2013
Click here to watch the 2013 awards ceremony finalist.
First Place: “Speak,” Paula Cloyd, Shortridge High School, Indianapolis, IN
Teacher: Chris Speckman
Click here to watch "Speak".
Speak
speak to me
when the dirt and gravel are drowned out
and I can’t hear the ambulance sirens
two blocks away
wailing for a chance to be
speak
to the crackles of a leaf that never had a chance
the drops falling
on an aluminum mailbox
that are a medley in themselves
the tiles along a fence
a paradox of paradise
home to three cats
and a gypsy in a flower pot
warm crackles
light up even
the burnt-out stars
God’s footprints are my radio
echoing across a polluted atmosphere
the booming, the air fronts
warm and cold alike collide
opposites attract, and when they meet
they’re fire in the sky
smoke on the horizon
in my mind I can
feel the soaked socks
clinging to my feet
as I pranced about
on my porch
Second Place: “South Dan Jones,” Jessica Naviaux, Avon High School, Avon, IN
Teacher: Andrew Johnson
there’s a burned out house
just off the main road through town;
a hoarder’s mess, littered
with different kinds of different junk
half of it thrown on the lawn,
half of it still inside,
most of it burned.
no one’s cleaned it up yet,
an eyesore that
i keep picking at,
watching as the rain and wind
slowly take it apart
day by day.
i sometimes wonder if we’re
so different from that
old, broken-up house;
burned and collapsed
until the innards of us,
our innermost parts and thoughts,
spill out unto the lawn
Third Place: “The Apple,” Kaitlyn DeVeydt, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, Indianapolis, IN
Teacher: Charles Wagner
How tempting was your smooth,
tight peel, calling the lips
of Eve to brush your body, pierce
your skin. With the first taste
of sin, juice seeped
from her plump, ruby lips,
and the innocence,
gleaming behind
Eve's dark, shiny hair
fizzled into dust.
Her lips, now chapped
and dull, crinkled
as your caustic
flesh slid
down her throat.
A chilly wind slapped
her long, naked frame
and a forlorn gasp echoed
from her mouth, slicing through everything
that swayed under God's breath.
She reached out for palm branches
and olive leaves, but they could not clothe
her growing awareness.
Still you lie, tossed
from her rough palms
into the plush, emerald grass.
The curve of your hip seduces
any who cross your path
with empty promises whispered
as they fondle
your forbidden body.
Their teeth sink into you,
but as they graze their fingers
over the arch of your back,
they discover Eve's bite, still etched
into your skin like a scar.