Poetry Contest: May 2022

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by Wren Johns, Junior

(First Place)

Your memories are never truly yours alone.

From the moment a stone is cast into this world.

It shares its existence

with everyone and everything that it passes by.

From the calloused soles

of the people that tread upon it

to the fragile drops of rain

that rest on its surface.

and even when it has been weathered away

into dust by the hands of time.

The wind will carry it.

It will reach the farthest ends

of the earth.

Become the soil in which life takes root.

And the white sand on pristine shores.

It may not be the same rock as it once was.

But the memories it protects

will become the ground

upon which new memories will be built and grow.

So do not fret my friend.

Just as mountains continue to be formed

and reduced into dust.

So too will the wind continue to blow.

Should the day come that no one is left to remember,

or that even you and I begin to forget,

one thing is for certain.

I will be by your side.

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All or Nothing

by Myah McCoy, Senior

(Second Place)

With time things will get better, at least that’s what they like to say

What they don’t tell you is that some days thoughts of giving up scream so loud

That the sounds fill the air around you and weigh you down

It doesn’t matter if the morning before there were vines growing out of your chest

Blooming with the same resiliency that runs through your bloodline

The ones that made you believe you can flourish and shine will be gripping your

Throat so tight that all you can do is gasp and scratch at the ones who left you

With no answer

Deep breaths will tell you to slow down but time flies so fast

In those moments you target what slow down means

I can’t slow down anymore

It’s all or nothing

It’s racing or letting your tears leak out into the scars you left me

It’s all or nothing

All or nothing in the way you thought you loved me

It’s all or nothing

It’s all or nothing as I try and grasp on to life now her without you

I can’t focus some days

I can’t eat some days

I can’t speak some days

I can’t do nothing some days and it’s because we lost you

I feel as though the world caved in and grabbed my lungs

I stopped breathing because of you

But you didn’t breath because of me so you’ve given me nothing except

These scars where I constantly pick at to remember it wasn’t just made up in

Some tragic movie

I gave you my all and you left me with nothing

It’s all or nothing

It’s all this pain

All this anger

All this guilt

It’s all or nothing

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Washing My Hands

by Llani Froeber, Sophomore

(Third Place)

I scrub and I scrub and I scrub;

Between my fingers,

Over my knuckles,

Under my fingernails.

Anger resides beneath the bubbles,

Scratching and clawing at my skin.

What once was a quiet pale white,

Burns as a loud detrimental red.

The need

To be clean.

The want

To feel clean.

To not be in control

Is to be the passenger in a car wreck,

Helpless and pleading for a release.

I scrub and I scrub and I scrub.

I am my mothers child,

The apple fallen from her tree.

Rotten and poisoned by the touch,

Wishing for this feeling to subside.

I scrub and I scrub and I scrub.

No matter the amount,

My core will always belong to her tree.

And for I,

Will never be clean.

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Cause and Effect

by Ollie Watkins, Freshman

(Honorable Mention)

my brain is a catalog of

dreams that were given up

hopes for the worst

mushy memories of

things long forgotten

broken friendships

new identities

and the tired eyes

of the people

i’d sell the world for.

thoughtless tears

sting my cheeks

that have been

furiously scrubbed

red and raw

time and time again.

and i can’t help but wonder

did i do this to myself

or did you help?

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