21st Annual Claudia Emerson Teen Poetry Contest Celebrates Young Poets

Central Rappahannock Regional Library held its 21^st annual Claudia Emerson Teen Poetry Contest in June.

The event was named in memory of Claudia Emerson, an advocate for teen poets.  Emerson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former professor at the University of Mary Washington, played a key role in the annual Teen Poetry Contest. She judged the contest and hosted Teen Poetry Night, providing thoughtful feedback to young poets. In 2022, she was named a Changemaker in the Virginia Women in History program.

Winners were awarded cash prizes and were invited to read their work at Claudia Emerson Teen Poetry Night. Entries were be judged by local poets Laura Bylenok and David Anthony Sam.

Entries were separated by grade level, and all winners are listed on the library’s website.

The first prize winner for grades 9-12 is Molly P.

Each night,
I look up to the sky
and search for that story

Of you and I

Which you claim
to be written
In the stars
Dancing above.

There is sifting sand
Escaping
From your fingertips.

We are stuck, in this glass coffin,
Filled with sand.

As you say:
We are running out of time

But, how can we run out
of something we never had?

This life, this time
Has always been borrowed.

We were born running out of time
Each breath bringing us closer to the last

Our grave: our promised cradle

We are too dim for the brilliance
Of the universe.

Or maybe, our passion is so bright,
It would outweigh the darkness’
Greed to be seen.

Perhaps.

But now they have forgotten us:
The stars and sand and darkness.

Time has passed, memories are gone.
After all, there is nothing and no one to remember
The story of you and I

We are out of time
The last speck of sand has settled
Over our broken and still breaking bodies.

I look up
at the stars

Disappearing
Into the abyss

Wishing for
More time.”