Bucks County Senior Chosen As High School Poet Of The Year

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —She's the 2024 Bucks County High School Poet of the Year.

Neshaminy High School Senior Cecelia Shine will read from her works on Saturday, May 4, from 1-3 p.m., at the annual Reading + Celebration in Tyler Hall on Bucks County Community College’s Newtown Campus. See her poems below

Shine rose to the top of more than 100 entries to be named the county's poet, officials at Bucks County Community College said. The 37th annual contest is part of the Bucks County Poet Laureate Program administered by the college.

With the first-place finish, Shine wins $300 and will be honored at the annual Reading + Celebration in Room 142 of the historic Tyler Hall mansion on the college’s Newtown Campus.

The event will feature the contest winners, finalists, and judges.

Shine’s three poem submissions were entitled “One Heart Too Many,” “The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine” and “It might be just a dream.”

This year’s current Bucks County Poet Laureate Tara Tamburello and last year’s Bucks County Poet Laureat Tom Mallouk served as judges and reviewed a strong field of entries from all over the county.

In addition to the winner, the judges also named Jack DeBoyace, a sophomore from Central Bucks High School East, as first runner-up.

Second runner-up was Kade Booker, another Neshaminy High School senior.

The third runner-up was Olivia Cao, a Central Bucks High School South senior.

The three runners-up will also read from their works during the celebration.

The entire competition, including the awards and refreshments, is sponsored by donor Gary Kephart, originally of Levittown and currently of Fort Collins, Colorado.

With Kephart’s donation, each runner-up will receive $100, which is new this year.

The annual Bucks County High School Poet of the Year contest is another way that Bucks County Community College contributes to the cultural heritage of the region. To learn more, visit bucks.edu/poets.

For more information contact Dr. Ethel Rackin, a Professor of Language and Literature at Bucks and the director of the Wordsmiths Reading Series and Poet Laureate Program. Ethel.Rackin@bucks.edu

Shine’s winning poems:

One Heart Too Many

one day the doctors told my mother i had two heartbeats. they said this

with a downturned wince and a crinkle between their brows,

like a sheet of paper which can not be unwrinkled, can not

be made perfect again. when i was born,

it was with double the blood flow, double the oxygen, double the fear. when i was born,

my two hearts beat a rhythm that echoed through my skull and gave me something

to march to, a hopeful anthem to keep me moving, to keep my bones from crumbling

and cracking under the weight of my organs, the overproduced instruments humming too loudly,

beating too quickly, working too well. when i was born,

it was with extra love built in; extra love for gifting neighbors, gifting mailmen,

gifting worms that wash up when the rain pours down. when i was born,

it was with too many feelings, too many obstacles, too many faults.

doctors said i was a miracle; my mother said that that's just life.

i don't know how my two hearts are functioning, how their pulse

is strong enough, suitable enough, for my long limbs, but they are.

they are calling to each other and answering back, creating a song that

wakes me up in the morning and puts me back to sleep

when i need it to. i have two hearts, and they're surviving and they're thriving

and they're dying one second

at a time, but they're mine,

they're mine.

my god, aren't they mine?

The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine

All of a sudden I am an ant in a city of marble and stained glass,

cemented in porcelain skin, thin like bible paper

in an old friend’s cabinet. Technicolor light showers in

from crystal windows, swaddles me in beacons of river

and sky, paints over me with patterns of rainbow shine.

I am becoming unbreakable, like my bones are rooted through tile,

like my existence is sanctioned between these tall walls.

My weight is somehow pardoned

because every statue and pillar above, every arch

and emblem is grand like my heart, is grand like the sea

and bluebirds chirping in boiling heat. Candlelight darts along

the wrinkles of a praying woman on her knees. This place of worship

was once on fire and then rebuilt, remade, rebeautified, and I realize

there is a cathedral hiding inside all of us, a religion resting

right under the skin, and I realize that I am no stranger here.

No one ever could be.

It Might Be Just A Dream

now and then when my hurt

clouds over and fizzles at the sides,

i see another version of me

flickering between my outline,

proclaiming herself just to

w i t h e r away again.

and for one meaningless moment,

we become the same person, and

each of my steps leaves a footprint

of purpose behind, and my tears

feed flowers by the front door,

and my hands don't leave scratches

where lovebites should be.

and then she is gone, and i’m

missing her, and every footstep

is almost as heavy as the last,

and i'm trapped within this vision

of other me on the opposite end

of a black hole, and i'm hoping

she is as happy as i know her to be.

maybe one day i'll understand her

beyond fleeting meetings, beyond

superficial thoughts. maybe

i'll know her well enough to engrave

the shape of her smile to the back

of my eyelids, and to see it reflected

on my own forsaken face