Mitchell, Gates, Reddell are top eighth grade poets

Tori Mitchell, Christina Gates, and Sabra Reddell have been named winners in the annual South Middle School Eighth Grade Poetry Contest.

Their poems will be published in Teacher Select: Anthology of Eighth Grade Poetry, a national book. The poems were chosen by a faculty committee from a field of 30 poems, according to Mr. Randy Turner, eighth grade communication arts teacher. The poems are printed below:

BROKEN WINGS
by CHRISTINA GATES
Can’t you see her broken wings,
How she wants to fly?
As she plummets to the ground,
Don’t you want to cry?

Can’t you see her will to try,
The look in her brown eyes,
The sadness you can see in her,
As you look toward the blue green
sky

Can’t you see her shattered hopes,
Her dreams gone with the tide?
When you look upon her face,
Can you tell she has recently cried?

Can’t you hold her in your arms,
And say that it’s OK?
Won’t you wipe away her tears,
Or have you nothing to say?

Can’t you hold on to her hand
And chase her fears away?
Or are you just another face,
That brings pain each passing day?

Won’t you carry her in your arms,
When she cannot stand?
Or will you just stand there and watch,
As she falls into the sand?

Can’t you see her broken wings,
How she wants to fly?
As she plummets to the ground,
Don’t you want to cry?


SCREAM

By TORI MITCHELL

I’m ugly: I’m fourteen.
The girls at my school
Make me want to scream.

They whisper things in
each other’s ears
as if I can’t even hear

She’s ugly, she’s fat,
She’s such a whore
Their words,
so hard to ignore

My name doesn’t matter:
I’m fourteen
the girls at my school
make me want to scream

When I go home at night,
it’s always just another fight.
I hate you. I want you to die.
I go to my room, I just cry.

Night goes by
to bring another day.
Taunting things
Are all they say

She’s ugly, she’s fat,
She’s such a whore
They seem to know
I can’t ignore.
I want to be something: I’m fourteen.
The girls at my school
Make me want to scream.


ICE, ICE EVERYWHERE

By SABRA REDDELL

Ice, ice, everywhere
Take each step with precious care
Limbs break off like popsicle sticks
But take the toll of 10,000 bricks.
I see creatures walking so slow.
This lets me know
It’s going to be a deadly snow.