Congrats! Local Students Win National Teen Poetry Contest

Photos, from left: Angela L., age 14; Ariel B., 17; Ashley C., 16.

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News submitted from The Santa Clara County Library District:

Santa Clara County Library District is pleased to recognize three local teens who recently won the prestigious Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) teen poetry contest: http://www.voyamagazine.com/tags/teen-poetry-contest/.

This 2014 national contest attracted more than 140 entries submitted by teens from around the United States. Poetry topics were as diverse as the teens and the geographical areas they represented.

Three of the five winners chosen by VOYA were endorsed and sponsored by the Santa Clara County Library District: Angela L., age 14 and Ashley C., age 16, Saratoga Library; and Ariel B., age 17 Milpitas Library.

Their winning poems are provided below:

1. we wear black because it’s zhu yu’s death

rather sentimental at first sight, isn’t it?

a dying girl and wilting flowers braided into dry tendrils

that poured over her cotton bedding

but the intensity in the room climbed

it was silent but unsettling as i smelled war on her mind

and she screamed in silence as it wracked her whole body

and her tortured spirit clashed against itself

again, and again

bloodied, and beaten

but again, and again

the doctors and nurses taunted their hostage

threatening to fire the missiles

unless she became one of them: monsters

she died before they could kill her, or at least that’s what the doctors say

we all wore black and it rained sunflowers in the hospital that day

oh, but don’t they know

those missiles won’t be prepared for zhu yu’s comeback

zhu yu

it rings of joy and patriotism

for it means freedom in our language

taiwanese

and yes, there is a difference between taiwan and china

a difference between the way we act, the way we speak

the way we think that we belong to nobody

because the next time i see zhu yu

she’ll be breathing normally in a chinese hospital

no, it will be in taiwan

no, it won’t be a hospital

she will be soaring through fields of sunflower, the liberty bell ringing

free, at last

Angela L., 14 years old, 8th grade, Redwood Middle School
Saratoga, California

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2. It’s Time

The line in front of us has no end in sight

Extensive

Protracted

Elongated

The clock ticks closer to the top of the hour, to something

Dreadful

Alarming

Frightening

Some of us have spent months or even years getting ready for this

Preparing

Priming

Anticipating

Because the next three hours will determine our future

Imperative

Paramount

Significant

Depending on if our results are

Commendable

Exceptional

Reputable

Or

Substandard

Abominable

Atrocious

They’ve opened the doors

We’re filing in

It’s time

For the

SAT.

Ariel B., 17 years old, 12th grade, Milpitas High School
Milpitas, California

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3) “Where I’m From”

I sit in the shade of the magnolia tree

Whose ant-­traced limbs sheltered me when I wanted invisibility.

Forever faithful, its skinny arms and legs never let mine bruise.

Two teddy bear princesses that defined my childhood universe.

Sugar brown, with fur soft as lamb’s ears, they ruled over imaginary worlds.

I turn a page; the juice of pumpkin-­colored persimmon fruit stains it.

To me it speaks of hours watching the same feeble tree swell, pregnant

With basketfuls of sweet fruit I hated because they didn’t look like apples.

My heaven came in November, when the pineapple guava bushes dropped

Green sugar spheres beside my feet. I stuck them in Trader Joe’s paper bags,

Eating them by the strainer after lazy evenings.

To the spine I finger the glued remnants of a pink streamer, which recalls

Careless afternoons spent racing with my brother on a lollipop­-colored bike.

When he’d fall on the carpet, laughing at me, I’d stalk to my room, slamming the door

To find solace with Harry Potter and Narnia’s Pevensies. Then I’d scratch the skin

My eczema reddened and dried, as I glanced between it and an arsenal of antibiotics.

I liked silence. Playground fights that started with takes­-one-­to know­-one and

Tag­-you’re- it I avoided, and instead I’d lean into a cushion of dirty clothes in the

Darkness of my closet clutching a coverless diary and my favorite chewed­-out pencil.

Scrawled writing recorded a trove of dreams forgotten, crushed between

SAT classes and math competitions. I once wanted to dance ballet.

Still, I treasure these words because they remind me where I’m from.

Now I am a seed blown out into wind, soaring wild beyond the dandelion.

Ashley C., 16 years old, 10th grade, Saratoga High School
Saratoga, California

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In conjunction with National Poetry Month, SCCLD is now accepting entries for the 2015 Teen Poetry Contest. One winner from each library will be chosen in the following categories: Grades 6-8 (middle school) and Grades 9-12 (high school).

Applicants may submit up to three original poems no longer than 30 lines. For a complete listing of contest rules, visit http://www.sccl.org/Teens/Contests.

Last day to submit entries is May 1st, 2015. Winners will receive a $50 gift card and will be entered into VOYA’s 2015 National Teen Poetry Contest.

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