2008 Poetry Contest Winners
BookFestWindsor extends a special thank you to all who submitted entries, and our enthusiastic congratulations to our 2008 Poetry Contest Winners!Award Winners, Ages 6 - 9
1st Place: Madeline Doornaert (Bellewood School), "Dancing with the Monsters"
One Halloween night at 11:05all the globins did the funky hand jive.
The witch and Dracula did the chicken dance
But friends thought it was the beginning of a romance.
The salsa was done by the ghastly ghoul.
There was murmuring he was a fool.
The tango was performed by skeleton and Frankenstein
The hustle was danced while five ghosts were in a line.
Dr. Jeckyl did the waltz.
Later Mr. Hyde rapped with the adults.
The clock struck 12:05.
The contestants were still alive.
Pumpkin turned to Jack-O-Lantern.
Vampire came from the bat.
Lights went on, all raced off in a dash.
And that was the end of the monster mash!
2nd Place: Ella Doornaert (Bellewood School), "I Can’t Wake Up!"
October 31st in the vampire’s dark and evil castle…There were bats and rats and fat black cats.
Spiders crawl, bugs on wall, skeletons tall, witches call
The host is very, very scary and oh so mean.
This must be a horrible dream…
Or is it?
Moooo ha ha ha ha ha ha boo!
3rd Place: Sarah Marion (H.J. Lassaline School), "Halloween Night"
Halloween night is such a fright.There are lots of scary sights.
Ghosts and ghouls, witches with tools.
Kind of reminds me of being in school.
Award Winners, Ages 10 - 13
1st Place: Megan Noel (Princess Elizabeth Public School), "By the Glow of the Velvet Moon"
Beneath branchesOf an old oak,
The roots of time
Connect
To the tender
Brown earth.
Gravity
Pulling them closer
To the marmot,
Who burrows
By the glow
Of the velvet moon.
The clouds roll by
Our towering oak,
Forming shapes
Of mighty picador
And bulls,
As a speck of light
Shines down
On our crimson rose thicket
Below.
2nd Place: Siri Gauthier (Ecole Ste-Ursule), "Goddess of Night"
Cold and insincereBut not always invoking fear.
Shining bright above our heads,
Bringing darkness in her stead.
A symbol of light,
Shining true in the night
It will highlight the features
Of those dark and scary creatures,
That invoke our biggest fear,
Sometimes too scary for children’s ears.
And on those nights she is complete,
Beams of light that are cold as sleet
Will induce the transformation
Of those monsters born in the depths of our imagination.
Werewolves will howl,
And vampires will growl.
Mortals will be shaken
As they hear zombies awaken,
When she shines true and full.
O Goddess of Night,
Faker of light,
The moon shines bright
As bats take flight.
3rd Place: Katherine Sokolowski (W.J. Langlois School), "Black Cat"
In the dark of the night she’s slinking,Stalking her prey with her big yellow eyes.
She sits perfectly still waiting watching,
And then she strikes!
Her movements are swift and agile
Like an arrow she pins her target against the ground,
And then she takes up her meal and slinks away to her home,
Where she is greeted
By six pairs of hungry yellow eyes.
Award Winners, Ages 14 & up
1st Place: Jiayi (Jason) Fan (Hon. Vincent Massey Secondary School), "The Moon Is a Cake"
The new moon is a cakeOnly the batter
But soon for the oven, to rise in full bloom.
The full moon is a cake
So beautifully round
Ready to be devoured, by the morning sun.
The eclipsed moon is a cake
One in the oven too long
Burnt like charcoal, yet somehow pleasant to see.
The cratered moon is a cake
With holes like
A sponge cake in disguise, a delicious texture.
The clouded moon is a cake
Shrouded in icing,
In waves, snow, and white flowers, too.
The clear-sky moon is a cake
Adorned with stars like candles
The shooting star, a birthday wish.
The Harvest Moon is a cake
Truly, bringing grains,
Enough for a million pastries, the yearly confection.
The Chinese moon is a cake
Its imitations eaten,
Moon cakes for a family together, in the harvesting season.
The Beethoven moon is a cake
Like a sonata
To be enjoyed always, fast or slow.
2nd Place: Gillian Elder (Hon. Vincent Massey Secondary School), "The Mask"
I sat on the edge of the pond one nightPondering the world in the moon’s pale light,
“How strange everything looks in the dark.”
“What a blind observation,” came the mocking remark.
A stick of a man appeared out of the trees,
I looked at him, startled and asked him, “Please,
What do you mean by blind observation?”
He stared at me with a startling fixation,
Then smiled in the most unsettling way;
My heart leapt to a rhythm that I cannot convey.
From the folds of his jacket he took out a mask
Then he donned it, smiled and asked,
“Now is the mask real just because you can see it?
Or is the real thing which lies underneath it?”
I was about to reply when he held up a hand,
“Do you want to see what lies beneath, and
If you do, do you think the truth truly better
Than the friendlier face of the murderous actor?”
“What are you getting at?” I asked quite distraught.
“The whole world, my dear, wears a mask, does it not?
The sun brings the day and blinds us with light
But when it is gone do we then regain our sight?
But in the dark we still cannot see,
So which one could the real mask possibly be?”
He unfolded himself from the ground where he’d sat
And turned towards the forest and I thought that was that.
A twisted little man under the moon in her full,
A mask and a question left me feeling the fool.
At the edge of the woods he called back to me,
And tossed me the mask and in flight did I see
What he meant when he asked me which was the mask
For both sides were decorated, an impossible task.
3rd Place Tie: Zainab Ibrahim (Hon. Vincent Massey Secondary School), "When the Moon Spoke…"
On a dark summer night,Sitting on a brown wooded bench,
Hugging myself ever so tightly,
Body crunched in a firm position,
Thoughts tangled all in my mind,
Asking why God created mankind.
Staring at the luminous moon high above,
Tracing the stars,
Trying to connect the dots,
Nervously afraid asking the moon of eternity,
But the lustrous stars don’t reply,
I do not give up, I try and I try,
I keep asking why?
Afraid of what the moon has to say,
So I begin to pray,
But my message did not convey,
Because of this, I put everything out on a stray.
Dear Moon,
Will my last day come anytime near?
Acknowledging reality, I do not shed a single tear,
Listening to the whistling sounds of the wind, can you hear?
Oh moon, give me a sign,
A sign to settle upon my ideas,
Ideas that might be false,
Save me from my erroneous mind,
Show me from what angle do you shine?
This cold summer night,
A dim day which gave me a fright,
Shivering all throughout my body,
I filled my head with false lies,
But the question repeats its mutations a million times,
“Help me answer this question,” my heart cries,
Inquiring history of mankind to the moon,
It finally replies,
“When death comes by.”
3rd Place Tie: Lida Nguyen-Dang (Catholic Central High School), "Mask of the Oblivion"
I wear this disguise, as if it were my own skin.Figuratively, this is a big masquerade,
Dancing behind concealing masks, the joy of it all.
I’m fit to play the part, identity concealed with the most suited mask.
But no one is dancing…
And the music cuts out.
Is it the transparent mask that frightens you?
Am I that angel you believe me to be?
Guarding your every step…
But still you walk right through me.
You think I’m nothing but a mere illusion of your thoughts.
Invisible.
Yet you look in the mirror as if you were expecting me,
Thoughts of wonder as to what could be the cause of my delay.
I could cut the tension with a knife
Unsustainable yet you’re unattainable
My breath falls short again
And I’m suffocating.
Could I possibly steal your breath with the words you say?
You say you see me, feel me perhaps, but perhaps not.
Imperative to what you don’t see, this ensemble hides better than I
thought.
Death left me still awake, though life I could never fake,
I feel as the living, but walk among the dead.
Trapped between two worlds, I can’t look ahead.
Do you see me as I feel to be, or walk by what I seem to be?
Do you look or do you even recognize me?
You’re oblivious to my being.
The black ravens sing the sorrows of non-seeing
Let the shadows unveil with each step.
I know I’m here to stay.
All poems on this page are the copyright (© 2008) of their respective authors, and may not be reproduced without permission.