Keith G. King Memorial Poetry - High School ....................................................................pages

FIRST PRIZE

Tacet al Fine

Cassidy Wong

How does it feel to write a song you’ll never play To craft melodies Unheard The harmony is there, the percussion. Waiting expectant But the chorus never comes. A rather sad performance really

Some days my words are that symphony They come a beat too early Too late I try to gather them, I do But to no avail

Half rap, half melody My mind scribbles out a line I know I’ll never read Because the pen runs dry halfway through and there’s not a Moment to start new

Half the words unreadable Their ink smeared as I fumble for coherence A semicolon, but nothing follows but Silence

A pause here, a stutter, a word repeated Repeated too many times I miss a cue Syllables out of tune But the Melody keeps on and I can’t seem to Catch up

Tongue tied, though my tongue’s tried— I feel choked even though there’s air aplenty Words a scattered All the thoughts— figments I can’t grasp Can’t seem to make clear

Thoughts waltz but their laces are knotted— and the drum is a beat Too early So they kick, And they struggle And they scream And Me with them

The drum in Me beats too— faster and faster Tailcoats of thoughts whirl and fall and collide The music crescendos Pressure to say— To express grows louder, insistent

Conversation— a race against time the Eyes aren’t judging, but patient But I am judging, I am Impatient Embarrassed that I can’t even speak Speak what’s on my Mind— Hyper aware of the seconds lost. Moments of silence too long

I forget to breathe, To listen I forget The voices around me blur into a singular drum I forget

I forget I lose my place on the page Ah! Here it is And just like that my thoughts gain footing, they sail and spin and fly Sail out the door, flying open in the wind Thrown open Off its hinges The words tumble out— the thoughts with them All at once, hoop skirts hiked and the shoes clicking The air is thick with Noise. The rhyme becomes lopsided— grammar jumbled

A Flurry turns Crowd turns Mob turns Mess

Too loud Too fast Too much Too much Too much Too much Too Much

I stop.

Cast Not Pearls Before Swine

Katy Atkins

I often wondered if you were worth it Pressure had turned me into a diamond All alone I had stood and felt frightened To be happy, I had to be perfect Perfect like a precious gem in the ground What gem do you know without sharp edges? You tell me to trim back my own hedges You’ve quieted me- I can’t make a sound I’m a pearl while you’ve treated me like swine -Like an oyster, I’ve turned pain into pearls I think diamonds and pearls are beautiful I myself am beautiful and devine But your creation of a perfect girl Has made me think I am unsuitable

Flesh and Bones

Junna Chang

We are flesh and bones. Counting 600 muscles and 78 organs but more is unknown. Each has pairs of eyes, arms, legs, and ears That endures through the strenuous years.

We are flesh and bones, But we judge each other of our clothes. Although we are all human, We participate in prejuidiced exclusion.

We are flesh and bones, Yet we view each other on our skin tones. Difference is common, But we alienate the foreign.

We are flesh and bones Attached to our phones Maybe we forgot, who knows? The way we are flesh and bones, I suppose

The way I lost my mind is like waves in the sea. One minute there, the next not. Washing away, only to come flooding back. Spiraling, falling, fading. Lost, found, Lost again. It’s not fair the way it’s ripped from me, Only to be given back the next second. The cycle never stops. The sea is a mess.

The Sea

Jenna Proctor