Teen Poet

Submitted by shauna.shepherd on

In Springville Junior High's Creative Writing Class, students are required to participate in at least one writing contest during the semester. Last year, Ms. Ann Marie Humble, then an eighth grader, chose to submit a poem to Creative Communications Poetic Power Contest. We are happy to announce that Ann Marie was one of ten students within all of the United States and Canada to win. 

Ann Marie's poem, "Washer", was selected from thousands of entries in her grade division (7-9). Her poem will be published with special recognition in this year's anthology, A Celebration of Poets. By winning this contest, she will receive her own complimentary copy of the text, a check for $25, and the honor of being a published poet. 

We at SJHS are so proud of Ann Marie and her writing accomplishments. We know she will do more great things in years to come.

Washer

Ann Marie Humble

My feet are on the ground and my hands are on my desk,

But my mind’s above the clouds- sitting with you,

I don’t remember how we met eight long years ago,

But I can remember the times- you and I,

In kindergarten we sat by each other- on the big round wooden tables,

The floor seemed so close back then,

I remember when we were all grown up- ready to face the world,

We had our shoelaces personally tied by mom,

And we didn’t carry much back then- our pockets had too many holes,

The things that were too big to fall through the holes ended up in the washer,

Mom would place them in a box when she found them,

I would often explore that box- finding a rock, a twister, a nickel-

A ball of paper that once said something that was probably important,

But now we’re older- and we know how to sew up the holes in our pockets,

We know really well how to hold onto everything we come across,

Our shoelaces are sloppy, but we tie them ourselves,

Looking down on the tan shelf in the laundry room where the box used to be,

I watch it all wash away,

Like those papers caught in our pockets when we threw them in the washer,

The words are all gone now,

But I’m sure they used to say something really important.