Poet Laureate Contest Winner 2/24
Mar 4, 2024 19:39:03 GMT -5
Aersoldorf, Lenlyvit, and 2 more like this
Post by Wille-Harlia on Mar 4, 2024 19:39:03 GMT -5
After a week of voting, we have ourselves a winner for the February 2024 Poet Laureate Contest!
Join me in congratulating Liberdon on their victory with Moving Day as well as commiserating Aersoldorf (The Good Old Days), Pantso (Squinting), and Caietanian (Untitled Haiku)!
Moving Day
I heard a familiar song yesterday
That reminded me of a sweet, old blue jay
The melancholy melody brought back the past
Since then, it has hit me—the cost of living
As I’ve thought about all I am missing
I passed a stranger today on the street,
His carefree grin left me lost, pondering grief
—How I always forget what I must remember
While remembering what I try to forget
Living life through a lens tinged with regret
A single blink and nothing is the same
Why can I never seem to master this game?
I feel I am always scrambling to hit pause
Before life and its mysteries pass me by
Too long I’ve sat watching clouds in the sky
I couldn’t cry the day my grandmother died
As I knew she had traversed the Great Divide,
Reunited at last with those who’d gone before
Instead, I mourned a generation fading—
And the mothball boxes now degrading
When my grandfather followed soon after,
I found few tears for the end of his chapter
For I knew I’d already lost him long ago
To that old age tragedy that steals the mind
Leaving tired, empty boxes behind
Nothing is permanent—that much I fear
Birthday wishes and sibling bonds disappear
Replaced by too many holidays spent apart
The world’s moved on, but I’m still stuck in Hiraeth
Clinging to remnants of another life
Last week, my dad came home far too early
Carrying tattered boxes, cared for dearly,
He looked lost—with shoulders slumped in sighing defeat
Still, I said nothing, too busy pretending
—I didn’t know an era was ending
Soon, my sister will be getting married,
While my brother, unhurried, pushes thirty
Resisting change, I stay up at night, chasing ghosts
Too afraid to stop and face the bitter truth—
With death has flown the remains of my youth
Time can try, but it will never erase
The memories I’ve stored in a special place
These heavy boxes I’ll carry until the end—
And, at the beginning, when we’re made new,
Only then will I say goodbye to you
The Poet Laureate Contest will be back in June, so keep up the creativity, Islanders!
After a week of voting, we have ourselves a winner for the February 2024 Poet Laureate Contest!
Join me in congratulating Liberdon on their victory with Moving Day as well as commiserating Aersoldorf (The Good Old Days), Pantso (Squinting), and Caietanian (Untitled Haiku)!
Moving Day
I heard a familiar song yesterday
That reminded me of a sweet, old blue jay
The melancholy melody brought back the past
Since then, it has hit me—the cost of living
As I’ve thought about all I am missing
I passed a stranger today on the street,
His carefree grin left me lost, pondering grief
—How I always forget what I must remember
While remembering what I try to forget
Living life through a lens tinged with regret
A single blink and nothing is the same
Why can I never seem to master this game?
I feel I am always scrambling to hit pause
Before life and its mysteries pass me by
Too long I’ve sat watching clouds in the sky
I couldn’t cry the day my grandmother died
As I knew she had traversed the Great Divide,
Reunited at last with those who’d gone before
Instead, I mourned a generation fading—
And the mothball boxes now degrading
When my grandfather followed soon after,
I found few tears for the end of his chapter
For I knew I’d already lost him long ago
To that old age tragedy that steals the mind
Leaving tired, empty boxes behind
Nothing is permanent—that much I fear
Birthday wishes and sibling bonds disappear
Replaced by too many holidays spent apart
The world’s moved on, but I’m still stuck in Hiraeth
Clinging to remnants of another life
Last week, my dad came home far too early
Carrying tattered boxes, cared for dearly,
He looked lost—with shoulders slumped in sighing defeat
Still, I said nothing, too busy pretending
—I didn’t know an era was ending
Soon, my sister will be getting married,
While my brother, unhurried, pushes thirty
Resisting change, I stay up at night, chasing ghosts
Too afraid to stop and face the bitter truth—
With death has flown the remains of my youth
Time can try, but it will never erase
The memories I’ve stored in a special place
These heavy boxes I’ll carry until the end—
And, at the beginning, when we’re made new,
Only then will I say goodbye to you
The Poet Laureate Contest will be back in June, so keep up the creativity, Islanders!
