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In celebration of National Poetry Month, the Winlock Timberland Library held an all-ages poetry contest, collecting submissions between April 1 and 15.
During that time, 79 entries were submitted by residents from around area, ranging in ages from 5 to 96 years old, and the library says they are proud to share the winners and runners-up for the contest.
“Thank you to the Town Crier for collaborating with us on this contest,” stated Library Associate Becky Standal, who coordinated the contest. “The talent in our community is truly impressive. We’re so honored that you shared it with us and hope to have many more opportunities for you to do so in the future. Keep writing!”
Congratualtions from Town Crier to these winners, as well as those who contributed submissions. It is our hope to encourage local writers and we look forward to future contests from the library.
Poets age 7 and younger
First Place (Tie)
Squirrel Haiku
by Danika Smith, age 7, of Vader
A squirrel chuckle lightly
As a bird tickles its fur
And it laughs so hard
First Place (Tie)
Legos
by Gunner Cothren, age 5, of Winlock
I eat Eggos
While I play Legos
Runner Up
Rose
by Danika Smith, age 7, of Vader
A rose is like
Wind
Blowing around
Poets ages 8-12
First Place
My Horse
by Elora Smith, age 9, of Vader
My horse is gentle
My horse is sweet
We love to play
In summer heat
My horse loves to dance
In meadows of flowers
My horse loves to prance
In rain showers
She always gets a perfect score
Yea that’s my horse
I could never ask for more
Runner Up
Deer
by Laythan Demarest, age 11, of Toledo
Among the mountains
Upon the precipice
Lay the deer
Amid the snow
Poets ages 13-18
First Place
Freedom
by Morgan Lakey, age 14, of Chehalis
If freedom is what we are fighting for
So we can live as we desire
Then why are we dying to obtain it
Why are so many men falling to gunfire
We are running and running in circles
No one is winning or losing
The sights one might see on a battlefield
Can send him to boundless boozing
The words we hear whispered
Sovereignty, liberty, justice, parity
Mean nothing to me if in fact
We must fight with atrocious barbarity
So what is the answer to this quandary
This fiend called war we created
How can we stop this heinous machine
Before we all end up vile and hated
Runner Up
Alone
by Picabou Worden, age 16, of Winlock
The pain they caused her.
The hurt they gave her.
Ha! She thought they cared.
Did they just use her?
People thought she went too far.
Well don’t believe everything they say.
She is almost done.
The bridge isn’t that far away.
Just one jump and down she goes.
That will be the end.
But for now she stays.
Sitting there at home.
Crying all alone while everybody sleeps.
Poets age 19 and older
First Place
Winter Senses
by Jodie Curtis, age 45, of Winlock
I pause on the porch
to watch life pass me by.
I see falling snowflakes create
an icy blanket of white.
I capture the taste of pure perfection
on the end of my tongue.
I hear nothing but the silent hush
of each flake as it hits the ground.
I smell the crisp clean scent
of the start of another season.
But I feel warmed by thoughts of you
and time, once again, stands still.
The same way it does
when I’m wrapped, in the blanket,
of your arms.
Runner up
Heritage
by Angela Renecker, age 45, of Winlock
Woman in faded calico,
above sculpted cheekbones
your eyes scan generations.
Hair pulled back in a fist-knot,
you sit encircled by children,
a harvest of sowing with that Yankee
at your side. Only the Texas son
and your native gaze belie the image
of starched formality.
Great-grandmother Medora,
those eyes recall your mother’s clan;
they hold the secrets of green corn,
and now, reaching for their wisdom,
I hear the dim drumbeat echo
of the sacred dance.
