Arts & Entertainment

'Verse in the Valley' Adult Winners

Read the winning poems in the adult category

The winners of the Scotts Valley Arts Commission’s annual “Verse in the Valley” poetry contest were announced at a June 6 city council meeting. There are first, second and third place winners in five different age group categories and a first place winner in the class poem category.

Scotts Valley Patch will run the winning poems in each category throughout the week. Today, we have the middle school category winners. Read the kindergarten through third-grade and class poem category winners here; the fourth- through fifth-grade category winners ; the middle school winners ; and the high school winners .

First Place–Meg Reese

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“One Night My Grandma”

Taught me stories that piggyback stars

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from her Santana 22. She sailed us

beyond our dishwater bay; she threw

anchor just before the canyon drop.

As darkness displaced water and sky

she sighed, “You should know that

heaven calls me by name these

days.” Then she said the myths

all the same.

Sunrise blew us back to the harbor;

back to the fishermen who leaned to

her wink and wig’s honey bangs. They

watched, I watched her wince as she

knotted our endless lines. Cancer had

shaken her hands, but her fingers

never forgot the old art.

By noon I was sitting on the sun

warm layer of sand, hunger working

me the way only children understand.

Screams from the Jet Star trailed behind

her as she descended the boardwalk

steps, my saltwater taffy lunch spilling

out of her tanned arms.

Now I want to breathe in the bone

yard behind the elementary school, but

my chest tightens there. She passed

soon after that night.

Second Place–Nancy Hofmann

“As She Walks By …”

Her skirt curving like the flight of birds

reminds me of my mother’s hair

so long and silver in my mind,

the swish of hand on skin,

soft print of love I feel before I wake.

She sashays like milk-froth

like a breeze that beckons leaves to fall,

like sweet humming when my heart is full

and spills out sound.

She has the spin of freshly-laundered clothes

minueting in the sun,

a walk like proud waves,

like taste buds bursting,

leaving small tart tangos of color in her wake.

Third Place–Jonathan Powell

“Life is a Coin”

What do you do?

When you realize

Life is like a coin

You can spend it

Now? Later?

However you want

But you only spend it once

What do you choose?

Buy a sight to see?

Or food to taste?

Or troubles and greed?

You purchase everything

Giving up one for another

It’s your choice

Whether to spend it

Now? Later?

And it all makes a difference

Your coin is yours

Some people’s old and rusted

Some shiny and new

But it’s always a coin so it can always be spent

But it’s whether you want to

You pick what you buy

Do you buy junk?

Or something of value?

A cooler you?

Or be yourself?

Either way it’s your coin

My coin is spent

I chose my purchase

And it’s made me who I am

I purchased a life of joy

Everything has a happy ending

Everything turns out right

A positive outlook on life

I can see the good

And let me say

It was the best purchase

I’ve ever made

So what’s your purchase?

Now, or later

You will have to decide

And when you do

What life will you purchase

With your coin?


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