POETRY WITHOUT PAPER POETRY CONTEST, 2007
Sponsored by the Gloucester Lyceum
John Ronan, Coordinator
WINNERS
Elementary School
First Place
Phoebe Weissblum
Harborlight Montessori School
Grade 5
The Midnight Clock
Tick, tock the midnight clock
will life turn out soft, or hard as a rock?
Tick, tock the midnight clock
will the door to my dreams be open, or will it have a lock?
Tick, tock the midnight clock
can I pass through my troubles silently, or will I have to talk?
Tick, tock the midnight clock
it never ends, it never stops.
Second Place
Kelly Hurd
Beeman Memorial School
Grade 4
The Beach
Warmth from golden sand
Beautiful waves of glory
Wonder in a view
Third Place
Kenna O’Maley
West Parish School
Grade 5
Waiting at the Window
All that I do is wait at the window, waiting for my daddy to come
home.
As I wait I look for a big army truck to stop by.
But one day when I answered the phone and a man asked for my mother,
he said it was very important my heart went
boom, boom, boom as my right leg went thump, thump, thump.
My hands were resting on my head but when mom got teary eyed
and yelled, "oh no!" I knew what had happened.
Now I never wait at the window waiting for my daddy to come home.
Middle School
First Place
Kazira Slocum
St. Ann’s School
Grade 8
I Dream with a Reason to Wake Up
With a shy voice, sweet words are spoken.
With calm eyes watching there is no stutter in the pattern.
Breathing gently, with soothing gasps.
Lying with compassion.
Sleeping now with the sound of night.
I hear inside my cry.
The three words I have never heard before.
Were spoken with truth.
Within lying tears, I lie awake.
Not wanting to leave my dream.
I wake to a reality with your voice inside my mind.
It rings in my ears; the three words I have never heard before.
I love you.
Second Place
Elizabeth MacDougal
home school
Grade 8
The Ruins
What once a mountain was, I see it scattered, crumbled, spread;
Now down a thing that once, I know, held high a lofty head.
White crest above, it once looked down on trees attempting climb
To highest peak, yet failed for air (so scarce in such a clime.)
Yet down the rain, and up the shock of low, terrestrial quake.
Its vast terrain, now crumbled rock, and lost-forever peak.
While sky looked down, soft lichen grew, and o'er the ruins groped.
They, timid at what once was great, now boldly scaled its slopes.
Small birds of air now flew above what once they found too high,
And dropped the seeds, the starts of trees, that in the ruins lie.
At last, the grass crept o'er the sod, and, quiet, made its place;
And what was once a demi-god is gone
Without
a
trace.
Third Place
Zoe Paddock
O’Maley School
Grade 6
Self Portrait
My face is like an open book
My feet are like two travelers
My hands are a recording of my story
My thoughts are my own world
My heart holds excitement that is orange as the sun
I live in a story and eat new things
High School
First Place
Alexandra Lees
Gloucester High School
Grade 10
A Girl of the Sea
The sky is a deep ebony
the sea slaps the sand gently
the wind is cold and biting
the stars sparkle and dance
the moon is pregnant with light
A girl lies on the beach
her clothes, hair, skin are
brushed by the wind
she is shivering,
but she doesn't notice
She is part of everything,
her skin is moonlight
her hair is burnt dune grass
her curves are the moon's curves
her eyes are the stars
her breath is the waves
Her soul is the sea,
swirling, gliding, caressing
the earth, the creatures
embracing the world
in a blanket of peace
Second Place
Lia Parisi
Gloucester High School
Grade 12
Broken Glass
Listen to the music as it twists along the stair,
Beckoning the unredeemed into its anguished hold.
Aching melancholy, weeping drops of pure despair.
See the beauty in the sounds that drift upon the air,
Caressing tenderly the forfeit missing in its fold.
Listen to the music as it twists along the stair.
Fingers dance across the keys that speak of years of wear.
It sings of agonizing tension, dazzling to behold.
Aching melancholy, weeping drops of pure despair.
The pure and untouched in their dreams must these sounds beware,
Lest sun-drenched eyes mislay their warmth and fade to vengeful cold.
Listen to the music as it twists along the stair.
But follow, damned and lost and cursed, the invitation where
The music will dissolve the sins and wickedness it’s told.
Aching melancholy, weeping drops of pure despair.
Go where walls of frozen grey fade to aureate fair.
Pursue it, reprobates, and let your bruising be consoled.
Listen to the music as it twists along the stair,
Aching melancholy, weeping drops of pure despair.
Third Place
Lacey Sidlowski
Gloucester High School
Grade 12
Music
Can you hear the music playing?
Listen to the violins and flutes
Do you know what they are saying?
Hear the guitars and the lutes.
The requiem dances and weaves
The dirge quietly sings
The nocturne flutters like leaves
The stanza pauses and spins.
Play my heartbeat on your drum
Give me life with your guitar
The air around me sings and hums
As your music carries far.
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