Student Poets
Below are the winning student poems of the Poetry Without Paper competition conducted by the Gloucester Lyceum since the spring of 2003. The contest began as a celebration of poetry month, April, and has been an annual event ever since; over a thousand students have entered thousands of poems. Winners were recognized in three categories: elementary school, middle school, and high school. The poems are headed with the winner’s name, school, and grade level at the time of the contest.
2003 Poetry Contest Winners
Cathy Cusumano
First Place Winner, Elementary School
St. Ann School, 5th Grade
Him or Her?
Him or her?
Whom should I choose?
He is so fun and she is so nice.
He takes me places where I like to go.
She lets me come over and listen to the radio.
When he is there I feel so good.
When I’m with her hanging at the mall I feel right.
So my question is, him or her?
Kate Bresnahan
First Place Winner, Middle School
Ralph B. O’Maley School, 8th Grade
Nothing
Meet me, my name is nothing.
I can predict, I can foresee.
But no one ever listens.
Even in a time of great peril:
I am alone.
A loneliness I can’t describe.
Even those I am closest to
Do not see me.
They cannot hear me.
Touch me, hate me, love me.
That is why I am alone.
Because they refuse to know me.
Nothing is a name I gave myself.
My true name has no meaning.
Because no one knows it.
They never tried to know it.
I try to reach out
But I must always pull back.
I am not allowed to love them.
It is fate.
Fate wants me to be alone.
Unable to see,
Unable to be seen.
I can hear, but cannot be heard.
That is why I call myself nothing.
My tears mean nothing
My cries mean nothing
My love means nothing:
I mean nothing.
Andrew Bergeron
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 12th Grade
Flat Beer on a Sunday Night
Flat beer on a Sunday night
inspiring scribbled ramblings
out of half-drunken spite.
The incense burns, the radio sings
and on this notepad I confide.
Out of language I wring
the hopes and fears modified
into happy rhythms I despise
and tired rhymes that have been tried.
Using things like clouds and red to symbolize,
the strain and stress and frustration,
writing soliloquy while my heart drip-dries,
frying my brain till its overdone,
knowing my point, still unsung,
will go over the heads of everyone.
2004 Poetry Contest Winners
Heather Boudrow
First Place Winner, Elementary School
Beeman Memorial School, 3rd Grade
My Cats
I have two cats
I am glad to say
that one is a little bit smarter.
One bats the fish tank
and the other one slides into walls.
Milo is the one who slides into walls
and Lily is the one who bats the fish tank.
Milo has no brakes
and Lily can’t wait for a snack from the tank.
The silliest thing the two have done together is
falling down the stairs.
So which one is really a little bit smarter?
I am not really sure!
Emma Chandler
First Place Winner, Middle School
Glen Urquhart, 8th Grade
Beach Day
The summer sun bronzes my light
skin as I lie in the sand.
I concentrate on the sounds of the waves
rolling over the sand,
and then hear them gurgle
and retreat back to the mothership, the whole ocean.
It spreads out, never ending.
I am covered in a blanket of sunshine and warmth.
The ocean beckons,
the small waves tease me,
tickling my toes.
I give in and wade in,
letting the cold spread up my body,
until it reaches the top,
My head is under.
The sound is gone.
I can think clearly now,
with just the bubbles
whispering to me.
I surface and breathe.
The sun greets me
as I lean my head back,
it reflects off my home,
making it shine
as if someone has dusted it
with diamonds
I let myself sink back under
and move with the current.
I feel complete
for a moment, while I am under.
Not grounded by gravity,
yet not flying out of control.
I am suspended in a liquid of tranquility
Not breathing, not suffocating,
just floating in bliss.
Kate Bresnahan
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 9th Grade
Out of the Window
Out of the window
The land so quiet
The night bringing on its lust
The noise of the wind beckons me
And I can see the moon clouded over, hardly visible
No light, no sound
Only the wind and the faint glow of the moon
The trees sway in tune with a silent song
My hair flies out around me
It’s as though I’m flying In this world that I have never seen before
No more tears can flow from my eyes
I can’t make that happen anymore
Now that I have seen outside of my window
And into this place I have never known
The tears only come because of the sheer beauty
I can’t hold it back
It’s enchanting
And with a last breath I come back from my window
It smells different in the world I know
It is enchanting, but not in the way I have just experienced
It is beautiful
But not breathtaking
I now know what’s beyond my window
How can I love that which I know now?
Now that the world beyond has come to life
I cannot appreciate the beauty I have created any longer
So I look out my window again
For that one breath
Of sensational wind
2005 Poetry Contest Winners
Alexandra McKay
First Place Winner, Elementary School
Beeman Memorial School, 3rd Grade
Friends
Everybody has friends.
Even the stars have friends.
They glitter with the moon in the morning light.
Everybody has friends.
Even the sun has friends.
The sun is bright and the clouds are white.
Everybody has friends.
Even the planets late at night.
When the astronauts come in from flight.
Everybody has friends.
Samantha Turner
First Place Winner, Middle School
St. Ann School, 7th Grade
Dreams and Nightmares
Open and sweet with bright colors
Anything can happen
Flying over the highest cloud
Dive into the deepest ocean
Climb the tallest mountain
Ride the fastest horse
Chase the wind in a game of tag
Peace is all around you.
Darkness overwhelms the light
Pain consumes your happiness
For just a moment everything is still
Then chaos erupts all over
Shadows chase you to the brink of a cliff
Volcanoes explode with giant rocks
Floods and strong winds wash and scour the earth.
Fires burn with powerful heat
Then courage comes and you fight back
You wield powers of untold forces
Passion to free yourself from evil fights
Light comes back
You have won
Warmth comes to touch your sleeping face
You wake up from the night’s adventure
To go on to the new day’s quest
Kaitlin Nicolosi
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 12th Grade
World Wonders
World wonders are small beauties, often lost in the blink of an eye.
They are shadowed by the extravagant, the flash of riches that we see,
It’s sad to know we often let the best things in life pass us by.
Like a string of laughter which makes us double over and cry,
Or even the soft curve of a smile one can so brilliantly foresee,
World wonders are small beauties, often lost in the blink of an eye.
A kiss so sweet and gentle that the lungs exert a sigh,
Watching nighttime as the waves wash out slowly past the sea,
It’s sad to know we often let the best things in life pass us by.
Late afternoon swimming and early evening cookouts in July,
The delicacy of autumn with burnt citrus leaves in each tree,
World wonders are small beauties, often lost in the blink of an eye.
A friendship formed where a shell was cracked in someone that was shy,
Or genuine surprises that bring a glow to the cheek and a tremble to the knee.
It’s sad to know we often let the best things in life pass us by.
A face adorned with makeup is the beauty that you buy,
But life is far more glamorous than a cosmetic will ever be.
World wonders are small beauties, often lost in the blink of an eye.
It’s sad to know we often let the best things in life pass us by.
2006 Poetry Contest Winners
Billy O’Donnell
First Place Winner, Elementary School
Brookwood School, 5th Grade
Aviation
I left you far behind today,
With your gravity-bound ways.
I am now on top of the world,
As light as a feather.
I no longer have any earthly limits,
Just the constraints of my remaining minutes.
I feel happy, excited, and adventurous.
I feel as though I am floating.
Looking down on you, I am not gloating.
I am in control of everything,
Except for nature’s anger!
Britany Diamondt
First Place Winner, Middle School
Ralph B. O’Maley Middle School, 7th Grade
Ecstasy at the Beach
Sitting Still
sounds all around
laughter fills the air
splish, splash, the ocean pounds the rocks
along with the squawk and mock of a gull
soft, silky sand slipping down my leg
along with the tickle of a crab
faint taste of ocean on my lips
can taste the salt in the slush with every sip
sun shining from every angle
my hair tangled
wish the moment would freeze
like the ocean waves can
Breathing in,
clean, crisp, coconut lotion
sweet smell of burned skin
refreshing and invigorating
not a care in the world
the sun is beginning to set
sky looks on fire
fire spreading now reaching the ocean
within minutes the world seems to be caught up in flames
fireworks of red, orange and pink
everyday at the beach is a different story
this one just happens to be my favorite
Erin McManus
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 11th Grade
Blood Has No Doctrine
blood has no doctrine
when it
spills
from the gun’s barrel
our sweet stifled indignation
is identical
our wildest dreams are
symmetrical
beaten
pulpy
silence
blood not of mosques
or temples or
churches
Blood of the people
Blood of our written
Byronic heroes flows and flows
Blood,
red hand of mortality
Oh blessed life!
The soliloquy begins and terminates
us all
the same
2007 Poetry Contest Winners
Phoebe Weissblum
First Place Winner, Elementary School
Harborlight Montessori School, 5th Grade
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.
Kazira Slocum
First Place Winner, Middle School
St. Ann School, 8th Grade
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.
Alexandra Lees
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 10th Grade
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
2008 Poetry Contest Winners
Lydia Anderson
First Place Winner, Elementary School
Beeman Memorial School, 4th Grade
Africa
In Africa miracles come alive like spirits on a bike
there are some animals I personally like
from monkeys swaying in the trees
to elephants stomping in the breeze
there are even more even some as delicate as a glass
such as chomping cheetahs in the grass
and gentle giraffes looking around with a face of brass
but my favorite is the warthog or pig as many people would say
they always run but they just have a different way
of expressing themselves in their land
and I hope they will never ever die as planned.
Aidan Breen
First Place Winner, Middle School
Glen Urquhart School, 6th Grade
Where Are You?
I try to feel your ghostly presence thinking of you.
Are you there?
I went to visit you at the hospital.
I saw all the wires, IV tubes hooked up and blood rushing into your skin.
She went over to see you that day.
You smiled real tiny and started to cough.
I remember the whole thing like it was yesterday.
You started to cough real hard and Grammy got scared. She started yelling your name,
“Jimmy, JIMMY!”
You made it through that time so why not this time?
I really didn’t understand what was happening then.
When Mom told me to go away I knew something was wrong.
I never thought this would happen to you.
But I guess it did.
So now you are really gone.
I was at your memorial.
Four hundred people were there.
Everyone knew you, I suppose.
It was all-quiet. Hushed.
You taught me many things. Some as simple as throwing a baseball.
I’d sometimes be afraid. I’ve always been shy.
But there is one last thing I need to ask you, “Where are you?”
All I know is that you are gone.
Alexandra Lees
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 11th Grade
Dreams on the Wind
Spring day, sun shining, I walk alone,
feet hitting the sidewalk, one after the other,
I hear them as they scuff the pavement,
The wind sweeps past me,
sends my hair flying like a flag,
It whispers, “I know who you are
and who you want to be,
I see past your imperfections,
I see your soul,”
“I hear your heart beating,” roars the ocean,
“I feel the passion stirring within you,
it pounds through you like the waves crashing on my shore.”
The trees reach out their fingers to the light,
reaching, reaching, always reaching out.
“We have had death,” they rustle,
“But we have also had life,
Without hope, we have nothing.”
The wind whispers, “Keep dreaming,
Keep hoping, keep being.”
My eye sees gold dreams and sweet winds
2009 Poetry Contest Winners
Jordan Gentile
First Place Winner, Elementary School
Veteran’s Memorial, 4th Grade
Earth Day
The tree is tall,
But its home is still cut down for a mall.
The bird can fly higher than oil
But its escape is foiled
Because oil makes it unable to fly.
Bug spray keeps the bugs away
But makes frogs die
A whale can flip a boat with its tail
But if a boat hits it, its will to live fails.
The worst thing for animals is pollution
Which makes me come to this conclusion.
Always help on Earth Day
To help the Earth is the best way!
Meghaen Favazza
First Place Winner, Middle School
St. Ann School, 7th Grade
Love
What is love?
A mother’s care for her baby,
A couple holding hands.
From which comes life,
Comes the ability to love.
It’s not a must,
Nor a need.
Love is a privilege, an opportunity.
What is love?
It is intense and eternal,
A difficult reality.
How can you love?
Listen to a person needy of a friend,
Talk to a person needy of advice.
What is a world without love?
Nothing but a lonely shelter,
A place of endless torture.
What is love?
Peace during a war,
Forgiving a conflicted friend.
That is love.
Love is the strength,
The intensity and courage of a relationship.
And compared to love,
Everything else is second best.
Lucina Fox
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 12th Grade
5 Ways How He’s Not Like the Water and 10 More How He Is
got more than three forms:
I’ve felt his ice, his rushing rivers, seen him
evaporate, and then some.
water’s not flammable
but he lights me up burns right alongside me.
so damn sweet my teeth ache.
and pure? that boy’s a sinner: though I can’t say I don’t crave it.
space between? a damn barrier.
he couldn’t find a way from point a to point b.
couldn’t move the dust and dirt to make a grand canyon
yet I still managed to fall in
or did I jump?
oh, but his lips are cool like the river
and his caress is omniscient like the lake
he babbles like the brook
but whispers like the waves.
reminds me of summer,
a force, to be reckoned with: could hold me under, could lift me up.
thirst quencher (heart wrencher)
the stuff of tears
he filled my ears
he slipped between my fingers.
2010 Poetry Contest Winners
Jemma Johnson-Shoucair
First Place Winner, Elementary School
East Gloucester, 5th Grade
Hope
Leaping, jumping, falling
Soaring when the stars come
And still flying when the stars fall
Diminished by the rain’s tear
And grasped again by the rich earth
It is as true as truth itself
And more eternal than all eternity
Hope is hope itself
Alessandra Moceri
First Place Winner, Middle School
St. Ann School, 8th Grade
Gone With the Wind
Sitting in what we believe is here
Watching intently as motionless sounds roam about
As the trees stand claimed and waters sing a silent song
What is the place of where I cannot see?
Only by the force of what is taken unexpectedly
How we live and how we’re gone
When I look I see it
And then, I think if what I had just seen was a reality
Not sure of what has been witnessed
Making no promises
It’s there and then disappears
Right before I get the chance to collect what I had just seen
Teasing figures and motions taunt me
Fearless of what is to happen
Waiting contently
Hoping for the best
Waiting for the worst to come
One step at a time
Coming closer and closer
Seeing the unseen
The best is to come
But it’s gone with the wind.
Katina Tibbetts
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 12th Grade
The True Story
Everyone feels bad for her
But she’s no angel
The true story is
She stole my prince charming
She is my step sister
But I am not evil
She is not so nice
Underneath that innocent exterior
That magical pumpkin
And mice the morph into horses
Those are all lies
And that beautiful gown she wore
Well, that dress was mine.
Along with my gown,
She took my glass slippers too.
She ran away to the ball
Before I even knew.
And after she wooed him
I tried to explain
She was nothing but a liar
And a downright thief too,
He wanted to believe me,
So he said,
“Try on the shoe.”
I returned home
To retrieve that slipper
And as I walked in
I heard that evil little snicker
I didn’t realize how far
She would go
And then she went and closed
The door on my toe.
I couldn’t believe it
My foot was too big
My prince charming gave me
A sad look and said,
“Sorry, you’re not my perfect fit.”
So this is my story
You don’t have to believe me
You can think,
“Cinderella?! She wouldn’t hurt a thing!”
But she did, she stole my prince charming.
2011 Poetry Contest Winners
Rumi Thomas
First Place Winner, Elementary School
Cape Ann Waldorf School, 2nd Grade
The Misty Seas
Far away on the misty seas, where the whales come and go,
where the sharks hunt their prey,
where the seal pups play
amongst the cresting waves,
where the foghorns blow their low-pitched tunes,
where the lighthouses shine their yellow light
so the sailors may find their way home again
far away on the misty seas.
Enzo Paganetti
First Place Winner, Middle School
St. Ann School, 6th Grade
Desk
I am forgotten in the corner,
Nobody to use me, no one to move me.
I think about the life I’ve had
As I wait inside the dark.
I’ve seen the ages passing by,
Seen the children grow and grow
As I collect dust in the cellar.
I’ve read the books stored inside me,
Felt the work stuffed inside me
As I remain in this tiny room.
I remember the itching scribbles of pen;
I long for it to happen again,
But now I abide in this gloom.
I’ve heard the lectures of the teachers;
Now I remember them all.
As I rest in this murkiness,
The weight of books
I’ll miss so much,
I think of this and much more
As I stand, expelled and rejected.
Jaclyn Canillas
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 11th Grade
The Eternal Gem
(This poem was inspired by the Greek myth of the amaranth flowers – amaranth means “never fading” and is a symbol of immortality.)
Ah, the eternal amaranth,
stuck between the tides,
unable to complete the cycle
of life and death.
Always in the sunlight, and never the shade,
beautiful and lonely,
an earthbound angel
tied down to the seedlings of the ground,
with no wings to carry it away.
A mere flower,
elegant and warm as the sun above
but reserve and silent as the stars.
Struggling to blow out the remaining flame of the candle,
Afraid to lift the veil and find out what is on the others side.
A gem of the fields,
A delicate beauty of the earth
Just waiting to be set free.
2012 Poetry Contest Winners
Willa Lepionka Brosnihan
First Place Winner, Elementary School
West Parish School, 3rd Grade
Under the Waves
Under the lapping, dancing waves
Is a world of water people
With tails and fins and scales to swim
Under the beautiful, wonderful waves.
They play with dolphins,
They sing with whales
Under the magnificent, mighty waves.
They swim with seals,
They jump with fish
Under the strong, lovable waves.
They race with crabs,
They dance with eels
Under the churning, pounding waves.
They take care of the shellfish,
And they live with the lobsters
Under the waves,
The lapping dancing, beautiful, wonderful, magnificent, mighty, strong,
Lovable, churning, pounding waves.
But what they love the most are the waves,
The perfect waves,
Their home, the waves.
Aislinn McCormack
First Place Winner, Middle School
St. Ann School, 8th Grade
Neither Nor
They say I am too young
But aren’t I much too old?
I’m too old to sleep with the lights on,
Too young to go anywhere by myself,
Too old to need help with my homework,
Yet young enough to need help with major decisions.
I’m too young to form my own opinions,
Too old to afford not to.
Too old to be so naïve,
But too young to be so distrusting.
I’m old enough to see the shades of gray between the black and white,
But I’m little so I can’t do anything about it.
Furthermore, I’m big enough to hear about all the world’s suffering,
Too small to make a difference.
I’m too young to take all these insults to heart,
Too experienced to just deal with it,
Far too old for such outbursts,
Too young to keep them from slipping out.
Young enough to try my best,
Old enough to know it wasn’t good enough.
Too young to be so knowing,
Too old to be so ignorant.
I am not an adult
Nor am I a child.
I don’t fit in,
Nor quite stick out.
I am me.
Whether it’s rain or shine, thick or thin
I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Sarah Zuidema
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 12th Grade
Little Reminders
Territories are marked with rainbow umbrellas,
While wind blows hot sand against damp skin,
Stinging on contact.
Burns can be felt creeping onto cheekbones,
And tanned hides are pulled taut with the salt and sun.
The world’s giant mirror pounds the shore with its shards,
Cracked piece of broken dreams left scattered along the beach.
Chairs are left, tattered and worn,
An assembly of soldiers
Standing for peace,
Beaten with rounded pebbles and stones.
Sea glass shimmers in the sunshine,
Colorful memories and souls,
Hovering just out of reach.
Friendly lspirits smile in the sea spray
And dance between sunbeams.
Laughter from summers past
Rides the shite crests to shore,
Crashing in giddy mounds on sandcastles by the waves.
The seagulls mock,
Their shrieks vibrating the air,
Whipping breezes across the lonely crowd of people.
Each thought waddle its way down the slit
Where the hot sand meets the cold,
The dry meets the wet,
And the heavy summer air wrestles with the salty gusts.
2013 Poetry Contest Winners
Willa Brosnihan
First Place Winner, Elementary School
West Parish School, 4th Grade
The Waiting Drawer
In a drawer, the waiting drawer, sits a tiny porcelain doll with a chip on her chin
and grandmother’s missing diamond pin.
A baby doll wishing to go to bed,
a note that I have not yet read.
An earring that is missing its match,
a pair of jeans that needs a patch.
A page torn out of a book,
a poster of a wanted crook.
A mirror that has cracked in two,
a picture of someone, maybe it’s you!
Waiting to be fixed, or used, kplayed with
or just found.
Waiting in the waiting drawer.
Mark Turner
First Place Winner, Middle School
Eastern Point Day School, 8th Grade
The Girl in the Window
Her window is the perfect spot to sit.
She sits there with her legs crossed
leaning up against the concrete wall.
Her wardrobe is a light blue collared shirt,
thick brown belt,
and a navy blue skirt that hangs four inches above her knees.
Her long, luxurious, luscious, thick brown hair falls halfway down her back;
not one strand hangs out of place.
She’s tall with long olive legs
and the perfect crisp face.
After six months looking at her
I’ve found my courage to talk.
I come around the corner, my legs wobbling.
She is studying her biology text book.
When I’m within five feet of her,
She looks up and a subtle grin forms on her face.
Jordan Westling
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 11th Grade
175 Pounds
I tugged hard on his hand once, twice, a third,
And finally he complied.
The low tide burnt my nose as we walked closer.
As I tugged and pulled
His face remained passive.
His hands were weathered from the years
Leaving the end result similar to leather.
His rough juxtaposed my soft
Making it easy for my contours to catch his.
He outweighed me by at least 100 pounds
But he allowed himself to be pulled.
The spot was nice, maybe not ideal,
But neither was he.
He pulled out the rods silently,
And I happily picked mine from his hands.
Despite my need to break the silence I kept quiet.
Those were his silent wishes.
I looked up at his worn face
and saw the look of peace
That had evaded his eyes for so long.
A tug at the line interrupted my thoughts, moving my attention to the water.
When I looked back up, it was different.
He was no longer sitting up with his rod.
He no longer had slim weather hands.
He no longer had a look of peace.
I looked up and we were back.
Back to the uncomfortable white room,
Back to him lying down,
Back to his swollen dry hands.
Back to his worn face being obscured by tubes.
******************
The poetry contest was not held in 2014.
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2015 Poetry Contest Winners
George King
First Place (shared), Elementary School
East Gloucester Elementary School, 5th Grade
Blank Slate
A blank page
An erased whiteboard
Inspiring, beckoning for thoughts
A new Idea
Forever captured In writing
An Idea
While you will not live
Your Ideas live on
A new idea for everyone to use and honor
An Idea can make a dream
Or destroy one
Like knowledge Ideas have power
Ideas make life
An Idea has a purpose
Your Ideas are your monuments
Treasure them
New thoughts, fresh starts
Mean something
A second chance
To produce an Idea
Old Ideas don’t always last
They are burnt, thrown out
Which can be good, it gives space
For new ideas from the next generation
But sometimes old Ideas are priceless
With Ideas
Everyone has a chance
An Idea is special
It can take a month or years
Old Ideas evolve into new, better Ideas
And you don’t have to leave
Ideas to scientists
You can have your own at home
A new Idea may be good or bad
But if you try, your Idea can be
Whatever…
An Idea doesn’t have to be known to be respected
An idea does not have to be complete
Other people can open it up
Discover more
Your Idea, when told to others Is not yours anymore
An Idea is like an electrical charge
Or a time bomb, ready to explode
When your Idea explodes
You have changed the world.
Your Ideas, my Ideas work in harmony
My Idea can take your idea further
Ideas can be anything, change anything
Built on Ideas the world becomes better
Your Idea can be one of those
An Idea with purpose is the best Idea of
All but an Idea with hard work behind it
Has its own amazing journey
A person’s idea doesn’t have to be famous
To gain its own kind of fame
An Idea doesn’t have to be widely used
Even if only one person likes it
It has a place in the world
And if nobody likes it
You can create another
A new idea
Maybe just what the world needs.
Charles King
First Place Winner (shared)
East Gloucester Elementary School, 5th Grade
Fireworks
Big explosions in the sky,
A matchstick’s all it needs to fly,
Up into its burning flight,
Up to the sky in the quiet night.
The sky a cloak of midnight black,
It flies along its careful track,
Then explodes in colors bright,
Up in the sky in the quiet night.
The ashes fall right to the ground,
Falling softly without a sound,
A couple of sparks still burn bright,
And there’s the sky and the quiet night.
All rockets gone but you still gaze,
So long that your eyes glaze,
There still seems to be a sacred light,
That keeps you looking at the sky and the night.
Mila Barry
First Place Winner, Middle School
O’Maley School, 6th Grade
Living in The Valley Green
For a lifetime
I
Throve there, in brush
Living
When the sky turned cream
When the rain came tumbling, sliding upon the dirt
I saw
Those nights of silk whisper
And the days sing
Oh the summers
Which I did spend there
Dancing with the infinite open stars
Flying through gentle moonshine, twirling through the everlasting sun
The world was smiling the whole time
If only I had looked about and saw it
Oh the winters
Snarling pains
Forever came snow
And the winds screamed, threatened by a knife
Such terror never leaves
All the time the willows wept
And hunched
And with them cried along
So long
Forever is so long
So went the years, whisked away
By breezes ever sweet
And ever gentle
Far too many
Memories rode like leaves upon that tinkling wind
Never blowing back
My life Is printed in that valley so green
Though the sun has long since sunk beneath waves
Emily Ryan
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 11th Grade
Loving in Reverse
And I expected each goodbye
To be forgotten eventually.
And I dreamed that the rain
Would fall back into the sky,
Impregnating the clouds
With tears they would never have to shed.
That waterfalls would defy gravity,
And their foamy cascades would land,
Cushioned by the stars.
And the blood a-playing through air backwards,
Being sucked back into the pathways
Of your brilliant, ingenious mind,
Filling it, reborn, with the warm breath of life.
That the bullet that perpetrated
The gates of your skull
Would recede through its metal chamber,
Back to its cold and lethal bed.
And the chemicals ignited
Would snuff out into packaged, manufactured elements
Waiting for their destruction.
And the waltz we did before we rested
Would be what we awakened to
Each and every day.
Our skin would grow tighter and fuller,
And our hearts would ignite to the melody of love.
And I expected each goodbye
To create the yearning
For a new
Hello.
2016 Poetry Contest Winners
Sean Bergin
First Place, Elementary School
East Gloucester School, Grade 5
A Mysterious Wonder
I don’t exist,
But I’m always here.
Brave people fear me
When I am near.
The poor own me,
The rich have known me.
If you eat me, you die.
I fill what’s empty,
Yet I have no mass.
I am more fragile than any glass.
To most I’m an opportunity,
A blank slate
That carries a flamboyant fate.
I am a secret
That cannot be broken.
I am Nothing.
Mila Barry
First Place. Middle School
O’Maley Innovation School, Grade 7
Spoken like Words on the Wind
Hush, Hush
Can you hear it?
Rushing, rapid, through the reeds,
Singing softly as it weaves.
Can you? Can you?
Shhh…
Let the silence
Whisper as it calms the violence!
Let the quiet come.
Can you hear it?
Can you? Can you?
Please,
Listen!
Grassy glades give way to sunlit days,
Which stretch into forever.
But only if you listen.
Can you hear it?
Can you?
Will it come?
Look,
Towards the moon.
The darkness is like silence.
It is slippery.
It is naturally.
It will fill you with a peculiar emptiness,
Bleach you paperwhite,
Then allow you to be covered
In light, noise; perhaps they are one and the same.
Can you hear it? Can you, now?
Feel it!
Water trips over sandy stones,
Sitting cool on earthen bones,
Lucid as thoughts.
Here it is, plain as day,
Riding on the song of the river!
Oooooooooo
Can you hear it?
Can you?
Breathe!
Sweetness is enfolded in the spring breeze.
It will lie to you with ease!
Let you believe that it will free you,
Pick you up and watch you fly.
But then, what is the difference
Between believing and reality?
So can you hear it? Can you?
The truth
Is an odd thing
Because I know that you can hear it.
So tell me,
Tell me please,
What do you hear?
Anya Fulmer
First Place, High School
Rockport High School, Grade 9
Autumn
A battle is raging here;
Chill gusts sweep fiery patterns up
To freeze the soldiers so near.
Beneath the high unforgiving blue,
Golds and browns are taking this;
A season comes anew.
This weakened majesty trembles so,
Shudders and sways in the wind,
Bows his mighty crown that low,
Bows from summer into dark,
Crashing to the forest floor below,
Red swirls to rest on a fallen monarch.
2017 Poetry Contest Winners
Wilhelmina Rolf Thaemert
First Place, Elementary
Glen Urquhart School, Grade Three
A Girl
A girl walked out of her house and slowly stepped down the rocky
path.
She felt the wind on her shoulders and looked up to see the pretty
night sky.
She heard the sound of a frog in the nearby pond.
And kept walking.
Rain started falling and as it dripped on the sidewalk it reminded her
of standing in a stream playing.
She saw, as the rain stopped, a butterfly on the ground, wet.
She picked it up carefully and set it on a plant.
It took a while but it flew away and she flew with it into the clouds
and away.
Willa Brosnihan
First Place, Middle School
O’Maley Middle School, 8th Grade
Time and Quiet
Blue painted clay-ware holds it,
Cinnamon-sugar my mother mixed,
Belonging to burned toast,
And mushy summer-butter.
It is in the white cabinet,
Next to prescription bottles,
And cloves of garlic,
Their long leaves braided.
The fever in July,
My mother made toast for my writhing stomach,
Like her mother made,
Cinnamon sugar toast,
Wet towels,
And ginger ale.
I would read picture books,
I would leave summer-butter fingerprints,
On the pages of Patricia Polacco,
Doctor Seuss,
To find now,
Grease stains a keepsake,
Crumbs and dust and sugar and spice clinging,
In the spines.
In the clay container it clumps and separates,
As it sits forgotten,
For stretches of time,
Time,
Time,
Next to prescription bottles,
And cloves of garlic,
With long leaves braided.
It is rediscovered,
On days too hot for pancakes,
When the milk is curdled,
It is rediscovered,
And breakfast tastes like the softer parts of sick days.
In the hotel dining room,
You spread dense packaged butter on both sides of your bread.
I thought of the Butter Battle Book as you told me,
That you put cinnamon sugar,
On your toast at home.
And then,
I wished only for time,
And quiet,
To tell you the bedtime story,
That ends with books marked with sweet honey,
The sticky reminder,
Much like my summer-butter blotches.
I wish only for time and quiet,
Quiet,
Quiet,
To show you the childhood in the lacquered blue,
And the bit of me,
On both sides of your toast.
I haven’t changed since then,
Since sick days,
picture books.
To know me is to know me as I always have been,
Filled with these narratives,
And tasting of cinnamon sugar.
Jemma Johnson-Shoucair
First Place, High School
Marblehead High School, 12th Grade
The Deeper The Shipwreck The More Precious The Treasure
I want you back so badly sometimes
I can still taste you in my mouth the
Scent of a home i have escaped from a
Refugee of my own body searching to make
A place for myself in this skin
My body a temple where i can find shelter from the
Looks you give her while i
Ignore your gaze pretending everything
Is fine pretending i don’t feel the ground
Slipping out from underneath me hoping
I have grown wings solid enough to fly when
The earth is gone and i am
Left in a cloud of my doubts ones
Strong enough to pull me under a
Ship lost in the bottom of the ocean one
That everyone wants to find but nobody has
My yearning the treasure in the hull of my ribs
My heart beating out a rescue signal hoping you will hear it
And come back to find yourself in my arms but
I forgot we cannot breathe underwater and
Dreams don’t exist when I am awake so I
Sleep to rid myself of you the only
Time when i do not imagine your hands in her hair
Kissing her sweetly the character i used to play and
Had almost forgotten that actors can be replaced while
The play still goes on and i am left to
Forge my own kingdom in the empty castle you abandoned for i
Am not afraid of solitude i am afraid of
Watching you find me in another’s eyes watching
Myself move on too slowly and too quickly at the same time
I have lost a best friend
I will not pretend it doesn’t hurt i will not pretend that
Some days i can’t imagine the sky is still above me and
That morning will follow the stars and i
Forget to look at the stars
The same elements i am made of chasing off the darkness
Burning without fear of fading knowing
That when they die they will have two options:
To explode into a supernova or
Implode in on themselves to become a black hole i feel
I am doing both at once my lungs collapsing with
Every breath while straining with the weight of the oxygen they take
in
My diaphragm tired of holding my body up
My heart restless in my chest pounding a beat that I once thought
You could hear music to but now
I am left to decipher its rhythm to craft
Notes from its cadence ones that i will dance to when
I am on my own ones that i will sing to when I
Fear my voice has grown too soft to understand
In the end you have lost one of the only people you can trust and
Replaced me with a substitute to carry you through these months
before
You leave burdened with regrets you have lost
The wild woman who will haunt your dreams the one who inexplicably
Caught your breath it was you who decided to open your heart and
It was you who decided to close it again leaving me on
The outside of someone i thought i knew i
Know how to climb walls to build bridges through the rubble of
Heartbreak but i will only be an unwelcome visitor one
Who is not quite an enemy but you still do not want
To share your home with a
Thorn in your side that you pull knowing
The space left behind will heal not knowing if
It will leave a scar
You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me i
Do not regret loving you with all i had learning that
I am allowed to heal to sink back into the
Mold my body had made years ago but was waiting
For me to find
I am one of the best things that has ever happened to you someone
Who let you be a child while still holding the title of a man
One who kept your dream in my pocket for safekeeping
Rolling around with promises i still intend to fulfill I
Am the best thing that has ever happened to me
When I cry myself to sleep my eyes will still open in the morning
forcing
Me to move on the muscles in my face will chew my food my
Throat will swallow keeping me alive i am forever grateful for the
Beauty my body has graced me with the way my legs stretch out
When i run pretending there is nothing behind me my chest heaving
With the hope that I will never have to stop my mind
A constant whirlwind of ideas ones that can be overwhelming but
What storm isn’t
I am a hurricane, a fire, a quiet chaos waiting to turn into a roar
I am the silence after an unnecessary apology the feeling
In your throat when you hold back tears i am
The hand that holds you steady and the one that grabs you
Down i will not be silent because you can’t hear yourself think i
Will only be silent to hear the beat of my pounding heart
Leading me back home
2018 Poetry Contest Winners
Josie West
First Place, Elementary School
West Parish School, 5th Grade
They Called her Moses
(Harriet Tubman: 1820-1913)
Small girl, age seven
Rough linen shirt over black body
Deep sober eyes, scared.
Clip clop, clip clop.
Being sold.
For twenty-three years
Scars crisscross her back
She watches sisters, brothers sold off,
Fearful it will be her next.
Following the night,
Slips of paper guide her
To strangers’ houses.
Stop by stop
She finds her way to freedom.
Free…but can’t rest;
She dreams dreams, receives
Visions — answers to prayers,
Answers showing her The way to protecting her people.
Silently She slinks through the underbrush
Silently
She glides along the ground
Knock, knock. Secret password: A friend of friends
Inside: Food. Hope. Light.
Ten years
Nineteen trips
Three hundred slaves
Not one passenger lost!
Elijah Sarrouf
First Place, Middle School
O’Maley School, 7th Grade
Back Then
Back then, when the flowers bloomed
So bright and beautiful,
When the bees would chant
In buzzing tones and collect and pollinate,
We were so scared the bees would sting.
But that was all back then.
Back then we basked in summer sun
And hid between the rocks
Built in the mud castles of miniature,
Then cool off in the blanket of turquoise.
We would go on a walk and or run and climb away.
But that was all back then.
Back then, the leaves would jump off the trees
And fall to the ground in vibrant reds and yellows.
The wind would carry them, all the while assuring you,
“Let us take you with us.”
Can you hear them, do you listen?
But that was all back then.
Back then, the winter snow would glow
So bright, so beautiful.
You put on the mittens, the hats, the boots,
And jump right in the veil of white.
We would skate across the frozen ice.
But that was all back then.
I remember those days,
Back then, back then.
I remember the flowers blooming
And the summer sun
And the wind come to take us away.
I remember the snow,
But I have a question: Do you remember,
Do you recall, what we did back then?
Willa Brosnihan
First Place, High School
Gloucester High School, 9th Grade
Café Lameiros
The four sit at the table,
outside the cafe,
the women perched on the knees of their men,
underwear showing neon through tight pants,
hair loose and dark against their skin.
There is a symmetry to it,
the way the shoulders slump down to the table,
work-worn hands,
brown with sun,
resting
on the lower backs of their women.
There is such splendor
in the four
at the table,
with their laughter,
the goodness of touch unabashed.
They are the truth
as they sit in the shade,
the hills around them green and dotted with ruins,
the grey-brown skeleton cork trees,
the living drinking coffee and the dead stacked in their graves,
a child giving fresh dirt,
to the worms of her mother.
And here are these women,
perched on the knees of their men, beautiful,
belonging to the countryside,
belonging to the dead and to their children,
and the four at the table —
they look like modern art painted by someone
who changed everything.
2019 Poetry Contest Winners
Lyall Cunningham
First Place, Elementary School
Plum Cover School, Grade 5
Trees
If they could talk,
Then I wonder
What would they say?
Would they tell us about the stones,
For example,
About their smooth plain surfaces sometimes covered in splotches
Of different colors?
About how they were created thousands of years ago, or
In some cases just recently?
By a volcano,
For example?
And how they affect everyone’s lives,
Our ancestors’ lives?
But they can’t, so I just tell them about the world
Beyond, where they came to stand for all of these years until now.
I wish that I could ask them about the world
So many years ago,
But they cannot answer.
Elijah Sarrouf
First Place, Middle School
O’Maley Innovation Middle School, Grade 8
Old Town
Great stone walls
surround the metropolis
of ancient times,
encompassing a limestone mountain range,
Its gray piers
jutting into the rich ambrosial sea
of impossibly clear turquoise.
Smelling of ancient innovation
and tasting of candied orange rinds.
The city’s dark alleys lead into
the maze of old houses,
meandering endlessly through secret markets,
restaurants beckoning weary travelers,
“Come eat here “Molim!”
Cafes wafting fragrances of
burek and opulent teas.
Prosperous palaces perched precariously
on slopes that climb high over the city
like a wave about to crash.
Chapels lined with statues
foretell of archaic religions
and mysterious gods.
A massive clocktower spire
rises above the
orange-tiled roofs
and calls boastfully of its knowledge.
Yet with all the history
of unresolved wars,
cruel battles,
and forgotten warriors,
in all the commotion
of seaport revolution,
this is a quaint, loved town
that stands still
as the world moves on.
The town is a painted town,
lasting only in fond memories.
Autumn-Marie Silva
First Place, High School
Gloucester High School, Grade 10
Star-Cross’d Lovers
O’Fate!
Cruel, vexatious Fate!
Thy threads of barbéd wire
String us together
Like gnats to a spider’s web.
O’Love,
Sickly sweet
Dripping down my throat
From a golden goblet
Its rim dipped in sugary poison
Burns mine lips
But still I sip again.
And when the goblet is emptied
What do I find
But a spider?
Nay, not a spider, but its web.
Fingers down my throat
I wretch up this silvery twine,
But too late I see,
For the blood that follows
Stains my milky fingers,
Saints’ palms.
Too quickly did I gulp this intoxicating elixir,
But would the spider not have lain in wait
No matter how slowly I sipped?
Was this some consequence
Yet hanging in the stars
That I was too blind to see?
More importantly,
Would seeing this consequence
Have done a thing to stop my thirsty lips
From suckling thy poisoned breast
O’Aphrodite!
2020 Poetry Contest Winners
Note: Due to complications caused by the Covid 19 pandemic, there were no Elementary School winners during this contest cycle.
Josephine West
First Place, Middle School
O’Maley Innovation Middle School, Grade 7
Hymns and Handstands
Pencil rests behind his ear,
critical eye judges:
bones, sticks, clouds
littered across pages.
A purring motor drones from a cocoon of blankets,
Queen Clementine ruling her kingdom,
a stationary monarch.
Seagulls screech outside-
she flies, a blurry orange streak.
Cat thunders downstairs
to a graceful gymnast,
legs suspended in air, until-
crash!
She falls, a heap of limbs.
Joining joyful ruckus,
my fingers slide up and down frets,
plucking notes that drift
into the magic kitchen.
Sweet-smelling slightly charred carrots,
creamy feta, crunchy-smooth walnuts topped
with spring-smelling sprigs of dill
prompt a chorus of growls from our stomachs.
Chord sheets pepper the island,
strums and stirs synchronized,
handstand percussion
drumming out the beat.
Artist descends, stairs creaking.
We gather.
Chef hollers orders,
and we oblige
with minimal grumbling.
Prettily presented veggies blanket table.
We sit, our hands linked.
Meows accompany our grateful refrain,
and at last, we feast.
Willa Brosnihan
First Place, High School
Gloucester High School, Grade 11
Refilling
Finger depress the tongue-latch of the door,
trigger her gag reflex and slide,
leaving open, hoping no other feels the draft and closes,
out, across the parking lot,
too quick a trip for a coat, arms crossed and nose up,
smelling ice, smoke from the kitchen,
the plain reverse of Main Street lit in orange.
The flashlight, click the button three times,
it must be convinced. Open
the cathedral mouth of the shipping container and shine in
the light, look for hiders, girl snatchers,
find none.
Enter like Pinocchio, unhumble, biblical,
into the whale. Tickle her insides for replacements,
for the things used up. It is supremely quiet.
It is cold. Run back across the parking lot now,
be re-swallowed like a lover after betrayal,
forgiven, and stack,
what you’ve gathered
where it’s easy to find. Watch Fransisco, Frankie,
sorting silverware. The clatter.
You are among people. Outside
you’d been like rhythm,
unfelt but shaking
the air which was the everything.
2021 Poetry Contest Winners
Betsy Telep
First Place Winner, Elementary School
Homeschool, 4th Grade
Sea View
Seals bask in the sun,
As I try to run,
Against the waves of Glory.
The wind ruffles the seagull’s Feathers
As they glide gracefully atop the infinite blue sky.
The roaring sea
shouts now even more gleefully
“Come in, Come in! The water’s fine. Of course, it’s mine!
For I am the roaring sea.”
I walk the sandy beaches,
As the rocks tumble.
I walk the sandy beaches,
As I throw off my first pair of breeches.
The seaweed will decide
It’s getting quite bored
With all the rope tangled and the crabs crawling
This way and that.
Yes, the seaweed will decide
That it is her turn to glide
Upon the ancient seas.
I climb onto the marshy marsh,
and fall into its tall grasses.
I climb onto the marshy marsh
Always happy and gay,
Because the ocean is my life,
And my life is the ocean,
And here I am. Right here! As I sit upon the bay.
Caliana Dort
First Place Winner, Middle School
O’Maley School, 7th Grade
Where I am From
I am from distractions and trauma, depression and hate;
I am from where dreams and lives were crushed to pieces with no hope in sight
I am from a group of nobodies with no aspiration;
I am from a place where nobody wants to be, a place for desperate nobodies
where even the lowest of the low look at this place and call it a ghetto;
Where the government pays you for disabilities and where no one works;
Where little kids’ toys are left out on the lawns;
Where people are living together in a duplex;
Where people leave their pride behind them and have to settle in this dump;
I am from parents who are separated who live separate lives;
I am from one who has anxiety to the roof but values every moment with his kids;
This man is my father and he is the glue that holds our love together;
I am from a one who chases love and never finds it for long one
who wants to be valuable to more than her children
one who has been broken multiple times,
but every time puts herself together and puts a mask on;
This is my mother she tries her hardest for her children;
I am from sisters that act like they love but they don’t show it;
A home where two sisters moved away from us,
A place where one of my sisters is using my vulnerability to throw me insults
about two people that have made a long impact on my life;
One sister that has her own problems that she hides with her own friends
as they are rude and as useless and as dumb as stones;
One sister that says she cares for me but throws my life out of her way,
asks me to do favors for her; but I have shut down to a point
Where I couldn’t care less because where I’m from defines me;
From a little kid I was brought up liking life;
But life brought me down, a slave to its nightmares;
I was and those nights had got the best of me and I’m broken;
Mentally shattered and physically unhealthy; my life has the better of me.
Torn between life and death is getting to my head.
Am I better alive or dead?
Kyia Karvelas
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, 10th Grade
The Tea Kettle
This feeling of anxiety and sadness that I can’t control
No one to turn to, to express my feelings
I feel like a tea kettle that after a while I might just blow
Steam overwhelming my life
My mind and heart slowly wash away not feeling how hot I am
I might just blow
Blow all my feelings out of me and force myself to not feel but still live
Forcing everyone out of my life and not letting anyone in
Like how a tea kettle blows all of the steam out and only keeps the water in
ssssssscccccccCCCCCCCRRRRRRRRE
Two people that flipped my life and made me this way
The domino effect hits this family of mine
Soon way more people become like me, tea kettles
Everyone wants to help and take me off the burner
Thinking it will stop me from feeling this way
That won’t work
I’ll still steam up
I will still feel this way
You can’t touch me unless you want to burn yourself
You can’t help me
No one understands how I’ll blow after a while
I might just blow
I won’t blow now
I feel someone who I can let in
Someone who moves me they weren’t afraid of the burn
They lifted me up and let me become cool again
My scream slows down
I don’t feel as hot
sssscccCCRRRREEEAAAAMMMmmmm
I will no longer blow
2022 Poetry Contest Winners
Kathleen Rowe-Joyce
First Place Winner, Elementary
West Parish School, Grade 3
Magical Books
If you want to jump into a whole new world,
If you want to see a lizard with its tail curled,
Grab a book and settle down,
Have some fun in a winter town!
Doze off in a siesta,
Dance in a fiesta!
See fantastical creatures,
Meet two-headed teachers!
You’re in your ordinary bedroom,
Then you’re on sky-high adventures–ZOOM!
There’s fiction and realistic.
They’re both wonderfully fantastic!
Read your books galore
Until . . .
There’s not a single one more!
Emma Wilt
First Place Winner, Middle School
O’Maley Innovation School, Grade 8
Ascending Like Icarus
Ascending like Icarus,
my goals residing in the sun.
Though my wings
are of achievements
and forged of expectations
It seems as though
the higher I fly,
the more worn out I become,
as do my wings.
I am no longer
labeled “genius.”
Others look at me now
as wasted potential.
I reach for the sun,
my flight unstable.
I start descending
toward an ocean of failure.
My pride,
my glory,
my self esteem,
melting away.
Along with these wretched wings.
Olivia Hogan-Lopez
First Place Winner, High School
Gloucester High School, Grade 12
Tears of the Chrysanthemum
Sweet is the scent of the chrysanthemum, once recalled with gold
Whose crimson petals weep with the reputation of blood,
By living, she reminds me of my loss, but by death she is the symbol.
I mourn for her who is blamed and killed for her red coat
And whose yellow petals are wilted with streaming tears,
by any other name, she would smell as sweet,
But for her memorable face I mourn and weep.
2023 Poetry Contest Winners
Amory Cunningham
First Place, Elementary
Plum Cove School, Grade 5
As I Walk Home from My Bus Stop at Goose Cove
I get off the bus
I start walking home up Dennison St.
as I walk home I pass Dirt Murray’s dock building spot by the water I smell sawdust and hear power drills and electric saws going to work
as I walk home I look across the cove to Indian Point I think of the arrow heads there that are probably 400 years old
JUST LIKE GLOUCESTER
as I walk home I go by Jeff King’s workshop and see woodsmoke coming out the chimney
as I walk home I go through the woods and look up at the tall pine trees, not 400 years old but maybe half way there
as I walk home a squirrel chatters
as I walk home I come out of the woods and walk past my aunt and uncle’s house
as I walk home I walk up the hill and I’m at my house
even though I have just got home I have actually been home the whole time
some things may not be 400 years old but they help make our home home
Vivian Payne
First Place, Middle School
O’Maley School, Grade 7
400 Years Ago – Important Events Over The Years
400 years ago, when the ocean wasn’t tamed and the waves roamed free
A group of explorers settled around here, away from an empire they wanted to flee.
With a winter so cold and grim, hope dwindles from every person’s heart.
The natives decided to help, and they sure played their part.
From crops to hunting the pilgrims learned it all
and showed appreciation a following fall.
400 years ago when winter struck and the snow fell fast
These people had found a home at last
300 years ago the soon-to-be-Americans grew restless
Tired of living under Britain’s reign, soon there would be an insurgence
As people bonded together to rebel, sides were formed
One side was loyal and stood down. While the other got armed.
They were going to make a stand, impacting lives for years to come
A new country is what they were to become.
300 years ago Gloucester was about to wage war
For more freedom than there was before
200 years ago Gloucester grew in inventions and land.
From the lights of Annisquam Harbor and Ten Pound Island,
To the Boston-Gloucester stagecoach
With many subjects being broached
These are only some of the important events during this time
All of which were some sort of sublime
200 years ago it was a time of innovation
As more people improved their situation
The past 100 years things heartbreaking struck
For sailors out at sea, it was just bad luck.
Homes destroyed and lives lost
Along this path a certain storm crossed
Almost everyone here knows its name,
It was The Perfect Storm that caused great bane.
As years ago families would weep
For those lost at sea, that’s where they now sleep.
Now here we are in present day
But here is where we won’t always stay.
For the future is coming, some say it’s already upon us
But looking back, we have come so far, there is no need to fuss.
Elijah Sarrouf
First Place, High School
Gloucester High School, Grade 12
To Wonder
Of course one must begin to wonder
What will come of all my blunders?
When calls that dreaded pale horse hunter,
Will my soul be torn asunder?
But how to dodge this dark invention?
Pious life without dissension?
Will Peter greet my grand ascension,
If I pay this strict attention?
Or could it be that this is pretense?
Could this be our kind of defense?
It could be that it’s hard to make sense,
Of nonbeing’s endless presence.
Then once again we think upon it.
Will we come back reincarnate?
Should once again we don these garments,
Till we find our reverence ardent?
Our thoughts as such are inconclusive,
All these theories just obtrusive.
Fathomless end proves quite elusive,
To the dead thus seems exclusive.
2024 Poetry Contest Winners
Helen Larabell
First Place Winner, Elementary
Plum Cove, Grade 4
Believe
We all have experienced something
good
and something
bad
but in some ways, they are the
same
like nothing is
perfect
nothing is
completely
extraordinary
but, then again nothing
is entirely covered with
darkness
it just takes
time for you to
realize that:
behind all the darkness there is
light and
eventually it will be even
bigger and
brighter that you could
imagine
brick by
brick step by
step
you just need to
believe that:
anything is
Anything is possible
And eventually brick by brick
Step by step
It will turn out to be
Fine
So even when things are
Tough just
Believe.
Vivian Payne
First Place Winner, MIddle School
O’Maley Innovation Middle School
| Regrets |
| The human mind can be a silly little thing. Focusing on the smallest imperfection, for seemingly insignificant reasons. Of course they didn’t seem insignificant to us at the time. Existing in a world filled to the brim with all sorts of prejudice, political ruin, and negativity. Trying to get by while this paradise is destroyed by us “superior species.”It’s no wonder we can’t help but think back. Back to a time when the world wasn’t burning. Back to a time when there wasn’t trash everywhere. Back to a time when our innocent little self was unaware of the looming issues. Even, back to the time when we managed to ruin it all. Regrets.“I got a low grade! I’m so dumb…” “I shouldn’t have said that.” “Why isn’t my body like that?” “I deserve this ‘punishment’.” “I’m not strong enough.” All forms of regrets, all thoughts of one falling victim to harsh self-criticism. Some are regrets that aren’t our fault. Regrets that occasionally stem from bullying. Regrets. But by taking a step back. |
Johnny Sheridan
First Place Winner, High School
Waring School, Grade 11
Elegy for the Impermanent
As a kid,
I crushed up butterflies between my palms
and in trying to make broken wings sing
I killed things.
Even now,
I get all caught up
trying to make transience less temporary
I pick up flowers like they’re permanent
and lay them to rest in a glass grave,
where the sun shines.
I’m never surprised when they die.
So if Emily Dickinson is right
and ““Hope” is the thing with feathers”
I’ll return to my roots
and open my hand
to take a rock and a rubber band
I’ll shoot down a dove
with catholic conviction
I’ll find where it falls
— And if faith doesn’t fail me
I’ll pluck away purity
I’m a harvesting hunter
Trying to hold on
to what can’t be held,
To harness beauty
for what it has to offer me.
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