A pause that refreshes

A pause in the elf-ing of established poets to showcase the writing of aspiring ones. Each semester the students in my 7th grade creative writing class compete in a poetry imitation contest.  Students are given a poem to memorize, recite, and then to imitate. Local book critic Megan Shaffer (catch her blog at http://nightlightrevue.wordpress.com/) judges the contest.  Below are the 1st and 2nd place winners.  Congratulations, Ursula and Catherine!

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The Gentleness of Nature

in imitation of “The Peace of Wild Things”

When grief for my grandma grows in me

and I cannot think or sleep without my body shivering

in fear of losing someone again,

I go and sit where my grandma

rests under frosted grass, where the flowers once bloomed.

I come into the gentleness of nature

who takes me in with welcoming

arms.  I come into the presence of the shimmering water

where we used to sit,

and I feel the hyacinths springing to life

around me.  For a time,

I rest in the hands of God and am free.

–Ursula  (first place)

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A Forgotten Word

in imitation of “To a Daughter Leaving Home”

I forgot to tell you

at twelve that love

would find you, so I chased

behind you

as you later left me

at sixteen,

my heart sinking

in anguish as you jumped

into the red BMW of

another teenaged boy,

and I kept waiting

for you to

come back home as I

wished you would,

while you became

different, someone else

with time,

laughing, laughing

at the boy, longing

to be loved, wishing

you had listened

to me,

your despair trailing

behind you like

a lost dream.

—Catherine (second place)

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(Here are links to the original poems.  Reading them you can see what a wonderful job these girls did with their imitations.)

http://www.gratefulness.org/poetry/peace_of_wild_things.htm

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-a-daughter-leaving-home/