Xanadulitmag held its second annual Walt Whitman Xanadu Poetry Contest this spring. The contest was open to Walt Whitman High School students grades 9-12 with the chance to win monetary awards. 

 

We’re thrilled to announce and congratulate first prize winner Sienna Leaver for her poem “Smaller Than A Promise,” second prize winner Sam Guttler for her poem “Peculiar Decorations,” and third prize winner Katy Valle for her poem “Humanity and Water.” Congratulations to Ava Hedstrom and Ella Brenner for being awarded Honorable Mention. 

 

In congratulating the participants of this year’s poetry contest, Walt Whitman High School English teacher and Xanadu advisor, Joe Pipolo, described the art of poetry beautifully. “Poetry is the attempt to express that which is seemingly inexpressible in any other way. It tries to name the unnameable. It should heal wounds and cause some if necessary. Poetry should wake the reader up.” 

 

The high school poets used this writing opportunity to open the eyes of their readers. The annual Xanadu Poetry Contest had over 150 entries, encapsulating the creative voices and unique experiences of Whitman’s students. Those who took home winning prizes and honorable mentions stood out from the rest, demonstrating their soul, skill and sophistication through their unique prose. Six anonymous poets and writing teachers judged the entrants’ works for their level of sophistication and voice, with consideration of a number of writing components. 

 

As Xanadu’s mantra Creation is Activism persists, writing opportunities such as these show just that. Xanadu is Walt Whitman High School’s award winning online gallery, run by students. The talent and creativity is on full display at xanadulitmag.com.

 

First Prize

Smaller Than A Promise

Sienna Leaver

 

A psychic reads my palm, tells me 

I will make myself smaller than a promise,

assures me I can hit the switch,

change the tracks if I care. 

 

But here I am anyhow, spinning beside

you. We search for faces in dirty mirrors, 

rhythmic rain for answers, dandelion stems

for luck, reason in footsteps overhead

as the room circles back into focus. Our findings? 

Everything tangible becomes an elegy.

 

So here you are—

First, testing physics, letting momentum carry you,

swapping your body for gravity. Then hollowing 

out its contents, catching a wishbone 

through the neck.

 

When I call out, every street is 

knotted to touch the sky. No divine 

intervention in a place like this, 

not even from a palm reader. 

 

Even so, I wait by you, a promise, 

smaller and smaller. 

 

Second prize

Peculiar Decorations
Sam Guttler

 

You — the worst gift I’ve ever received.

Never meant to be given. 

How many years now have you sat there on my shelf,

in that heart-shaped cell?

Metal, etched with blue and white doves — 

a poor imitation of the glimmer in your eyes.

 

A felt box to keep you warm,

buckled shut from the outside — as if you might try to escape.

Still, I dare not leave it open.

 

I hope I have been hospitable enough to you.

I held you against my chest to let you feel the cadence of my heart.

I want you to remember how it felt for it to beat.

Yours wasn't always made of steel.

 

What little I have left of you —

I'm scared to give to the wind.

But I wasn’t taught 

to be so selfish.

Once I find the courage, 

I will bring you to the water.

 

Soon you will be seventy-one percent of the Earth. 

Then, reabsorbed.

Shapeless, as your spirit.

 

Where the Sun will bounce off your many bodies —

kissing the cheeks of brave swimmers.

Poured into tiny plastic buckets,

shaped into fleeting castles,

only to dissolve again. 

 

And when I find the courage, 

everyone will experience you:

study you,

need you,

love you.

Just as I did — 

just as I do.

 

Every time I dust your box, 

I am sorry —

for not letting you go sooner. 

 

Third Prize

Humanity and Water

Katy Valle

 

Humanity

Is beautiful

In the ways 

Rivers sing about.

The gentle flow of water

Depicts in its chorus

Human nature,

At its finest,

A never ending ability

To love.

 

Humanity, 

Wanting to be

The infinite ocean,

Wanting to feel

Monsoons of emotion.

There is beauty 

In the water we worship,

The water

That softly cradles 

Our fates.

Never forget,

You are alive;

In water

We are forever,

Beautiful.

 

 

Two Special Mentions

 

Daisy

Ella Brenner

 

I am grown in a greenhouse—

Designed for perfection.

My leaves are poised,

Perky petals pointed

Towards my source of light.

 

The florist began to change

The light, pointing it towards himself.

I turned my petals, 

Feverishly photosynthesizing

From the florist’s fake sun.

 

Suddenly he plucked me from the soil.

Stripped of my outer petals,

I lay naked on the botanist table.

My leaves were carefully cut,

Yet the loss was just as strong.

Slowly I was changed into a plant

Almost foreign to myself.

 

I wish I was a Lily of the Valley.

Wild and free—

Maybe my poison could have scared

That florist away.

But now I must sit

Plucked naked on the table,

Longing for the sunlight

Which I had grown up with once.

 

Sugar High

Ava Hedstrom

 

I’m not much of sweet tooth,

sugar makes me sick.

 

Yet, maybe your sweet taste 

distorted my gums,

so the heaviness 

in my molars became 

my everyday.

 

Or was it the orange-flavored kiss 

you left behind,

that made me okay with 

hard candy stuck,

jammed in between 

my crooked teeth.

 

It’s normal, I told myself.

While, pieces of my enamel

turned into your meal,

letting you settle

in between my teeth.

 

Sugar coated and filled,

sticking to my cracked lips 

infesting, rotting, staining,

slowly clawing at my nerves

eroding all the away to

the bone.

 

The mint toothpaste 

wasn’t enough 

when the mirror told me,

the aches and bad breath 

isn’t love.

 

So I let my fingers 

crawl into my mouth,

twisting out my decaying tooth

from the root 

with a— snap.

 

The gap in my smile 

left the edges of 

my tongue iron sickened.

So now, your orange candy,

will never taste sweet again.