Claudia Emerson's 21st Annual Teen Poetry Contest Celebrates Young Poets

The Central Rappahannock Regional Library held its 21st^st Claudia Emerson Annual Teen Poetry Contest in June.

The event is named in memory of Claudia Emerson, an advocate for teen poets. Emerson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former professor at the University of Mary Washington, played a key role in the annual teen poetry contest. She judged the contest and organized Teen Poetry Night, providing thoughtful feedback to young poets. In 2022, she was named a Changemaker in the Virginia Women in History program.

The winners received cash prizes and were invited to read their work at Claudia Emerson’s Teen Poetry Night. Entries were judged by local poets Laura Bylenok and David Anthony Sam.

Entries were categorized by grade level and all winners are listed on the library's website.

The first prize winner for grades 9-12 is Molly P.

Each night,
I look up to the sky
and look for this story

Of you and me

What you claim
to write
In the stars
Dance above.

There is sifted sand
Escape
At your fingertips.

We are stuck in this glass coffin,
Filled with sand.

As you say:
We are running out of time

But how can we miss it?
of something we never had?

This life, this time
Has always been borrowed.

We were born with time running out
Every breath brings us closer to the last

Our grave: our promised cradle

We are too weak for brilliance
Of the universe.

Or maybe our passion is so bright,
It would prevail over the darkness.
The greed to be seen.

Maybe.

But now they have forgotten us:
The stars, the sand and the darkness.

Time has passed, memories have faded.
After all, there is nothing and no one to remember.
The story of you and me

We have no more time
The last grain of sand has settled
On our broken and still broken bodies.

I watch
to the stars

Disappear
Into the abyss

Wishing
More time.”