HONORABLE MENTION – Michael Taylor

Utah Girls
I wanna be more disciplined and responsible
Pissing off a mountain into a river
Your watermelon can’t believe, approve, or understand your behavior and he is very upset
Grumpy man with with a tan, sitting in a lawn chair in a blizzard, Coca-Cola in hand, upside
down, drinking his magazine
My teacher told me to go to my home but it was completely submerged under water from a
flood, I don’t like confrontation so I just drowned while watching “The Mentalist”
A man flipped off an undeserving car
Oh no! The ozone! My hairspray will not impact much but I will discontinue my use
A certain day of my life is dead, that feeling I craved is a lie
Like a metaphor as complex as a word, I will be happiest and pleasure filled
The powerful often doesn’t recognize such
Utah Girls, Utah Girls

~~~

HONORABLE MENTION – Uyen Dang

Legos

I thought not caring wouldn’t hurt me anymore
As siblings there’s a burden to support each other
i’m receiving the better end of the stick, but what for?
I thought you were the spoiled child but that’s not true
When you were small,
Illness clung to you like a shadow
Whispering lies, you only cause sorrow
Brother, can I give you a hug?
If you keep hearing it
You might think it’s the truth
I promise it’s just flawed view
You get everything you ask for
All but:
Encouragement.
All i can do is hear what you have to say
Then give an answer that is between truth and lie,
In the hope that it reassures you.
The Legos we used to play,
are now covered in dust under the metal frame of my bed.
Each morning, I wake to a heaviness in my chest,
Aware that the weight of debris and guilt refuses to rest.
Forgive me dear brother
I know someday I won’t be your only friend,
Only confidante
I have hopes and dreams
That you will treasure yourself more
Why? Why do you still show that you appreciate me?
A simple thank you-
I know you don’t say to anyone
Why did you cook breakfast for me?
I’ve done nothing,
Only watch from the sidelines
After they leave, you fall apart
Tell yourself,
It’s my fault
I don’t deserve anything good
Oh, dear brother.

No amount of band aids can heal a heart.

~~~

HONORABLE MENTION – Kayla A. Garcia

Silence

Everywhere I go, I always hear the voices.
The voices of the hurt, the happy, the mad, the proud.
All of them.
My mind is rattling with all the voices.
Yet my own voice is deteriorating.
So many voices, yet mine’s never heard.
I need to be heard.
I scream at the top of my lungs yet no one looks.
I yell and cry and plead for someone, anyone to hear.
Yet no one does.
Silence being my only wish.
My voice disappears.
I can no longer hear myself.
I am muted.
Muted by the voices in which are the loudest.
I am silent, but not silenced.
Finally, they stop.
The voices stop.
My mind is quiet.
My voice no longer deteriorating.
I no longer have to yell or cry or plead.
Finally, there’s silence.
Finally, they aren’t silent,
But instead are silenced.

~~~

HONORABLE MENTION – Ezekiel Aragon,

Brotherhood

In the soft glow of dawn, where dreams take flight,
Brothers gather, bathed in morning light.
In the stillness of the hour, they stand as one,
Their journey begun, before the rising sun.
Through the mist of uncertainty, they find their stride,
With grit and determination, they confide.
For it’s not just about the game, but the bond they share,
In the crucible of practice, they declare.
In the echo of laughter, in the weight room’s clatter,
They push each other, their spirits scatter.
For it’s the unity forged in sweat and pain,
That fuels their fire, like an endless rain.
Through the highs and lows, they remain true,
Brothers in arms, in all they pursue.
For it’s the road to Friday night’s grand stage,
Where their unity shines, like a beacon’s blaze.
In the huddle’s embrace, they find their might,
A brotherhood bound, shining bright.
For in the battles they face, on and off the field,
They know in each other, their strength revealed.
So let their story be told, in verse and rhyme,
A testament to brotherhood, for all time.
For in the heart of the game, their triumph unfurled,
A masterpiece of unity, in a football world, in my world.
It’s my one and only love.

~~~

BEST 9th grade – Katy Graham

On a Park Bench

The wood damp beneath me
absorbing moisture from last night’s rain
brisk and cool through my pants
Plants in the park dripping to concrete below
fresh pine in the air around
I feel a sting in my nostrils
Beyond my feet on the grass below
two blue birds sift through grainy dirt
between the blades of green
Wet
their feathers frayed
tails up as beaks sink into soil
timid and eroded
Like an acrylic painting
vibrant and animated
If only I could paint like this

~~~

BEST 10th grade – Jasim Carrillo

LA PROEZA

Quizá no sepas donde te encuentres
Pero el honor te hará continuar
Porque a tus metas debes perseguirles
Porque sabes que tu mente te ara variar

Porque te encontrarás en este escenario
En el que encontrarás el defecto
Y debes realizar la presentación más digna de trabajo
Para separarte del grupo de los que acaban perdiendo

Porque todos tenemos reglas al estar aqui
Como las gotas de llanto que se convierten en sangre
Ya que el espíritu en el dia que naci
Me hizo saciar ese tipo de prolífica hambre

Ya que todos representamos a un niño con insomnio
Que depende de si mismo para salvarse
Ya que tendrás que librarte de tus demonios
Y tu objetivo cumplir sin derramar sangre

Y tu objetivo cumpliras de forma analitica
Ya que tendrás que comprometerte
De tal forma que sea física
Y mental sea lo que nunca envejece

Ya que tu vida será preparada para levantarse
Después de esta gran deshonra
Con la que tendrás que elevarte
a la que hora de que se cumpla esta hora
Sabrás lo que significa la proeza
A la hora de encontrarte en la batalla
porque le pondrás una corona a la cereza
Que te hara el mundo conquistar y no encontrar falla

Y buscar rivalidad dentro de este nefasto mundo
Debido a que libran esta batalla
Dentro de una lumbre tipo nefasta y oscuro
Y esa gente no te dará la talla

Por la forma tan aguda que resulta prodigia
A la hora de enriquecerse
Como el hecho de encontrarte en una zona vacía
Y a través de la fuerza lograrás moverte

~~~

BEST 11th Grade – Kehler Marlatt

ONE MOMENT
Up.
I stared at the crack in the ceiling.
Rain beating against the window.
Staring at the ceiling,
Dads making breakfast.
How long has that crack been there?
Brock came in the front door crying.
There’s no way that crack has been there
this whole time.
He ran downstairs.
You know, it kind of looks like a spiderweb.
Why is it perfectly between the kitchen
and the living room.
Ten years later
I’m still staring at that crack in the ceiling.
Down.
The dead dog’s leash made for a perfect swing.
Grabbing the ladder to the treehouse I never had.
Begging to climb
on the same hands that won’t feel him
ever again.
Crawling the branch, leash in hand.
It was done. I thanked my favorite carpenter
(there was no stick from that tree I couldn’t make into a sword).
Over the hillside, swinging back and forth,
having no idea
how many toys I’d leave
in the grass below me,
above that crack in the ceiling.
Up.
Am I really supposed to remember
drinking maple syrup right out of the bottle?
“So sweet” I thought to myself.
I think of my mom when I don’t know what to do
but not for guidance.
I just think of her.
Dad pulls the bottle from my lips.

His hand slams the bottle on the table.
I climb out from under the table and ask him for
forgiveness.
The perfect story.
If I hadn’t gotten away with it.

~~~

BEST 12th grade – Marisol Perry

If I were a man

If I were a man,
I’d be a welder
I’d work a blue collar
9 to 7 job

I would run corporations
Make cash flow like a river
I’d be strong and resilient
Hold my head higher than
my ego

Although, I’m not a man
I’m a poet
and a woman.

If I were a man I wouldn’t
clutch my purse
and sprint to my car

a man followed me
through the store the other day

If I were a man
I wouldn’t have to carry mace
and a pink pocket knife
in my designer purses
my purse was meant to carry
lip gloss and compact mirrors
not weapons.
If I were a man
I’d make cash flow like a river
I would walk while I watched
women run to make
a percentage of what I make.

If I were a man I’d be
l perplexed that a woman
feels safer trapped in the woods with a bear
rather than a man
Because a bear won’t always attack you right?
The worst thing it’ll do is
kill you.

If I were a man
I’d be a welder
I’d work a blue collar
9 to 7 job
Because who needs schooling right?
A man can take my innocence
but he can not take my education

And if i were a man
I’d think this poem was senseless
and boring

Praise God I’m not a man.

~~~

BEST IN SHOW – Amelie Normandia

preach the blackened groves

make amends and disappear
I know you will expire,
as you were once a
fresh peach grove.
wilt and turn like
a restless baby,
It feels like roots climbing
under your
overgrown peach grove.
despite it all
there’s nothing we can
do now,
not even fertilizer will help
you or your
blackened peach grove.
all your apologies
are as pears,
rotted pears.
we can no longer return
back to the
fresh peach grove.