Poetry Competition

Summer Poetry Winners Laguna high school’s summer themed poetry competition winners. PAGE and ART by CLAIRE TOLLES

First Place Jenna Johnson ‘23

The sun wears her favorite colors Like a summer dress Her buttery ruffles and honey lace float in the sky She bends down to kiss your cheek Leaving you hot and unbothered. Her yellow beams shine through your windows And dance on your walls She warms the daffodils that live on your front lawn. And eventually, she disappears in the perfection of a sunset A burst of vibrance, then a sky of indigo And then the stars appear affixed on the trees Speaking the language of the leaves. You lie with shut eyes While the sun still lingers on your face The memories of the day mutter like light music in the night At last, nothing matters In the sweet summer air.

Third Place Lyla Bollag ‘24

Summertime for us is hot weather with beautiful but potent UV sun rays with layers of sunscreen and board shorts, bikinis, and swimsuits soaked in salted oceanic water Summertime still includes far-off sleep-away camps while the rest enjoy the surf and turf of the west-side living in California Summertime expectations include letting go of a set agenda and spending time with friends and laugh with the joy of having months left before the start of school Summertime brings fruits that we’ve missed in the autumn, winter, and spring and teases us with the thought of a long three months, but when in reality, it flies right past us and leaves us wanting more of this three-month-long break from academia called summertime Summertime is just like what Billie from the 1920s sang, “summertime, and the living’s easy

Second Place Noah Dehli ‘23

They see the world. light? a colored lens (sea-blue, forest green, hazel iris) A reflection

A paper thin Iridescent glow that trails away from a dot (in the sky, rather warm and far away) A reminder

A small blink and mercury’s dull grey fades to black and venus’s scalded red cools to indigo Eight more minutes to hold you in my arms