“Please leave your message after the beep.”

     Beep.

     “Hey Devin, this is mom calling. Mark said he noticed you seemed a bit off today, so I just wanted to make sure you're okay… and… taking your meds. Love you sweetie.”

     Tears rolled to the floor.

     He dropped the gun.

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                              -Weston Smith

                               Winner

I wish the world was Bilingual

So that we would understand

the “I love you” behind every

“Buckle your seatbelt”

Every “I love your smile”

behind every “Wow”

Every “You’re Fantastic!”

in between the lines

I wish the world was Bilingual

And that everyone spoke the

language of Love.

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                              -Emily Hickey

                              Honorable Mention

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    I turn people into poetry and laugh when they ask me to stop.

     Some people don’t like to see their actions solidified and changed into ink, the hurt they caused becomes more real in their eyes when it’s made into art, because art is not pretty.

     Art doesn’t lie.

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                              -Emily Logan

                              Honorable Mention

     I dated her. She broke up with me. She dated him. He raped her. She dated her. She cheated on her. She is dating him. She kissed her, but loves him. She loves her. She loves him. She deserves better. I love her. She loves her. We hate him.

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                              -Sandy Waterman

                              Notable Selection

     He says, “I want to do something reckless.”      I say, me too. I’m thinking sneaking out my window to meet him under the streetlights and bridge jumping and breaking into the abandoned house down the street.

     He’s thinking of the way he plans on holding my heart, carelessly, dangerously.

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                              -Emily Logan

                              Notable Selection

     “Just one more,” I thought as I ripped the sharp blade through my bare skin, late at night. Just one more and maybe the hatred for my own self would just disappear.

     The next day, despair covered my face.

     “Are you okay?” asked my mother.

     “I’m fine,” I lied.

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                              -Hannah Vogt

                              Notable Selection

    I stood in all black beside where he laid. As I tried to say my final goodbye my face flooded with tears, and a lump the size of a baseball grew in my throat. They lowered him down hours ago, but here I stand still trying to say goodbye.

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                              -Emily Critch

                              Notable Selection