“BEST of ISSUE” WINNER

($500 SCHOLARSHIP PRIZE)

To Unlove

you spoke so sweetly that

my veins craved your voice—

citrus laughter & apricot whispers

in a quiet classroom.

on the days you chose to be

serious (seldom & stone cold),

your forehead creased when you spoke,

like a paper swan birthed by rusty thumbs.

rain kisses dissolved you,

stillborn bird. peck at damp seeds,

fetuses of soft papaya, wish

you had a skull.

sky licks the wounds of broken road.

I am on my way to the ocean, praying

that it does not match your eyes.

a road worker, chartreuse-vested,

waves me on through a crying windshield.

I tickle the brakes to spare

his fluorescent heart,

but the gravel still churns to dust.

Macy Perrine, WI, Marshfield High School

EDITOR’S CHOICE SELECTION

($100 SCHOLARSHIP PRIZE)

Morning Mist

The flaxen light is brightly cast

And glimmers through the water beads

Upon the green and bending mast -

New scanty sprouts this dew doth feed

Like little eggs cupped in its nest

Or pearls clutched with mollusk's might

The tiny drops do happily rest

Between the frond's embrace so tight

When waves are high and gusts are tense

The ship and sails are shaken so

And little droplets pool, condense

Till hull and deck have sunken low

The oars have brushed the sandy floor

The dew released and finally free

To drift downhill, secure no more,

And sink into the mossy sea

Kayleigh Lin, NJ, Freehold Township High School

 ALL OTHER 'CERITFIED' NATIONAL WINNERS

First - Irene Hwang, NJ, Bergen County Academies

Sonnet for the Nervous System - Heather Jensen, AZ, Red Mountain High School

Skywriting - Chloe Shader, MD, Atholton High School

Baby Blue - Madelyn Dawson, NY, Staten Island Academy

I am - Patrick Wang, GA, Northview High School

raw - Sadie Zeiner-Morrish, NJ, Kent Place School

Playground Realities - Samara Huezo, TX, Madison High School

The Riddler - Yejin Suh, NJ, Glen Rock High School

Performance of Womanhood - Isabella Petrie, TX, Transmountain Early College High School

Behold the Dead Poets - Jocelyn Hittle, PA, Twin Valley High School

such beautioful creastures are we - Jordan Watt, NC, Fuquay-Varina High School

Mother Knows Best - April Wang, CA, Beckman High School

nostalgia - Amadis Davis, KY, The Gatton Acdademy of Mathematics and Science

First They Sold the House - David Egan, CA, Flintridge Preparatory School

Of Two Minds - Lara Katz, CT, Pierrepont School