Winning poetry
Back in October, we invited "Kidspace" readers to submit poems for our fifth annual young people's poetry contest. We hoped you would flood us with poems again - and you did! We received nearly 1,500 of them. Entries came from all over the United States, and a few from Great Britain and Belgium.
The poems were reviewed by three judges: Diana Der-Hovanessian, president of the New England Poetry Club; Maria Mazziotti Gillan, director of the Poetry Center in Paterson, N.J.; and Elizabeth Lund, the Monitor's poetry editor.
Many thanks to everyone who participated! We were delighted with the variety of styles and topics that poets used.
To those of you who provided a stamped, self-addressed envelope: We'll send out your "I'm a poet" buttons next month. Cats
Jingle, jingle
Jump around
Eat sleep make no sound
T. Williams Grade 6 Denver, Colo.
Ode to my big black boots
Swing
hip to hip
struttin' it
down the hallway
knee-high
Zzzzzip
black
short skirt
tube top
big black boots
Alissa McCue Grade 11 Waitsfield, Vt.
My heart divided
Dreading it all day
only once in a lifetime
Is it my birth mom?
Do I look like her?
Is she tall, skinny, short, pretty?
I am so anxious
People playing drums
firecrackers all night long
buildings all lit up
She is so pretty
I wish I could've had more time
even though it was pouring
I feel so lucky
related to someone alive
What about my birth dad?
I am still BEAMING!
Never will forget that day
My heart divided
Rae Reilly Grade 6 Denver, Colo.
Daddy's little girl
I'm my daddy's little girl.
And my daddy told me,
he borrowed a little piece of the sun,
waited until it cooled,
then made me just the way
he wanted me ...
looking like him
(with a little bit of Mommy added).
And the sun he borrowed
is why my face lights up so bright
when I smile,
and why all of me is so sunshiny.
And my girlfriend said
she's her daddy's little girl.
And her daddy told her
he cut her out of some midnight,
with a cookie cutter he got
from her mommy.
He cut her out of midnight,
because that's his favorite,
most fun time.
That's why she is all
of his happiness ...
especially when she smiles,
letting the moon shine
and the stars flash
across her face.
And my other girlfriend, she said
she's her daddy's little girl.
And her daddy told her
that he calls her Honey,
because one day he had a sweet tooth.
So he had her mommy gather up all
the flowers she could,
and gave those flowers
to a whole lot of worker bees.
Those bees buzzed around
and buzzed around
until they designed her sweet enough
to fill his tooth
with her honey-drop kisses ...
fill his heart
with her honey-shined face ...
and fill his life
with her honeycomb smile.
So my girlfriends and I decided
our daddies sure went to a lot of trouble
to make us their little girls.
We guess that's why we love them so much.
Thank you, God ... and mommies
for helping them out....
We love you, too!
Natashia LaChance Grade 8 South China, Maine
As her wings
spread across the sunset sky:
you are beautiful
Mother Butterfly
Mercedes Kilmer Grade 3 Los Angeles, Calif.
Lost
Paper flapping at my face.
I am Lost.
Images fill my mind.
I am Lost.
Time has no meaning.
I am Lost.
I hear no disturbances.
I am Lost.
Then I hear someone calling my name.
The spell is broken.
I close the book, and I am Found.
Amy Grelck Grade 7 Palatine, Ill.
Shadow
Quick and sly
very shy ...
but never far behind!
Kyle Baldwin
Grade 5
Suisun, Calif.
The playground
It's silent on the playground.
It's like a graveyard.
The swings aren't moving.
Scott Voyt Grade 3 Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
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