Student Poetry Honored at State Capitol
May 06, 2008
Olivia White and Samantha Menard, both seniors at Fillmore Central High School, were honored May 2nd at the Nebraska State Capitol at an awards presentation and poetry reading sponsored by the Nebraska English/Language Arts Council and the Nebraska Writing Project.
They were selected as two of the twelve winners in the Poetry of Place Event, which celebrates and reflects life in Nebraska. Their poetry will be sponsored by the Nebraska Department of Education for display in the State Office Building and will also appear on the website of the Nebraska Writing Project. Below are the winning poems
So This is Nebraska
by Olivia White
Mile by mile, squared
Brown sparrows soar over the patchwork quilt
Fields of green corn, yellow goldenrod, Milo patches of red
Spread out lumpy like Grandpa's feather bed
On each side pivots square dancing
to the tune of motors humming in the distance
Z-man passing by in his rusty red pick-up
lifting one finger from the steering wheel to wave
Windmills harvesting the wind with their muscular arms
their legs reaching out from farmstead to farmstead
Nebraska...
The Old House
by Olivia White
Sanctify the slanted house
How the grass is slowly taking over
Wildly whispering in the wind
Crunching under your feet
Tan, like the color of your skin
See the bare bean field
Empty and forgotten
Smells as dirty as harvest season
Sit on the old porch
Stare at the red oak leaves rustling in the wind
Feel the weathering wood
Rough, until you notice the sliver in your finger
Notice the house
How it leans like an old lady
Reminiscing the past
Of children and a family...
The Secret Fishing Hole
by Samantha Menard
Grab your fishing pole
along with a bucket
of dirt-covered night crawlers.
Slip surreptitiously
past parents
recalling stories
of the good old days.
Run through the open filed
of uncut blue grass.
Let the wind whirl
past your face,
carrying the aroma
of burnt out campfires and barbeques.
Make your way around
the lake until you reach
a row of maple trees
guarding a treasure trove
unbeknownst to most.
Crawl under the biggest maple.
The last drop of this morning's dew
falls upon your nose.
Don't stop to brush it off.
Enter into a far off world.
Imagine you're a captain of a pirate ship
trying to catch a ticking crocodile.
A carp splashes water in your face.
Take it as a sign: relax, never grow up.
Abandonment
by Samantha Menard
Twenty years
Since the last rain
The town deserted
Houses in shambles
Without doors or shutters
Rotten, termite infested
Cornfields that once flourished
Have now eroded and blown away
A broken-down tractor
Covered in a bittersweet rust
Sits abandoned and unnoticed
Underneath the lone tire
A blade of grass
Vibrant green
Shoots out, reaching
For the warmth of the sun
Its fate like the others
To shrivel and sink back into the ground
Dirt roads
Cracked and ragged
From years of impoverishment
Covering a soul
Emptied and lifeless
As soon as he walked out the door
Never to return
A shock surges across the town
Brief but effective
Eradicating anything left over
The sun
A red disc fading away
Sets for the last time
AS the last husk of corn
Flutters across the land
In search of something
Just over the horizon
