Poetry Contest Winners  2006

 

1st Place

A TEAR

            by Juan Molina

 

A tear is just a tear

Unless a tear is filled with pain

Pain is just pain

Unless that pain comes from love

 Love is just love Unless love has a name

A name is just a name Unless that name has a face

A face is just a face Unless that face leaves a memory

A memory is just a memory

Unless a memory brings joy

Joy is just a joy

Unless that joy means everything

 Everything is just everything

Unless everything becomes a problem

A problem is just a problem

Unless the problem has no solution

A solution is just a solution

Unless the solution has a meaning

A meaning is just a meaning

Unless the meaning becomes life

A life is just a life

Unless a life has a purpose

A purpose is just a purpose

Unless the purpose brings a tear fillied with pain

That comes from a love that has a name

That has a face that leaves a memory

That brings a joy that means everything

That becomes a problem that has no solution

That has a meaning that becomes life

With a purpose with a tear filled with pain

 

 

2nd Place

      by Crystal Scott

Momma I need you to Teach me   Teach me about my femininity Responsibility in my sexuality Teach me to avoid promiscuity So I can hold on to my virginity   See momma I need you to Teach me   That nothing is free It all has a price So before I accept those Diamonds I had better think twice   Teach me not to be A number in a statistic High scholl drop out Teen pregnancy Or Domestic Fatality Teach me That my exterior is Nothing compared to my interior And just because someone disagrees It does not mean that I have to change me Momma teach me That Reading a book is not absurd Nor does it make me a nerd Teach me to be myself Who will I mimis when there’s No one else left Momma teach me   That my 700.00 Coach should hold more than fifty dollars And that college is not full of A report scholars But people just like me Destined to be More than what society wants us to see Just teach me

Daddy Teach me Your Son That being a black man is Better than any contest I could have won   Teach me that Wearing my pants above my posterior Does not make me inferior Teach me that Nigga is not my name But just a word society has given some fame Daddy I need you to Teach me Because I am your future The legacy of your name   Daddy Teach me That chivalry is not dead please and thank you Are not just oone time said Teach me that I can do more than just rap or play ball I can be that Renaissance man I can do it all And the penitentiary mentality is not for me And that justification for making due Should not be on the corner Professing “I gotta do what I gotta do” And just because I have a gun in my hand I’m not the chief in command But if I really want to be a man I have to rise up and stand Not cower down Hiding behind the sound Of my booming system 23 inch rims Baggy jeans and tims Show me my potential is more than just a phantom of my mental Daddy don’t turn your back on me Just teach me

 

 

3rd Place

A Vision Carried

          by Sindhu Madathikunnel

 

A place that may share the breaths of many,

 

To breach the walls of a nation strived for,

 

To fulfill the dreams of a nation still spoken for,

 

We, the people,

 

Still struggle in hopes,

 

That the harsh past be no more.

 

These dreams we carry,

 

Of a generation,

 

Of a world not retrained by barriers and corruption,

 

A vision of a land full of color and wonders,

 

These are the dreams of the past, the present, and new generation.