AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL POETS

"JUST POETRY!!!"

the NATIONAL POETRY QUARTERLY

 

Live Poets Society of NJ
P O Box 8841
Turnersville, NJ 08012

info@highschoolpoetrycontest.com

Follow us:TwitterFacebook

  • Home
  • Submissions
  • Scholarships
  • Subscriptions
  • Our References
  • Privacy Policy
  • Winners 18-19
    • Fall 18-19
    • Winter 18-19
  • Winners 17-18
    • Fall 17-18
    • Winter_17-18
    • Spring_17-18
    • Summer 17-18
  • Winners 16-17
    • Fall 16-17
    • Winter 16-17
    • Spring 16-17
    • Summer 16-17
  • Winners 15-16
    • Fall 15-16
    • Winter 15-16
    • Spring 15-16
    • Summer 15-16
  • Winners 14-15
    • Fall 14-15
    • Winter 14-15
    • Spring 14-15
    • Summer 14-15
  • Winners 13-14
    • Fall 13-14
    • Winter 13-14
    • spring 13-14
    • summer 13-14
  • Winners 12-13
    • Fall_12-13
    • Winter 12-13
    • Spring 12-13
    • Summer 12-13
  • Winners 11-12
    • Fall 11-12
    • Winter 11-12
    • Spring 11-12
    • Summer 11-12
  • Winners10-11
    • Fall 2010
    • Winter 2011
    • Spring 2011
    • Summer_2011
  • Winners 09-10
    • - Fall 09/10
    • - Winter 09/10
    • - Spring 09/10
    • - Summer 09/10

Winter 13-14

WINNERS

WINTER 13-14

 

 

“BEST OF ISSUE” WINNER

 

The Medicinal Properties of Sunflower Seeds 

 

Prescriptions line my hamster cages.

Reeking of mass-produced ink and urine,

They run on hairless tinted feet.

Stamping repetition on running wheels,

Ink looks like oil, but my hamsters still squeak-

Speaking complaints while stepping nowhere new.

When stained paws force paths to succumb to night,

The lining is changed and up to date.

 

Chewing on M.D. signature strips,

Their hands are held out in front like prayer,

Tongues become stained with blue-black ink,

And words are formed when they lick their fur.

Staring through their little bars,

Was my way of refining proof reading skills.

 

But when they groom themselves into lumps of coal,

The prescriptions are changed and plentiful,

Separated into multiple cages,

Slipped through multi-coloured bars.

 

I leave the house to buy a new hamster,

To make use of the prescriptions I tend to bring home.

Mika Thomas, NJ, Bergen County Academies

 

   EDITOR'S CHOICE WINNER

 

Citrus


I yearn for the half forgotten lavender days,
when our hearts were only as heavy
as the lace of a honey bee's wing - 
when we would press fallen petals to our quivering eyelids
and stare out
through the impossible center of chrysanthemums
so everything looked lovely.
But of course it did not take long for our flowers to wilt.
Like orange peels, our eyelashes fell from our fingers,
carried on a breath of a wish - 
but keep in mind,
even dandelions are unwanted wildflowers. 
I want nothing more than to forget the way your name tasted like tangerines,
like the blood oranges and sweet limes we sucked between our teeth,
while standing at the kitchen sink in the heat of that vivid afternoon.
I will never understand the perishable nature of memory -
that can spoil as those same fruits - 
whose juices we let roll down our chins and stain our hearts.

Sophie Myles, PA, George School

 

 "BEST OF ISSUE" NOMINEES

how stars form - Kasey Arnold, NJ, Raritan High School

All Hoping Animal - Brianna Breaux, LA, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts

Tomorrow and Today - Dhruv Puri, TX, The Liberal Arts and Science Academy

 

ALL OTHER CERTIFIED NATIONAL WINNERS

Ave - Hilliary M. Miller, IL Hoffman Estates High School

Heaving Sighs of a Reckless Mind - Elizabeth Tsaltskan, NJ, Marlboro High School

What is Real - Jenna Pimentel, AZ, Mesquite High School

Stone Poem - Leila Selchaif, NY, Bard High School Early College

For Bukowski - Jacqueline Lucente, VA, Appomattox Regional Governor's School for the Arts and Technology

Carcinoma - Talin Tahajian, MA, Belmont High School

The Zero Gravity Blues - Shivani Singh, WI, University School of Milwaukee

Do Wishes Die? - Kaitlyn Murphy, IA, Abraham Lincoln HS

An Ode to Humanity - Nadia John, WI, Sheboygan High School

Appalachian Son - Maxwell Granitz, MI, Walled Lake Central HS

heartsunken - Nicolette D'Angelo, NJ, West Milford High School

Finger-painting in a Room Impervious to Light - Safwan Khatib, IN, North Central High School

the water and my bones - Rebecca M. Goforth, VA, Home-schooled

House of Firsts - Bailey Lawrence, FL, Wesley Chapel High School

 

 

Copyright 2018 JUST POETRY. All rights reserved.

Web Hosting by Yahoo!

 

Live Poets Society of NJ

Promote Your Page Too

Live Poets Society of NJ
P O Box 8841
Turnersville, NJ 08012

info@highschoolpoetrycontest.com

Follow us:TwitterFacebook