WINNERS

FALL 2011-2012

“BEST OF ISSUE” WINNER

As selected by our readers

($500 SCHOLARSHIP PRIZE)

Hardwood Emails

(after Elizabeth Willis, "Phosphorescent Trains")

Flitting beyond metal chairs, I stutter

at your eyes. If bicycles float, they do it without

my exercise. There’s no box in a heart

coffin,

its weaving feather.

Wire is wire.

Such a me, disappointing silence, blinking

of chocolate. Don’t drive

if speed has transcended its wings,

your ears are in my plane. Nevertheless

I’d detest a moth, but do you desire not a one?

The toe cannot bend a thousand, ill-used

between the clouds. How still 

is electricity

if I can’t hear its buzzing? Squeeze

your lashes from me as you

press to send.

Kyriana Lynch, AR, Lynch Family Academy

EDITOR’S CHOICE SELECTION

($100 SCHOLARSHIP PRIZE)

Guilt

An owl perches on a mango

peel thick like armor to a swollen stomach.

It stands, porcelain, whole

yearning to be new made.

The owl plucks.

One sip of juice—tongue stained black envy.

Two bites of flesh—jaded replies, behind the back.

Three pieces of skin—acrid, a child leaving his mother, unripe.

The mango is dried and naked

inner seed a mirror.

No carcass to clean, the owl

plucks its own plumes until

bare ugliness protrudes.

It is stifled, Hercules out of rage, staring itself

in the glass pit—

A naked bird eaten by its reflection.

Yuxi Liu, OH, Solon High School

OTHER "BEST OF ISSUE" NOMINEES FALL 2011

Convergence - McKenzie Hightower, TX, Trinity Valley School

Sleepless - Charles Davis, PA, Lower Dauphin High School

If, in dreams... - Sadina Brott, MI, Cedar Springs High School

ALL OTHER CERTIFIED NATIONAL WINNERS FALL 2011

Seven Took the Train Today - Kevin Hilt, SD, Thomas More High School

Leaving Courtney in West Virginia - Anna Voelker, PA, Hampton High School

You, Eternally - Tianjiao Wang, CA, Monta Vista High School

Rose Dream - Talia Weiss, IL, Evanston Twp High School

Hope Is In The Blue Drops - Skylar Bryant, CO Loveland High School

World War Infinite - Rachel Peevler, CO, Union Colony Preparatory School

The She-Panther's Lament - Nathan Harris, OR, Portland Christian High School

Monotony - Joey Wanczyk, IN, Hamilton Heights High School

The Human Mind - Allison Borthwick, IN, North Central High School

The Precipice - Sungho Kang, CA, El Camino Real Charter High School

Nightmare Spirits - Shannon Fickling, CA, Liberty High School

Grace - Mary Sun, VA, Jefferson High School for Science & Technology

Icarus - Kelsey Weymouth-Little, NY, Ward Melville High School

The Birth of Insanity... - Haley Sladek, TX, Atascocita High School

Emotional Enigma - Tesslyn Bergin, CT, Waterbury Arts Magnet School

The Day's Way Out - Reily Cook, LA, Caddo Magnet High School

Letter of Resignation - Austin Vaughn, IN, Castle High School

Thanks to all!