2022 Writing Contest Winners
Student Poetry
First Place: Love
by Wisteria Ray
If you ask my parents to recount the same day,
They tell different stories.
My parents haven’t been together
for so long
I forget they ever were.
But they both call me love.
They both call me the same nickname.
They both call me she.
They both call me love.
And, somehow,
It breaks my heart in two.
It makes me want one Christmas,
And one birthday.
It makes me want to be able to say “my parents”
And mean my mom and dad,
It makes me want to say “mom and dad.”
I think I deserve time to mourn this.
To mourn having one house to call home,
A family that lives together.
Even if I know how rare that is.
I need time to mourn
My parents both calling me love.
They tell different stories.
My parents haven’t been together
for so long
I forget they ever were.
But they both call me love.
They both call me the same nickname.
They both call me she.
They both call me love.
And, somehow,
It breaks my heart in two.
It makes me want one Christmas,
And one birthday.
It makes me want to be able to say “my parents”
And mean my mom and dad,
It makes me want to say “mom and dad.”
I think I deserve time to mourn this.
To mourn having one house to call home,
A family that lives together.
Even if I know how rare that is.
I need time to mourn
My parents both calling me love.
Second Place: Hey, What's Up Depression?
by Cristian Piparo
Hey, what’s up depression?
You having fun tearing and ripping apart my mind piece by piece?
Do you enjoy keeping me up at night?
Do you enjoy watching me cry and sob in the shower?
Do you enjoy seeing me with a frown on my face every f****g day?
Answer me!!
I need an answer!
And what is your main goal for me?
Is your goal to let me die and make people forget about me?
Is your goal to not let me have a chance in my own f****g world?
Is your goal to not let me think straight, right when I get up?
Or is your goal to make me stronger?
Stronger than I ever was?
To prove that I can overcome you?
To prove that I have done enough fighting,
To prove that I can take that glass and get it smashed over my bleeding body?
To prove that I can take whatever hit, kick, and punch you throw at me?
So hey what’s up depression?
Because I know the real you,
And some may think you are me.
And some might say you carry my name,
But you don’t and you never will.
And we both know that you want to take over every single thing in my life.
And we both know that you want to take over my ankles, my legs, my arms, my chest.
All the blood and veins that are working to pump the good blood in my body.
And we both know that we have been at war.
We have both been at war for a while.
Punch after punch
Kick after kick
Screaming and yelling in each other's minds
I’m tired,
You’re tired,
We’re both tired,
So I’m done,
Leave me the f**k alone,
I just don’t want to do this
So we’re over.
But one last thing before you go,
Thank you for making me stronger.
You having fun tearing and ripping apart my mind piece by piece?
Do you enjoy keeping me up at night?
Do you enjoy watching me cry and sob in the shower?
Do you enjoy seeing me with a frown on my face every f****g day?
Answer me!!
I need an answer!
And what is your main goal for me?
Is your goal to let me die and make people forget about me?
Is your goal to not let me have a chance in my own f****g world?
Is your goal to not let me think straight, right when I get up?
Or is your goal to make me stronger?
Stronger than I ever was?
To prove that I can overcome you?
To prove that I have done enough fighting,
To prove that I can take that glass and get it smashed over my bleeding body?
To prove that I can take whatever hit, kick, and punch you throw at me?
So hey what’s up depression?
Because I know the real you,
And some may think you are me.
And some might say you carry my name,
But you don’t and you never will.
And we both know that you want to take over every single thing in my life.
And we both know that you want to take over my ankles, my legs, my arms, my chest.
All the blood and veins that are working to pump the good blood in my body.
And we both know that we have been at war.
We have both been at war for a while.
Punch after punch
Kick after kick
Screaming and yelling in each other's minds
I’m tired,
You’re tired,
We’re both tired,
So I’m done,
Leave me the f**k alone,
I just don’t want to do this
So we’re over.
But one last thing before you go,
Thank you for making me stronger.
Honorable Mention
Blend In
by Destiny Emery
Don’t want to be seen
Don’t want to be labeled or judged
Just want to blend in
Blend into the background of life
Blend into the crowds of people that walk the street
The classroom of students already half asleep
That part of the background in a movie that has been blurred out
For I am not the main character of my story
Just the tertiary character that no one sees or remembers
The true star to my story is the social phobia that plagues me.
He shows his fangs when I try to be the true me
And tears me to shreds like a hyena does to meat
Constantly anxious
Always asking “what are they thinking?”; “do they like me?”
Hands trembling as if in a snowstorm
Icy flakes laying over any trace of self-esteem
Regularly changing my personality
Putting on an act to please
Not just anyone, but everyone
I go from nerd to jock
From nice to cool
From teachers pet to the breaker of rules
Never doing too much to attract attention
But just enough to exist
I don’t raise my hand
Never walk up to you and say, “hi”
Always letting people walk ahead of me
Always doing what I'm asked
My own family wouldn’t recognize the girl I have become
Fear controls my every move
Used to always strive for greatness
Always wanted to make friends
Wanted to be seen
To NOT blend in
Wanted to be different from the billions of people in the world
Never giving the judgment of others a second thought
What happened to that girl?
Is she still within me?
Or was she sucked into the dark void that was life?
I stopped searching for her when that voice in my head said it was useless
That’s the same voice that lectures me to not be different
Yelling at me continually
“What are you doing?!”
“Why are you so weird?!”
“Why can’t you just be normal!”
“You freak!”
“Blend in!”
“Blend in!”
“Blend in!”
As I grew closer to mastering that skill
I was able to disappear
Like a ghost lingering in a cemetery
I walk through the halls quiet and alone
Never staying in one place for very long
Not leaving a mark
Or evidence that I was there
I’m a chameleon
Changing my colors so as to not be found
But thing is
When my skills finally reached their peak
and no one could see me,
A grey and hollow loneliness pierced my being
Lost in all these colorful identities
Now even I can't find the real me.
So how do I find the path to undo what has been done?
To find a way to UNBLEND
And confidently say,
“This is me”
Don’t want to be labeled or judged
Just want to blend in
Blend into the background of life
Blend into the crowds of people that walk the street
The classroom of students already half asleep
That part of the background in a movie that has been blurred out
For I am not the main character of my story
Just the tertiary character that no one sees or remembers
The true star to my story is the social phobia that plagues me.
He shows his fangs when I try to be the true me
And tears me to shreds like a hyena does to meat
Constantly anxious
Always asking “what are they thinking?”; “do they like me?”
Hands trembling as if in a snowstorm
Icy flakes laying over any trace of self-esteem
Regularly changing my personality
Putting on an act to please
Not just anyone, but everyone
I go from nerd to jock
From nice to cool
From teachers pet to the breaker of rules
Never doing too much to attract attention
But just enough to exist
I don’t raise my hand
Never walk up to you and say, “hi”
Always letting people walk ahead of me
Always doing what I'm asked
My own family wouldn’t recognize the girl I have become
Fear controls my every move
Used to always strive for greatness
Always wanted to make friends
Wanted to be seen
To NOT blend in
Wanted to be different from the billions of people in the world
Never giving the judgment of others a second thought
What happened to that girl?
Is she still within me?
Or was she sucked into the dark void that was life?
I stopped searching for her when that voice in my head said it was useless
That’s the same voice that lectures me to not be different
Yelling at me continually
“What are you doing?!”
“Why are you so weird?!”
“Why can’t you just be normal!”
“You freak!”
“Blend in!”
“Blend in!”
“Blend in!”
As I grew closer to mastering that skill
I was able to disappear
Like a ghost lingering in a cemetery
I walk through the halls quiet and alone
Never staying in one place for very long
Not leaving a mark
Or evidence that I was there
I’m a chameleon
Changing my colors so as to not be found
But thing is
When my skills finally reached their peak
and no one could see me,
A grey and hollow loneliness pierced my being
Lost in all these colorful identities
Now even I can't find the real me.
So how do I find the path to undo what has been done?
To find a way to UNBLEND
And confidently say,
“This is me”