A High School
Interscholastic Creative WRITING Program
Excellence In Poetry
Award Winners
This special state award honors the Power of Poetry.
Regional poetry winners compose new poems on a state level prompt,
these pieces are evaluated by the State Tournament Poet Laureate, and a winner is chosen.
2022 Winner
Annie Johnson,
Dublin Coffman High School
The Question:
If lightning never strikes
twice in the same place
then how am I supposed
to live again? I've been
chasing this fire in my
tendons since August.
My muse's name is
Narcissus and he
hates me. It's a bit
of a paradox in all
honesty. He died in
the water and I will die
in the rain dressed in
tinfoil, mouth open,
waiting for inspiration
or drowning or both.
Karin Wraley Barbee, the 2022 State Poet Laureate had this to say about Annie's poem.
While there were so many wonderful poems submitted, Annie Johnson's poem titled, "Inspiration" is exceptionally strong. Johnson's poem deals with the big questions and deep answers about the nature of artistic inspiration. The poem's speaker questions how they might continue without the lightning strike of inspiration and beautifully describes that specific kind of hopelessness saying -- "I will die in the rain, dressed in tinfoil, mouth open, waiting for inspiration or drowning or both."
But the poem's resolution comes in the form of a reassuring answer. That electricity is still present, reverberating and energizing, and the artist need only wait and trust that inspiration is still within. As Johnson states, "Thunder does not travel with
lightning, it takes its time. The boom and crash, the echo of things forgotten. Even flashbulbs long gone still leave traces."
Johnson's poem is rich with carefully crafted imagery and sound. It's a wise and lovely piece.
The Answer:
You never believe me
when I tell you that
everything stays. You
don't need that second
bolt of electricity, the
first one is enough. It's
still inside you, you know.
I can feel it humming
through your veins. It sounds
like the fluorescent lights
you always shied away
from beneath cold palms.
Thunder does not travel
with lightning, it takes its time.
The boom and crash, the
echo of things forgotten.
Even flashbulbs long gone still
leaves traces. Stop screaming
for the sky to blind you and
wait.
Listen.
How does that old saying go?
Any port in a storm?
Inspiration
2021 Winner
Amelia Campbell,
Miami Valley School
