The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

This is the eighth year former Big Sandy High School graduate Ellaraine Lockie has provided the English students at BSHS the opportunity to participate in the Walter Gerson Poetry Contest.

Each year Ellaraine Lockie judges students’ poetry, makes comments about the poems and awards students for their excellent poetry and participation. This year is no exception. There are several cash prizes and several honorable mentions.

Two teachers at Big Sandy high school have been involved in the poetry contest. Lauren Clampitt handled the Gerson poems for the first six years they were in existence. This is Kelsey Voeller’s second year at handling the Big Sandy part of the contest.

Each year the students in grades 8 through 12 compose a poem. They are all mailed to Ellaraine Lockie in California. Lockie, a published poet whose poems appear monthly in “The Mountaineer”, makes her only requirement for the poems is that they be in free verse. She judges all of the poems, decides on three money winners and several honorable mentions and then mails them back. She funds the prizes each year from her own pocket. This is a very special cause for Lockie and so appreciated by the rest of us. The Big Sandy school has appreciated Lockie’s willingness to allow the contest each year.

Once again “The Mountaineer” will print all of the poems. Thanks to Big Sandy students, Ellaraine Lockie and Kelsey Voeller for making our pages better!

First place was won by Freshamn, Jaylyn Cline.She wrote “Compare Us”.

Compare Us

By: Jaylyn Cline

I guess you could compare us to matches

Some, a little more burnt than others

Some people’s flame burns a little bit brighter,

And some peoples flame takes a little longer to burn out

Compare us to a puzzle

Some just haven’t been completed

Some people have missing pieces

And some will take a little longer to put their pieces together

Maybe you can compare us to a tree

Some stand a little taller,

Some have missing branches

And some have been cut down by other people

Compare us to a bug

Some have beautiful wings, and chose to fly

Some get lost in a world too big for their compatibility

And some have been stepped on.

Some might compare us to windows

Some, are bullet proof, they let nothing break them

Some have smudges, which make them hard to see through

And some get shattered before they get the chance to serve their purpose

But I would compare us to snow

We’re all beautiful, with our own design

We all stay beautiful and untouched, until someone walks in our way

And the only way we shine, is if we fall first