 Thanks
to the hundreds of poets who shared their creativity with us and entered the
Poets Speak Back Contest, sponsored by Sourcebooks.
The poems we present here are a sampling of the variety of styles and voices
of our entrants. Enjoy!
Val Beckwith
D.W. Daniel High School
Central, SC
Kids
Didn't his mother
Ever tell him
Not to look directly at the sun
Now he is seeing stars
Wondering if the two legs next to his head
Are really there
They didn't want to get in trouble
But they should have listened
When they were told
Not to take the dogs for a walk
Now they have to figure out
How to get
The stars out of his eyes
And their round, black feet
Back into bed
Andrew Brawner
Daniel High School
Central, SC
One day I discovered watermelons
They looked like toys that I used to play with
Potato Heads
I wonder if they squish themselves
At night when no one looks
I bet they do
Or not
Because they are things
And things can't do that
Dogs can
And they are thingish
But not things
So from now on I will manufacture Mr. and Mrs. Watermelon Heads
And all the kids will love them
Because I will hype them up nonstop
And put them on a famous piece of art
In a museum
It's already there
Oh well
Previous Poems
Truth
by Liz Biberman
Scranton High School, Scranton, PA
"Truth is a kaleidoscope"
Untitled
by Elizabeth Henry
Oconomowoc High School, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
"My arms are wings, my hands floating fairies. / Am I balanced?"
Untitled
by Brittany Huber
Lake Chelan High School, Chelan, WA
"i believe in the intelligence you've given me..."
Glass
Days by Jingyi Zhang
D.W.Danile High School, Central, SC
"The days of my blues are when..."
Untitled
by Megan Michelle Ward
Hudsonville High School, Hudsonville, MI
"There was a cry in her eyes/I could not understand"
The
Dark Room by Danelle Onesti Hakim
Liberty High School, Bethlehem, PA
"Smoke dances/as figures sit beneath its whirling clouds"
Dreams
by Stacey Carmichael
Bartlett Jr. Sr.High School, Webster, MA
"A dream is more than a thought."
Untitled
by Nikki Gusz
Hudson High School, Hudson, OH
"Wrapping around you,/A reassuring blanket,/Warm and comforting."
Untitled
by Andrew Becker
Jefferson Forest High School, Forest, VA
"A teenager used some mnemonics/To try to develop his phonics."
Untitled
by Keona McLeod
Sturgeon Bay High School, Sturgeon Bay, WI
"i'm an artist, i'm a writer, i'm a poet"
In
Your Arms by Brenna Luchene-Cox
Columbia Independent School, Columbia, MO
"A blanket of warmth/Descends around me"
Untitled
by Kendra Koch
Chelan High School, Chelan, WA
"Summer skates into the atmosphere."
Untitled
by Sarah Jones
Chelan High School, Chelan, WA
"The lake so still from afar, but if you look closely you can tell the
waves are gently rolling."
Taxi
Ride by Amy Paeth
Bainbridge High School, Bainbridge Island, WA
"Echoes leaning on air, bouncing back from the/wall of sound"
Food
Pulp by David Lopez
Mill Creek School, Columbia, MO
"Once a man,/Bought a can,/Full of Spam"
Untitled
by Kelsey Cefalo
Arlington Memorial High School, Arlington, Vermont
"Bristled branches tap the window as I gaze through it,/Onto the cold winter
night."
Untitled
by Sam Beirne
Inglemoor High School, Bothell, WA
"He sits in the barren room, all alone, on a/wooden stool."
Untitled
by Tim Thompson
Amboy High School
"Jordan has a big forehead/He bumped it on his bed"
Why
Music and Song Inspire You by Laura Personette
Arlington Memorial High School, Arlington, VT
"If the notes are slow, then you feel as if you are drifting off."
All
For You Dad by Samantha Nadwairski
Torrington High School, Torrington, Connecticut
"Another day goes by without you by my side"
Figure
Head by Adam Nash
Jefferson Forest High School, Forest, VA
"ShiFting through"
Secret
Life of Depression by Maura Speidel
Jefferson Forest High School, Forest, VA
"I am the glass box/That must never be seen."
Untitled
by Ashley Grosvenor
Jefferson Forest, Forest, Va.
"Walking on the warm sand,/sand between my toes"
My
emotional color spectrum by Anna Coakley
Daniel High School, Central, SC
"Short Lived,/and mostly trivial."
Kids
by Val Beckwith
D.W. Daniel High School, Central, SC
"Didn't his mother/Ever tell him/Not to look directly at the sun"
Untitled
by Andrew Brawner
Daniel High School, Central, SC
"One day I discovered watermelons"
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