Bernadette M. Stridick First Place LaRae Tillery Grade 12 Cinnaminson High School Teacher: Amy O’Hearn   Apud Mortem   “And this is what you were to do” says God gazing at me with unknown expression.   I do not dare look up but have all strength to stand. Suddenly. As before I was at the end of all magnitude. Before I was nothing greater than common, than concoction of bones and skin. Fake, all fake- and yet real all the same. Suddenly, I no longer feel teeth and tongue the way I have. My mind does not move as it
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Second Place Grace Schaffer Grade 9 Haddonfield Memorial High School Teacher: Ms. Holly Maiese   In Retrospect   Little yellowed photographs withered with age They turn back the clock, brittle breaking bones melding back together Sagging, jaundiced skin becomes soft and smooth again Though the eyes of the camera lens, watch the rolls of baby fat melt away, as you start to stringbean out Gawkish at first, metal-mouthed and four-eyed A voice becomes deeper, curves are filled out… little changes A metamorphosis See the glow of youth and a bright-eyed smile A first love, captured in a picture sneaking out
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Third Place Hadley Christman Grade 12 Haddonfield Memorial High School Teacher: Ms. Julia Smart   The Journey of You and Me   good morning, says the sky, and I say hello while you glare at the gentle light of the sun, trying to say goodbye because you were never good at dealing with things or much of anything other than making me feel special but feeling special doesn’t stop the knot in my stomach from forming whenever you kiss me too hard or look at me like you own me, like I’m yours it’s 8 am     it’s 11:37
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Fourth Place Savannah Sichelstiel Grade 9 Haddonfield Memorial High School Teacher: Ms. Holly Maiese   An Account Adrift the Greenery   I once got lost in a wooded forest And I couldn’t find my way back home, because the Sun had gotten drunk on the clouds and he passed out earlier than I had expected The moon took over for him, but her light was no help either because she was tired from dancing away the past night with the stars As I continued through the forest, I asked everyone I saw if they knew the way back home When
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Honorable Mention Anna Swartley Grade 9 Haddonfield Memorial High School Teacher: Ms. Holly Maiese   African Stars   A raw land stretches underneath my familiar sky The wispy infinity I have known no longer sits above my home But a world I have just barely met   The dusty plain is pierced with ivory thorns and dense bush Silhouetted by a sinking sun catching her last breath above the horizon Rays of gold slowly dissipate into indigo like cream into coffee And one by one stars reign over the land   The black veil of night falls over my eyes
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Honorable Mention Gemma Miller Grade 9 Haddonfield Memorial High School Teacher: Ms. Holly Maiese   Imaginary Numbers   If my head goes one way And my body spins away How must I find an Adventure? A grand, wide, sweeping journey Past rocks and boulders Fields of grain, glowing stars- Glowing stars of candles burned too low.   Skipping stones and hidden city corners Cities with purple undereye smears. Cities that sweep you in with rhythmic, discordant notes Harmonies of coffee, of tea and midnight stargazing ‘Til the rocking of the waves opens the eyes And the fish fly- Skipping above
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