The QCC Library initiated a Student Poetry Contest in spring 2013. The contest is now held annually in the spring semester, with the next one coming up in 2015.
The spring 2014 winner and runner up are to the right.
We would like to thank our 2014 judges, Professors Tammi Rothman and Sandy Marcus, and Marcia Suarez.
GENERATIONAL GIRL CURSE
Roaming through life
Drifting over a river of
Teenage dreams,
Incessantly, constantly
Falling apart at the seams.
Longing for acceptance,
Life is so hectic, mirrors are
So deceptive.
Tears fall down cheeks,
Like water drip dripping from a leak,
Feeling like such a freak.
Lord hear our prayer
Lengthen our hair
Lighten our waist
Change our face.
Too big
Too small
Full of flaws
Pause
Play
Rewind
Fast forward
Confidence, the enemy
Of the female mind
From generation to generation
Girls always hated
What their Mamas gave them
Using makeup's toolbox
To repair what is broken.
Love, a word used mostly when
Staring in the eyes of a guy
With one thing living in his mind.
Love, a word almost never used
When staring in the eyes of the girl
Looking back at you.
~Maya Lashley
Listen to Ms. Lashly read her poem on SoundCloud:
This poem was also published in the spring 2014 issue of The Library Scene.
ULTIMO ITINERE
Over your shoulder I shall wait,
An Argus-eyed spectator; until that date.
Cast in shadow, just out of view,
Tepid and dense like mourning’s dew.
As if some darkness lingers near,
Proffer of evil, faintly moaning in your ear.
Alas, tis not me you need detest,
As I shall usher; your eternal rest.
When charcoal fills the sky
The leaves give a shimmered wave, and
Branches crackle as they lurch
Infix the fallowed cavity
Where water trips the light fantastic
Transcending through a darkened chasm
Into a land afresh
Free from diplomatic eyes
A land unburdened by rotting skies.
~C.B. Dickinson