A warm and sunny afternoon greeted the poets, speakers, and visitors at 328 Mickle Street on Wednesday, May 31st. The group that filled the garden were there to participate in the annual observance of the poet Walt Whitman’s birthday. But this year, the Walt Whitman Birthday Celebration was a marker of two anniversaries in one – Walt’s 204th birthday and the 150th anniversary of his arrival in Camden.  The special circumstances of the day called for special presentations, including two proclamations given by both Congressman Donald Norcross and the Camden County Board of Commissioners. Dalin Hackley, from Congressman
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FIRST PLACE Jenna Delmar, 12 grade Kingsway Regional High School Greenhouse Summer sun sits in the window sills, chases the floors and the flower pots, lifts the delphiniums and hydrangeas.   Do you watch the summer sprout through the glass pane?   I hope everyone, one day, has a greenhouse with an open  roof so that the rain can soak the soil of those orange geraniums, allowing them to germinate,   a greenhouse with a door cracked open, permitting the bees to come and go, spreading pollen as the sweet scent of gardenias and lavender drifts through the backyard –
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Like Nectar by Ty Young, Julia Reynolds Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School   I find myself sitting in a small room at the foot of a bed near a window A warm summer shower in late afternoon, tranquil in its release, Raindrops, fallen soldiers, dapple the glass. Mighty dark clouds like schooners waver above, And I bathe in the soft light of the benevolent sun as it pours like nectar through the clouds, Hidden, yet loving. And I rejoice! I yawp in glee and romp in revelry! We are yet dust within the wake of the universe’s footstep, We are
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A Song of Something Wild by Matin Yaqubi, Friends Select School   Every breath I take is my own. the air is scented with the perfume of trees and I long to be lost in them, as I long for you to be lost in me. The crunch of leaves is music as I walk, the symphonies echo within each step and the sound of your laughter is as much at home as the wind, softly moving each branch. We took off our clothes in the moonlight and undressed ourselves in its silver rays, we read each other’s textured skin
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Irish Wake by Shannon Goetter, Haddonfield Memorial High School   They dance, they dance, Hail to christ almighty they say What a lovely life she lived What a beautiful day Step left, step right In the graveyard til night They sway to her soul’s melody Lifting from the ground, Flowing through the trees 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 she rode a bike 7 & 18 she fell in love 1 & 25 she married Mike 3 & 40 she had her son Right-left-right she was a school teacher Left-right-left she read books Right-right-left she
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A Year in Celebration by Rachel Agosto-Ginsburg, Cherry Hill High School East   Autumn Rain at sunset The scent of possibility Harvest moon hangs heavy   Winter Silent forest Lost in three-color dusk Snow covers all things   Spring Snowmelt river The ice roars as it cracks Yawning as it wakes   Summer Fireworks bursting Summer in a spray of sparks Bone grey shadows linger   Third Prize winner of the 2019 Walt Whitman Poetry Contest
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Hereditary by Eve Jensen, Haddonfield Memorial High School   my eyes are brown not brown like dirt but brown like the rich soil outside of my childhood home, which knows the grooves of my palms no matter how much they expand over the years not brown like mud but brown like the soles of my feet after running through the woods in the torrents, pitch black but for when the lightning throws everything into a stark white, like the world is taking a  polaroid of us not brown like chocolate but brown like the little blocks my grandmother helps me
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The Days with Dates I Don’t Remember by Payton Weiner, Haddonfield Memorial High School   It preludes to death, so I don’t celebrate birthdays The inevitability of becoming a whisper into the wind Turns the hairs that outline my spine into bullets A number of years spent together Does not quantify love like the way Dad photographs Mom rather than the sunset behind him So I don’t scribble anniversaries on my calendar And holidays pass Like how the days of summer blend into one As if I were to spend $3.99 for a greeting card instead of two packs of
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  The Camden Creative Arts Choir performing in front of the Walt Whitman House On the morning of Walt Whitman’s 200th birthday, friends, school children, police, firefighters, public officials, and Whitman enthusiasts from far and wide gathered for a very special ceremony right out front of the poet’s Camden home. It was a sunny morning, filled with speeches, musical performances, poetry readings, and proclamations, all to celebrate and commemorate Whitman’s life and the legacy of the “Good Gray Poet” in Camden. The celebration began with a stellar performance by the Camden Creative Arts Choir, who performed the Star Spangled Banner
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  The recipients of the prizes for the 2019 Walt Whitman Poetry Contest are as follows: Honorable Mention: Ty Young, Julia Reynolds Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School Honorable Mention: Matin Yaqubi, Friends Select School Fourth Place: Shannon Goetter, Haddonfield Memorial High School Third Place: Rachel Agosto-Ginsburg, Cherry Hill High School East Second Place: Eve Jensen, Haddonfield Memorial High School First Place, Bernadette M. Stridick Prize: Payton Weiner, Haddonfield Memorial High School   From Left to Right: Rachel Agosto-Ginsburg, Payton Weiner, Ty Young, Darrel Ford, Shannon Goetter, Eve Jensen, and Matin Yaqubi
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