Poetry Contest Winners

The Monroe County Library System is pleased to present the 2018 National Poetry Month Poetry Contest award winners!  Congratulations to the award winning poets and thank you to everyone who participated.  We look forward to seeing you next year!

Adult Category

Chaos
By Karla Winick Ford
 
She’s sunshine mixed with some hurricane,
Waiting for rainbows after it rains.
That pleasant petrichor unpraised,
Like coal under pressure, not diamonds upraised.
 
Reworked the impression acquired,
Reacher farther, and aimed higher.
She didn’t ask the fist to climb a tree,
She’s the storm, weathering it unflinchingly.
 
With others we develop who we are,
But in lightness, there are no stars.
Scars heal, memories fade…
Thirsty to be the salt she prayed.
 
In sanity she found madness,
Through sadness, she made gladness
Challenged to change the catastrophe
Breaking complexity into simplicity.
 
The ultimate sophistication is the keynote to excellence,
Fastidious thought, wondrous eloquence.
Comfortable in chaos,
She brings sun after the winded rains.
 
 

Teen Category

You Left Too Soon
By Kristen Ford
 
“Come back mommy”
says a four year old to the sky.
he knows where she went
but not really sure why.
 
A little girl paints a picture
in her elementary school class.
paint smeared by her fingers
depicts a whole family in the past.
 
She walks down the aisle
no maid of honor to hold her gown.
because the special sister she reserved it for
is no longer around.
 
A father who’s lost his princess long ago
Can’t see the reason to continue the show.
he remembers the stories he used to tell
of evil step-mothers and their spells.
and before he could finish the very last page
an evil witch named cancer instilled her rage.
and she plucked his princess from
the story book page.
 
All of these stories
all different but the same.
because they all have deep meaning
without saying a name.
Maybe you cried maybe not
we all know the pain
of losing someone we love
is a game with no gain.
no matter what race or gender
Death is as frequent as the moon
as we all find ourselves saying
“You left too soon”
 
 

Children’s Category

To Catch a Poem

By David Lindsay
 
To catch a poem is not so hard
just read labels and go way far
out to the ocean catching fish
sleeping, restless, making a wish
slices of food
being rich.
riding on a whale
feeling pale
working for money
feeling sunny
setting sail
reading mail
how funny – 
you see what I mean?
to catch a poem is not so hard
just a rather quick regard