Clague’s inaugural poetry contest is dedicated to National Poetry month in April, where all students are imparted the occasion to submit an original poem within the competition’s stipulations; the poem cannot exceed 21 lines, must be middle school idiomatic and abstains from any Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistance by the deadline of Friday, April 25.
“I know we have a lot of talented writers out there,” Clague Librarian Kim McLean said. “It provides the opportunity to connect with the students on a different level and to share their talents and gives them a chance to shine and have their work read.”
On April 30, after the ELA teacher adjudicators and McLean evaluate the entries submitted, the poetry contest will render a first place winner and runner-up, who will both receive a reward proportional to their placement — the first place winner will be bestowed a Booksweet Bookstore basket, which includes a $50 gift card, poetry books and a bag of stickers. The runner up will receive a surprise gift bag from the library. Furthermore, they will also be given the publication of their works on the library newsletter, The Cougar Star’s website and social media.
Although the idea of a poetry contest was brainstormed two weeks before its official announcement, the roots of McLean’s endeavors for the competition were sowed 30 years ago in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania brick row home, where she resided within the stitches of a tight-knit community.
“My mother always loved to write poetry, and always wrote for family gatherings,” McLean said. “And wrote about important things that happened to us that year and sort of encapsulated our lives in this short poem.”
In McLean’s early twenties, poetry was an unwavering mainstay. Her mother Gertrude Murt guaranteed the lyrical literature to be a cornerstone; she would craft poetic mosaics of each family member and recite their stanzas at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“While my mother had the honor of reading her poems at several literary events, the primary motivation for her writing was to share her feelings toward our family in a light-hearted and often comedic way through poetry,” McLean said.
Murt was a prolific poet who projected her creative works by writing for family, as well as sending poems to literary magazines at times. Naturally, McLean became attuned with the symbolic literature.
“[I want to] read through them and connect with the poem and evoke some emotion, such as humor,” McLean said. “My mother used to write these funny poems that were just laugh-out-loud funny, so something that can get an emotional response.”
The poetry contest is a gentle commemoration of McLean’s mother and her loyalty to the genre through emotion — pulsing between various kinetics of “laugh-out-loud” comedy, furious joy and melancholy blues.
“My hope with the contest is to help students have the experience of sharing their emotions with words and the rhythm of poetry,” McLean said. “[My mom] would be thrilled [about the poetry contest]; she would’ve absolutely loved it.”
If interested in celebrating National Poetry month and participating in the contest, submit your poetry here.
