Transylvania County 6th Annual Poetry Contest
The 6th Annual Transylvania County Poetry Contest was held in April. The Theme: FREEDOM – What it means to you. Fifty-nine individuals entered. The youngest being just 5 and the oldest 92.
The awards ceremony was held on May 16th at the Mary C. Jenkins Community & Cultural Center. This year’s judges were Yesica Miranda and Sheila Mooney.
Sponsoring the awards ceremony and prize money were the city of Brevard, the Mary C. Jenkins Community & Cultural Center Board of Directors and Brevard Rotary. Winners received $100 and Honorable Mentions received $50.
The winners are:
Adult Winner: Michael Dexter-Smith, untitled
It was the fresh, clean air I breathed-the quiet core of the American dream-until I had to learn to breathe without it. It was sunlight slipping through my fingers; I only missed it when the shadows would not leave. I called it ordinary-right up until the day it didn’t answer back.
Then I knew it was extraordinary. It was an open door,light and breeze drifting through-until it slammed shut,hinges rusting with regret, locked.
I assumed it could never happen.
That its presence was forever. I walked through life unchained,never noticing the absence of weight
It was a song I never listened to,words I never learned-until total silence filled the room.
The sky felt endless, blue and wide-until I saw it constrained and grey.
What I took for granted-fumbled and lost-was the very thing that made me whole.
It never asked for attention-and I gave it none. It only revealed its worth in absentia.
I lived in abundance, trifles and excesses without knowing the cost-until everything was taken leaving only memories.
And now I know: freedom was everything-long before I ever said its name.
Adult Honorable Mention: Jennifer Kelly, “Freedom, a Proof”
Freedom isn’t free
So they say
The paradigm, the mantra, the theorem.
Freedom isn’t free.
We pay for freedom
in toil, in hardship.
We pay for freedom
in battles, in blood.
There are those who walk hundreds of miles for freedom.
Those who brave unknown waters for freedom.
Some flee war.
Some flee famine.
Some flee with hopes of a better future.
Some quietly close the door behind them for freedom.
There are those who have an undeniably visceral understanding of freedom’s absence.
But what of its presence: is freedom earned?
Are suffering and hope the foundations of freedom?
Are adverse events required precursors to freedom?
Is this the formula I believe to be true?
Freedom, a theorem to be simplified.
Perhaps freedom is omnipresent, defying proof.
Imagination.
In the heart.
In the palm of a hand.
Painted on the wing of a monarch.
Shifting in the water as it changes course.
Spreading through the clouds’ evolving colors at dawn.
Gliding in the wind-wake of the albatross.
Soothing the spirit in song.
Perhaps my theorem is this:
The absence of freedom is far simpler to prove
(to feel, to know)
than its presence.
High School Winner: Maite Hernandez Bahena, “Freedom — What it Means to You”
I couldn’t be more grateful for the liberty and Freedom I was gifted with.
Freedom to me is being able to live proudly as a daughter of padres inmigrantes
Able to express the hard experiences that
my parents had to go through just so I could be able
to fulfill a dedicated career for my life
y las futuras generaciones
Choosing to believe in my faith as a Católica
made by a conscious decision I’ve chosen and
not just by the tradition I inherited
Being able to pray sin miedo
And truly learn and teach without being judged upon
Or punished upon
Its showing up to school cada dia
Learning, socializing, and growing academically everyday
Putting in as much as we want out of this experience that we were gifted
And representing our Hispanic/Latino community
in sports and extracurricular activities as well
Freedom is also being allowed to explore and travel
life outside of the United States
Thankful for where I was raised in my respectable hometown Brevard
but also never forgetting
Where my true freedom came from.
High School Honorable Mention: Cora Manner, “Skin”
i do not think that i can ever be free when i am trapped in my own skin
like a wall barricading me from the rest of the world
my skin holds me back from ever truly living
this shell around me that is meant to keep me safe
continues to confine me from the spiral around me
my body
that is meant to carry me though life
and keep me free
continues to leave my feet rooted to the ground
and my mind
full of big ideas just waiting to free from the cage
still keeps me planted in my own sadness
drowning
and slowly slipping under
i long to be free
but i wonder
how will i ever free myself from the storm
that i have created in my body
my mind
my skin
Middle School Winner: Austin Peffley, “They Say Freedom?”
They say we have a choice. But they don’t let us choose
So they say this is freedom? Being scared to wear an outfit. Because of boys Or being called mean things
Was it freedom?
When you choose
What we do
Say
Wear
Or where we go
They say to speak our thoughts
But then tell us not to speak
So we can walk at night
But have to be scared of people
Kidnapping us
Hurting us
We always have to watch our drinks
We can’t walk alone
We have learned to listen
There are so many can’ts
But not enough do’s
They say freedom
For all except for us
The women
The mothers
The girls
So what do you want me to say
What do you want me to?
Because if that’s the case…No
We fought for our rights
And freedom
You try to stop us
But you never will
They tried and failed
We won
But will we win again
Or you
We still are fighting
And you think you are
In the right, but you’re not
We’re like a caged bird
Sometimes free
But with restriction
That we get shamed
For breaking free
We are human
We have rights
We do so much for
The world
People
So do we have rights?
Do we have freedom?
They say we get treated
The same
The lies are becoming
True
We try to get freedom
We are getting there
But we are still fighting
Still trying
So tell me, do we have freedom
or have you fell into a lie?
So they say this is freedom?
Middle School Honorable Mention: Veronica Merrill, What Freedom Means To Me
What freedom means to me is chains breaking.
And less hands shaking.
Freedom sounds like bombs getting dropped and the sound of guns getting shot.
And you wish it will stop.
Hearing the screams and the cries.
And you want to think it’s all a lie.
But it happens all throughout time.
Freedom is the people who survived and some have died.
Freedom is with Liberty and Justice for all.
No matter what race or color you are.
Freedom is for all.
Freedom is home
It’s the hard backbone.
Freedom is fighting for your land.
To keep it in hand.
Here comes freedom I can hear her sing.
And it makes my ears ring.
And what is this your stripes and stars.
Folded into a triangle how beautiful you are.
What is this no it can’t be.
They finally tell you what this means.
You want to climb a tree.
And let time freeze.
He is taken by the breeze that brushes over these trees.
Don’t worry he gave you his freedom for a reason.
I know this is a hard season.
But God had a reason.
Freedom is red, white, and blue.
That will always stay true.
And I will always love you.
What about me?
He follows me in the breeze.
I can hear him in the trees.
And this is what freedom means to me.
Pre-K through Elementary School Winner: Theo Stoup, “Freedom”
Climbing trees.
Playing with your friends.
Reading Captain Underpants if you have it.
Pretending a coffee machine is a robot.
Picking flowers.
Blowing bubbles in the winter.
Smoking meat if you have a smoker.
Hanging out with your favorite cat in the world.
Flying airplanes.
Growing plants.
Eating pizza.
Going to the beach right now.
The end.
Pre-K through Elementary School Honorable Mention: Elizabeth Morgan, “Enjoy the Differences”
A path of darkness
A path of light
A path of freedom
Similar, different,
Envy, importance
That’s freedom
Strong, gentle, long, short
That’s freedom
Fun, joy, love
That’s freedom
Queer, straight, different
That’s freedom
Enjoy freedom
Never enjoy apathy
Enjoy empathy
Similar and different
Never love hate
Enjoy the differences
That’s freedom.