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