Winners announced in EIghth Grade Poetry Contest

Winners in the annual East Middle School Poetry Contest have been selected.

The winners, whose poems will be published in a national book are Dani Wildcox, Janessa Jones, and Meagan Camden. Their poems are printed below:


EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY
By Dani Wilcox

The little girl I knew,
grew up confused and abused.
This innocent child was frequently used.

She had no one to guide her,
and no one to hide her,
causing pain and fear to grow inside her.

She never ran,
and she'd never hide,
she'd just sit there confused inside.

She never told until one night,
he was coming back
and she was filled with fright.

"I should have been there,"
her mother said,
as crazy thoughts filled her head.

But the little girl did not wish him dead
she was confused,
and prayed the news would not spread.

Somehow it did,
and she was protected,
but in several ways she was also rejected.

Rejection confused her,
she did not want to lose her,
her former best friend now thinks she's a loser.

A liar, a slut,
anything but,
the confused little girl she was.

Down the road she took the wrong path,
you do the math,
she took the WRONG path.

She'd use and abuse,
and she tried to refuse
the help that she needed to get.

The help was forced upon her,
and she'd start to wonder
if everything would soon be okay.

A SLAVE TORN
By Meagan Camden

A slave torn and beat,
he could never truly break free.
He is a slave,
a slave who was beat and abused,
a slave who was always used.

It ain't his fault.
He was a slave, torn and beat,
who could never truly break free.

COCKROACH
By Janessa Jones

I went into the kitchen
and turned on the light.
"Hello" came from the cockroach
with kindness and delight.

She said, "Have you seen my children.
I had them them here tonight.
Watch where you step,
you'll give them quite a fright."

I turned around and saw her kids
running the other way.
She said not to leave.
I told her I couldn't stay.