2008 County Line Poetry Contest Winners

With 150 entries from all over the Upper East Side of Texas, judges had a hard time picking winners in three of the four categories in County Line magazine’s annual poetry contest.

                The only consensus winner was Judy Rutherford’s elegant “Untitled,” which drew short sounds of pleasure as each judge read it independently. Choosing second- and third-place winners from among another half dozen finalists in the adult category was difficult because of the high quality of the work.

                In the high school division, each judge picked a different first-place winner from among several finalists, leading to impassioned discussion and persuasion to finally choose among the finalists. The 6-8 and 1-5 categories were equally contested.

                Judges were Ali Reese, who won the adult category last year and has a degree in literature; Herb Marlow, author of 35 books; and County Line’s Tom Geddie, poet, music critic, essaying, and creative-writing teacher.

 Here are the 2008 winners in all four categories:

 ADULT

 First Place
Judy Rutherford
Murchison
“Untitled”

Exhale words and wait for wisdom
floating out along the breezes,
rippling the trees.

Second Place
Susan Mitchell
Edgewood
“Hands of a Poet”

 Your hands put into words
the bruises and bones of twilight
when day and its rhythm slip into night’s blueblack soul
                and everything is possible
when a star-freckled sky laughs like a child
                and winks one bright eye in conspiracy. 

Your hands remember reckless, cold, sweet speed
                and being seventeen with money in your pocket.
                Keeping time to music heard over your shoulder,
                so loud you could lean against it.

 Your hands remember the first time they held your children
                and the last time they waved good-bye.

 All of you is there.
Every glance, every curse, every leaf, sigh, season, scar and
whisper is there
waiting
to be wrung into words that someone might read and know
the gift
you hold in your hands.

Third Place
Cheryl Hicks
Athens
“As Though Suffering From Broca’s Aphasia*”

Five a.m. brings the road, the bump,
the backing up of the truck
that dumps the trash across the street
as I slip from sleep to memory
and catalogue events since
yesterday’s waking.

Silently I call to you as all around us
bodies fall through the dark
hoping to be caught by another’s surprise.
Their collective shadows dive –
choreographed, practiced, perfected.
Joined by mystery, they strive for divinity,
and struggle to speak without words.

Because I cannot say, I stumble through the day
refusing to take sacred images at face value,
and I strain to remember, when
as plentiful as pain,
as coincidental as night bugs smeared on glass,
the ties between future and past
were most clear in that sharp intake of breath –
when I was severed from my wings.

Words fail, systems fail,
still we are soundlessly bound
by these golden connections.
Compulsively examining each link of the chain,
every hungry for the comfort of noise,
we need an endless stream of illusion,
a believable dream of grace
and the certainty of imaginable sequels.

* Broca’s aphasia: a loss of the ability to produce and/or comprehend language due to damage to the anterior regions of the brain

GRADES 9-12

First Place
Chelsea Elliott
Van
“Beats To The Stolen Heart”

Where were you when I couldn’t breathe?
The bottle was empty and I was sitting alone.
Forgotten songs drifted through my head.
And the whole world turned faster than the stars above.
I think my heart stopped beating. 

Where were you when I fell to pieces?
I felt a need to hold you close to my side.
To let your warmth soak into mine.
No one seemed to care that my heart had stopped beating.

 What words did you say to save me from hell?
I fell below the surface and I needed you there.
Cursed by the sound of your voice.
I strangled free from the grip of all the noise.
Then my heart stopped beating.

I longed for something more for us.
I think we drained the pain and tears to the floor.
Nothing left but useless dreams and hopes.
We stayed in the same room.
Covered by the same guilt.
I quit trying when my heart stopped beating.

Where were you when I felt so alone?
I failed to mention that I lost all sense of control.
Went down the deep end and left you to starve.
You see I had to leave you by yourself.
My heart let go and stopped beating.
 

Second Place
Cheryl Rogers
Wills Point
“Summer Rain”

Blue sky turns gray
                                First warning to the beauty that’s to follow 
                                               Lightning strikes adding a dark beauty
                Thunder rolls like a million bass drums
The symphony to the dance
                                The grass seems to open
                                                Tempting the water to fall
                Then it starts
                                Water falls one drop at a time
                                                Slowly adding a tenor to the bass line
                The lure of summer rain
Lulls me to the edge
                                                The beauty of it all
                                Lost on the people who hide inside
                I’m attracted to the passing storm
Like a moth to the flame
                As drops plunge to their deaths
The beauty is heightened by the sacrifice
                                Thousand corpses glisten
                                So surreal and breathtaking
                                                Everything must come to an end
                But the smell of earth that follows the sight of rain
                                Like a fading memory
                                                Bittersweet
 

Third Place
Shelby Cox
Canton
“Listen to the Wind”

If you take the time to listen to the wind,
You can hear the sounds of the past.
The building of homes, weeping of trees;
Men going to war, women weak at the knees.
Babies hear their mother’s singing,
The old can no longer hear the trumpets playing.
The shouts and guns of war;
Men who will hear no more.
The tug at the ground for food,
Flowers blooming to a day anew.
If you take the time to listen to the wind,
You can experience the future.

 GRADES 6-8 

First Place
Katlyn Gilmer
Fruitvale
“Eyes” 

Eyes that sparkle, glitter, shine
eyes like yours and eyes like mine.
Deep sea blue, and greenish gray,
eyes like diamonds in array.
Eyes, the windows to your soul
be they stained glass, or dark and dull.
Eyes of every color, shape and size,
by these features we recognize,
friend or foe, or one person from another
with our eyes we send messages to each other.
Eyes like a shining star,
that sadness, hatred, and sorrow mar.

Second Place
Katelyn Edwards
Canton
“I Want To Play” 

I want to play,
As all kids do.
I want to scream and shout.
I want the grass to grace my feet,
And the sun to shimmer down. 

I want to play,
With friends at school,
And hang on the jungle gym.
I want to be pushed as high as a kite
On the tall swings in back of the gym.

I want to play with Shadow,
Our golden puppy dog.
I want to throw his ball across
A big, green, grassy glade,
That sings a hymn of praise.

I want to play,
My soul screams “yes!”
But my body hinders me.
Because I’m lying in a bed,
So weak, it’s hard to breathe. 

I want to play,
Yet I’m too weak
To move around and about.
My light dims with each passing day,
But I’ll tell you what I know. 

Some day I’ll play.
With angels by my side
Watching tenderly as I fly up to the sky.
I’ll play the most amazing games
’Cause guess who’s by my side?

 Third Place
Raul Avila
Tyler
“In The Shadow” 

In the shadow,
In the dark,
Never has, never will go to the park.
To not be seen
To not be heard,
Must stay hidden in the dark.
Hidden in day
Hidden in night
I envy you, those who can come out to play.
This is my daily life.
Constantly filled with worry and strife.
To be born last of three
In a place where more than two is illegal,
And yet still no one will see.
The anguish of a shadow child.
 

GRADES 1-5 

First Place
Loyd Murff
Canton
“Secret Beauty”

Red popped out at me,
A hidden bush in the woods,
Brings joy to my heart.

 Second Place
Emma Winebarger
Ben Wheeler
“Vines”

 Vines choking the tree
Allowing no sunlight in,
Bringing death to it.

Third Place
Abby Yarbrough
Grand Saline
“My Guinea Pig”

My guinea pig’s name is Smokey.
She likes to do the Hokey Pokey.
She sings it very loud,
To a big crowd.
She has a sparkly pink suit,
And pink sparkly boots.
If you want to come and see,
You’ll have to pay a fee.