Do you enjoy literature? Write a poem about it!
I had planned to wait for a while before posting more poetry on my blog. However, at a recent meeting of the River Market Poets (a branch of the Poets Roundtable of Arkansas), I got a copy of a summer poetry contest for high school students and thought I’d share.
The contest is open to high school students in Arkansas. (This is students who will be in high school in the fall…sorry Seniors who just graduated!) There is no registration fee to enter this contest, and since the contest is a summer contest, there will probably be a low number of entries. Yes, that increases your chances of winning. Come on, we all like to win. But you can’t win if you don’t enter.
The subject of the poem must be about enjoying literature. It can be in any poetry form, and there is a line limit of 24 lines. You must be a high school student in Arkansas. The deadline to mail your entry is August 15, 2012. For the address information and complete details, download this PDF document for the poetry contest.
The high school contest is contest #8 in the larger Poets Roundtable for Arkansas poetry competition for the Poetry Day celebration. For more information about Poetry Day or the other contests in the competition, visit the Poets Roundtable of Arkansas website. There are contests for Arkansas residents and poets anywhere in the US in addition to the student contest.
Also, as a special treat, here is another excerpt from my poetry book, Of Hearts and Souls. I don’t often write lyrical poems, but this one is. Enjoy!
Ode to the Sweet Night
By Robin A. Burrows
A dream,
hanging on the breath of Night
disappears
with Dawn’s light.
Eyes
that open to the world around
do not see how the dream
could be found.
They
search through the light of Day
for images lost
in Night’s gentle sway.
But as minds awake,
all is gone;
dreams are lost to Fate-
life, just a pawn.
Forces
move where Daylight waits,
forming bonds and
binding fates.
Life
chains the legs and binds the arms
enslaving hearts in
its worldly charms.
Death
taunts the body and the soul
threatening fates
beyond control.
Time
toys with the daily life;
its ticking minutes
causing strife.
In the Day
the true light is gone;
shut out by the walls that
Fate has drawn.
Eyes that once
shined so fair,
hide away
what’s buried there.
The heart aches
in Solitude’s call;
but what’s never known
can never fall.
Yet tucked away
in Night’s deep hold,
the heart whispers
of dreams untold.
And in the depths
of the life that is Dream,
the soul’s every wish
it shall redeem.
So sing
an ode unto the Night;
dream the dream
you cannot fight.
And in Night’s sweet arms
you can live
the life that Day
refuses to give.
A dream-
hangs on the breath of Night,
whispered softly;
eyes shining bright.
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