SPRING 2011

Top Winners

(1^ST PLACE from the Winter issue, as selected by our readers)

These two poems will be entered into the final selection process for

the Easterday Poetry Award, which will take place at the end of the school year.   

“BEST OF ISSUE” WINNER

SPRING 2011

 ($500 SCHOLARSHIP PRIZE)

Nicht Existenz
(non existence)
 
My eyes dart back and forth between yours like dragonflies caught in the rain
What do you feel? Pleasure? Sadness?
Your breath escapes me, carried away in swirls of autumn leaves
Our greeting hangs in the air like a hummingbird
 
The fragrance of love caresses your movements
As your arms flow out with the flowers in the wind
And embrace me, chasing away the frigid air in a sudden whoosh
The sweet gracefulness of a child drunken with glee sneaks into our smiles
 
And the trees whisper things to you, which will never be spoken
Our eyes lock in the numbed intensity of a last embrace
Lingering hands slip from my waist
Your murmured goodbye is like the last raindrop falling from the sky
 
I step away with daffodils brushing my bare feet
The touch of your starburst fingers burns on my hips
Wind whips around me in a pleasant tornado of emotion
The breath of bumblebees laces through my hair
 
Your crystalline eyes reflect mine with mirrored clarity
My goodbye catches in my throat
Never to be heard
And the ground beneath us crumbles
Cheyenne Banks, CA, Florin High School

 

EDITOR’S CHOICE SELECTION

($100 Scholarship Prize)

HOW TO FALL FROM TREES

 

face fish feet and hands lunge from the tree he might be

a fisherman might be Poseidon in search of

           the sea but

            trapped in a body, trapped and trying to break free

without falling, or maybe he’s

            poised for flight or maybe he

            already flew and now he’s just

            dying,

            just

            dangling,

            a marionette in an aerial grave, suspended

overlooking a treasure he just gave away, maybe he

           didn’t die today and this is just a reminder of

           all the souls we won't save, that will only escape

           like fish leap of faith from water for

                        the fleeting breath, the tiny death, the

                                   calling, the

                                                            climb, the

                                                                           collapse.

            Louis Roe, MA, Hingham High School

All Other National Winners

infinite - Adrieanna Coco, IN, Portage HS

Summer - Ciera Durden, GA, Lakeside HS

For a Downed Heart - Kristan Saint-Pruex, DC, Eastern Sr HS

The serpent on his head - Jessie Lian, GA, Northview HS

Trapped Within - Angelina Sotelo Frescas, CA, Highland HS

Chinese Food - Loullyana Saney, NY, Stuyvesant HS

Tarot -  Chloe Lauter, WA, Bishop Blanchet HS

Of the Sun and Dawn - Kaitlyn Bradley, GA, Central HS

I cannot pass time with blood... - Jesse McGinness, MO, Park Hill South HS

Forsake - Ravi Agrawal, NJ, John P. Stevens HS

The Midnight Skylarker - Emily Harrison, TN, Germantown HS

my heart held hands with Destiny - Ryan de la Mata, CA Bishop Montgomery HS

Disinclination - Dana Ammann, MA, Bishop Stang HS

lay-Michelle Scarcella, OH, Glen Este HS

Frosted Glass- Gullnar Syed, VA, Midlothian HS

Precipitate - Hailey Cleek, TN, Pope John Paul II

On the Comfort of Feeling Small - Danielle Meinert, GA, Northview HS

Dried Seeds - Jacob Boyd Bellinger, FL, Anderson School of the Arts

washed up - Briana Chang, MA, Cambridge School of Weston

Fish - Joey Cannizzaro, CA, Los Alamitos HS

Spell Weaver - Grace Crosby, WI, Pensacola Christian Academy

Masterpieces of Emily Dickinson - Leah Shamlian, VA, Oakton HS

Nicht Existenz - Cheyenne Banks, CA, Florin HS

The stars confer With The Satellites - Maria Mills, WA, Forest Ridge                   School of the Sacred Heart 

The Girl With The Red Balloon - Kevin Tran, CA, Yucca Valley HS

HOW TO FALL FROM TREES - Louis Roe, MA, Hingham HS