A wide range of emotions was felt by all judges for the first writing contest at Community Educational Outreach. Many students participated in this contest and all submissions were considered. We are proud to share the top three with you for your reading enjoyment!
Our first place winner goes by the name of Skinny
Mike. He submitted a poem entitled My Frail Old Angel
One night i had a dream, I dreamed I saw an angel
Poor thing he wasn't well,
His body was bruised and battered, his wings ripped and torn.
i saw that he could barely walk, he looked so tired and worn.
I walked right up and asked him, how could this be?
He turned to pause a bit, these words he spoke to me.
I am your guardian angel, a great task as you can see.
You have run amuck your whole life,
Look what you have done
These brusies are from shielding you, in times of dire ill
These drugs you use so dangerously, I paid for you that bill.
My wings you say are ripped and torn, a noble badge I bear.
They have flown for you so many times, from evils unaware.
Each mark has its own story, of deadly wounds destroyed,
You've made me wish more times than once, that I was unemployed.
If only you could make it standing on your own.
Please don't fret or worry, you'll never be left alone.
I'm here to watch over you, until my powers fail.
But please try to remember i'm getting old and frail.
I could hardly believe what I had seen, let alone how much he cared,
I wept on broad shoulders and left him in despair.
When I looked at myself the next morning, I pondered,
Why should I try?
Then distantly, I thought i heard a frail old angel cry.
-- Skinny Mike
Second place goes to Rude-dog with his poem entitled Prison Window
As you look out this window remember...
It's going to be awhile before you taste freedom again,
So take a bow for a job well done,
Your hard times, have just begun,
It's fun in the beginning, but pain in the end,
So remember this window when you are free again,
And try to think first before you act my friend...
Finally, third place goes to
Nathaniel Scheiern with his short story titled Kyle and Stan.
Once upon a time in a strange and remote location there was a frog named Kyle and a salamander named Stan. Kyle and Stan were the best of friends. Every year they would both travel to a place where incidental lights known as the Northern Lights would be visible. They always sat together under the beautiful cascade of a waterfall. There was no separating the two best friends. An amazing thing happened next, a brilliant ray of light shot through the waterfall and blinded Stan the salamander. Kyle erupted in a strong commotion fearing for Stan's outlook on life. What if he was blinded by the light? What could Kyle actually do for his friend? Kyle was naïve to the fact that salamanders have terrible vision in the first place so the light didn't really affect his best friend. The only casualty in this story was Kyle the frog's feeling for Stan the salamander; his best friend.
We hope that you have enjoyed these pieces and look forward to sharing more writing contest winner selections with you in the future! If you would like to send a message to one of the authors please e-mail
Alexandra Naday at
anaday@ceocolorado.org.