Thank you to all the poets who submitted entries to our annual teen poetry contest! The goal of this contest is to inspire our teens to let their poetic side shine. The winners for the 2018 Teen Poetry Contest at the Homewood Public Library are:

• 1st Place: Matthew H., 12 Grade at the Altamont School – Ode to a Sock
• 2nd Place: Lydia E., 10th Grade at Homewood High School – Woman of Stone
• 3rd Place: Lily S., 6th Grade at Homewood Middle School – Everday
• Honorable Mention: Mary Hunter G., 8th Grade at Homewood Middle School – Coffee
• Honorable Mention: Anna-Li B., 8th Grade at Homewood Middle School – Untitled
• Honorable Mention: Micah Beau S., 9th Grade at Spain Park High School – Untitled

Congrats to our winners and thank you to everyone who submitted entries.  The winning poems are listed below.

1st Place: Ode to a Sock by Matthew H.

“Play hard, work hard, love hard…The bottom line for me is to live life to the fullest in the here-and-now and instead of a hoped-for hereafter, and make every day count in some meaningful way and do something—no matter how small it is—to make the world a better place.”
-Michael Shermer

Oh, your life,
the sock, a
terrifying fate
hangs in the
distance for when
the predator, the washing machine
swallows not you, but your partner whole

Gone will
be the days
of meaning,
fulfillment, and
protecting, warming
a foot who appreciates you back
alongside a comrade? lover? partner?
brother? Are you not scared of this outcome?

Not just
the loss,
your fate as
sitting on the
hard, metal roof
of the dryer, feeling the warmth
radiating from the warmth of other pairs,
waiting for the machine to give back your mate.

Yet that
is not the
end. For
soon the feet
pronounce your
comrade dead. And lifted from
the machine, not towards paradise
but home, now hell only as one, alone

Useless,
watching
the others
picked, elected
to escape while you
are damned to the sock drawer,
in eternal judgment, for having done
nothing wrong but lose a friend and cry
But, sock!
Why worry
about a fate
that may not
happen? Why contemplate
death instead living, when the
universe aligned, brought consciousness,
metabolism, homeostasis to create you, here

Factory
threads
stitch you
together,
constructed in
a factory, made of other
parts of the universe, just
as the foot you protect was created
in the same way, a factory building up
parts of the universe to create a new life

Do not
worry
about the
potential loss of
your mate and the subsequent
eternity in hell, for nothing you did
wrong, a punishment for an arbitrary
circumstance, written into society’s rules.

Perhaps the
outcome
of the loss
of the mate
is not the hell of
the sock drawer but instead to
warm another foot less fortunate the
last. Your use evolved, but you changed
the world, produced happiness, in some small way.

Instead,
live life.
Protect
the foot you
wish to protect.
Show off your polka dots, your
stripes, your symbols. Be the sock
you want to be, with your comrade.

Wear thin
with age and
use, and die
happily, knowing
that you made a difference
in the world, that you warmed a foot,
that you loved your mate, that you didn’t
spend your life worrying about a hell that
may not exist.

2nd Place: Woman of Stone by Lydia E. 

Woman of Stone
My hair somersaults down like a white river
It silently grooves patterns into the ground
The stones that coarse through my veins send a chill,
My body hangs as if I have been carved,
The strokes carefully made to be perfect
Now I patiently wait to be bought by another.

3rd Place: Everyday by Lily S.

everyday
we march
everyday
we walk
everyday
we work
everyday
we starve
we wait
we hope
everyday
there is no food
everyday
people die
everyday
we are torn from loved ones
everyday
we try
we try to live
we try to survive
we try to work
we try to hide
our hate
our love
our sadness
our disease
our longing.
our longing
to be loved
thoroughly
truely
wholey
once

Honorable Mention: Coffee by Mary Hunter G. 

Coffee
Iced, lattes, shots of espresso, and hot
Many different kinds I adore.
Yet there are some kinds of this beverage I would not,
There are so many I would ask for more.

Some are sweet and topped with cream,
Some are bitter, steaming, and black.
These delectable beverages answer my dreams,
And I would never send any of them back.

Some cafes are swanky and small,
Some are large and they set the mood.
I love them venti, grande, or tall
Coffee’s definitely one of my favorite foods.

I would drink it in the morning or night,
Fall, winter, spring, or summer.
Coffee is a delectable delight.

Honorable Mention: Untitled by Anna-Li B. 

I need to have a 3 am person.
The one who I call up when I’m feeling worse and
The one who I merely look at and my walls come crumbling down.
The one who I don’t need to be strong around.
The one who hugs me when I say I’m fine because they know I’m not.
The one who accepts me without a thought.
The one who makes me feel like no one’s watching.
The one who is my ending and beginning.
Instead I am the 3 am person.
The one who always comes because she’s down and
The one who has to stay holding up. Thus
The one who has to be strong for the both of us.
The one who is never fine but its ok because she never asks me.
The one who has to accept every mess she makes willingly.
The one who makes me feel uncomfortable in my own skin.
The one lost somewhere between.

Honorable Mention: Untitled by Micah Beau S.

Now just lost in thought,
Memories escape my eyes,
And roll down my cheeks.