Teen 2011 Poetry Contest Winners

HIGH SCHOOL

1st Place

Aphrodite's Envy
By Mark Bouchard
Aphrodite's Envy Image

Thine azure eyes and hair of gold shine like the sun
On the clear blue ocean
Your smile gives rise to the new day, guiding the dawn from its hiding place
Oh, I've been lost
In conversation
Many time before
But never have I gone so far astray,
Never have I been so paralyzed by admiration, wonder, and beauty
That I could not bring myself to ask for directions out of the lush forests
surrounding the twin cerulean oases that are your eyes
Your body, so milky white, as if honey was infused with porcelain,
And spread,
Over your very form
The magnificent splendor that you call a body, that radiates sensuality and passion
far stronger than the combined force of each star in the sky
More intense, than even a thousand suns
This body is more than enough mind you,
To turn the fair visage of Aphrodite green with envy for your voluptuous feminine
form
This exquisite form causes women to leak jealousy, in tears of rage, and men to lust,
Like never before

MIDDLE SCHOOL

1st Place

Ignoramus
By Kate Olguin
Ignorance image

If Ignorance were illegal,
Then being doubtful would be a crime.
Confusion would make police watch you,
And "F" students would be doing time.

Police Officers would be overworked,
Teachers would be under strain.
Juries would be judging felons
By the knowledge they have in their brain.

Jails would be terribly overcrowded,
Courts would be booked up for weeks.
Adults would keep their mouths shut
And children would not even speak

It's hard to imagine a world
That is different than what we have now.
But stop and wonder what it would be like
If Ignorance wasn't allowed.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

2nd Place

Dear Planet Earth,
By Ali Myers
Mother Earth image

Dear Planet Earth,
We, your grateful children,
Cherish you.
We adore swimming in
Your shining oceans
We savor looking at
You endless, infinite skies
We favor feeling the lush blades of grass,
Tickling our feet and ankles
When we hike to the
Peaks of your lofty mountains,
We feel a rush of innocent, sheer joy.

We cherish watching countless birds
Soaring through your azure skies
But, my precious Planet Earth,
We have been harmful.

Your once fair, sapphire skies,
Are now bleak gray
Of the myriad animal brothers and sisters,
There are few.

So, Planet Earth,
We beg your forgiveness
And pray you accept our apology,
So your beautiful, flowing oceans and vast, limitless lands
Can go back to the way
They were.
Fresh,
Clean, and endless.

Your loving child,
Ali

MIDDLE SCHOOL

3rd Place

Bird's Eye View
By Emma Damokosh
Bird image

Things that seem really huge, really only persist for a short while
Drama never lasts long

Don't take anything for granted
It might slip away when you least expect it

Work is the only way to get what you want
It you really desire something, you won't procrastinate to get it

Trouble doesn't find you without you giving it a reason to
Don't lie down and accept the consequences you haven't even received yet

All my past mistakes guide my present actions
I don't want to repeat my blunders

I have enough experience to look down on the map of my life
From a bird's eye view