If only you decide, they will be dead.

Decisions…


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