Barnesville’s READ Book Club Celebrated National Poetry Month

by Lisa Gallagher, Barnesville Area News

The Barnesville High School READ (Read, Eat and Discuss) Book Club, which meets weekly in the school’s library, celebrated National Poetry Month throughout April. In 1996, the Academy of American Poets introduced National Poetry Month to promote and appreciate poetry in the United States. Club members Dakota Darnley, Abbi DeGarmo, and Brandie Elerick decorated the library’s bulletin board with spring flowers. With a twist to the commonly said “April Showers, Bring May Flowers,” the students claimed that April lines bring May rhymes. Other club members added their favorite line of poetry or a poet’s quote to complete the bulletin board.

The READ Book Club also organized and sponsored a poetry contest. Club members created the flyers and emails for the publicity, determined the contest rules, and judged the competition. The entire high school was invited to participate. Prizes included First Place $30, Second Place $20, and Third Place $10. Since four poems tied for third place, $5 was awarded to the three honorable mentions. In addition to the cash prizes, winners were promised publication in the Barnesville Area News. Students were thrilled with the opportunity to have their creative verses read by others.

Pictured left to right: Senior Evan Boulet, Second Place Winner; Junior A.J. Empeno, First Place Winner; and Junior Peyton Steed, Third Place Winner.

First Place Winner, Love’s Gentle Tide by A.J. Empeno

Love is a difficult feeling to describe
Like when the moonlight kisses
The ocean at night
The feeling of constantly wanting to be better
Cause I’ll never deserve you
But I’ll love you forever 

The way that your eyes twinkle in the light
A smile that's contagious, 
beautiful, and bright
A presence so strong it radiates around
My love is so deep,
I fear I could drown

I find myself looking at pictures of you
When you’re not around,
or when I’m feeling blue
But the moment I catch the smallest glimpse
My grasp on reality 
begins to slip 

Like a river flows through the Everglade trees
Darling the world knows
Some things are meant to be
And I’ll hold on to this love
Till my hands are buried 
Six feet down with me. 

Second Place Winner, Dandelion by Evan Boulet

You could compare me to a dandelion.
A sunny day sprouted me up,
and to be happy, I was tryin’.

The days passed on, so I grew gray.
It wouldn’t take much at all
to blow me all away.

The skies turned black as night
as the storm came rolling in.
Nothing could be done to stop the plight.

My seeds held dear were blown away.
There was nothing left of me
but dismay.

The winds blew a little seed to a brand new lawn.
The sprouting of this little seed
would lead to my new dawn.

Roots creeping throughout the soil
anchor me in reality
as I writhe and spoil.

A strong stem provides
a sturdy foundation for me
to reach higher into the skies.

A bright, sunny bloom
serves as a symbol of prosperity.
I have been saved from my doom.

As I grow into my new form,
I live and dream on,
waiting for another storm.

Third Place Winner, Ode to a Lost Sibling by Peyton Steed

My earliest days were met by a gift from you. 
To greet me in the mornings and set my worries askew. 
A small white owl to have and to hold. 
A thing I treasure to this day, truth be told. 
Your love, a fire when the days got cold. 
Your presence, truly a joy to behold. 
A smile to melt the most frigid of hearts. 
Your personality of which the darkness it parts. 
You who was a beacon of kind and caring. 
Who lit the path onto which I tarry.
Through times of woe and those that are scary. 
Your hand I’d hold and all would be right. 
Because standing with you I had no plight. 
my days of old spent held aloft, 
Held in your grip, 
held ever soft. 
Those precious years spent with you, 
Are irreplaceable through and through. 
And though you grace this world no longer, 
Your memory lives on ever stronger. 

Honorable Mentions Pictured left to right: Junior Landon Harris, Senior Jasmine Starr, and Freshman Korie Marchetti.

Honorable Mention, Grief of the Broken Mind by Landon Harris

Lantern-grown light embroiders darkness
It hugs all that’s cold and leaves me daunted
My love, winter scares me
It grasps me straight to the bone
My ink quill, it pains me 
When I have to write you so

Hysteria clings to all that’s alone
Blizzards exalt tears on my cloak
I’m the first product of death-streaking snow
They took you from me, I was left in dark zones

Scratchboard on stone
Follow me home
I sat alone
Songbirds’ death shown
Icy throne, my tomb

The phantom said “It’s all in my head”
I’m just upset
No, it’s more than that
I’m sauntering through long-gone churches

Entendre mist scattered dreams upon all those who warned me by
The ice-covered house had all the gold locked in a vault of cries
And Inferno spiraled and ripped apart all that was sacred and mine
The ghost of me took far too long to realize I was right

You were all I had, now I’m left with my own plight

Honorable Mention, Voluntarily Mine by Jasmine Starr

My heart is a deep abyss,
For it is your heart that I miss

Vivid thoughts and avid worry,
Pollute my mind in a flurry

You see my stress and try to comfort,
I pull away because i fear it'll hurt

Hurt you and me and our bond,
But then upon me it had dawned 

You choose me every day,
To have, to hold, to love and play

You don't just want me for a moment,
You see me as I am, you see my potent

So even when I'm difficult and gray,
You always find the time to say,
How you love me and want to stay

In that moment it is clear,
That you aren't with me out of fear,
But that you want to be here.

Honorable Mention, Anxiety by Korie Marchetti

Anxiety.
Creeping, crawling through my body
The way spiders crawl through houses;
Squeezing my brain
The way snakes do their prey.
Anxiety.
Leaving me on a teeter tottering precipice of uncertainty
Like one waiting on a college acceptance letter;
Worried nothing will go as expected
Like how you thought this poem would rhyme but it doesn’t.
Anxiety.
Limiting me from activities
Similar to how they say the sky's the limit for mankind;
Makes it hard to talk to people,
Similar to that of a toddler learning to talk.
Anxiety.
Constantly biting my nails
As though it’s my favorite food;
Afraid of all the possibilities and outcomes
As though I’m a circus performer or trapeze artist.
Anxiety.
Always there,
Anxiety.