Winning Poem

Congratulations to Anna Quinn of Catonsville, MD, for winning first place for poetry in the Bethesda Literary Festival's writing contest, published below.

Three years after my father’s final deployment to the Gulf of Tonkin

In first grade we spent our free time drawing

on big sheets of soft urine-colored paper

the kind that would tear with no sound

like a piece of American cheese—

it would even muffle the sound of the pencil

darkening the page.

The other girls drew houses and people

I and the boys drew planes

dropping bombs. Were there people

on the ground? I just remember the difficulty

of drawing good planes. Because we were

drawing them from another pilot’s point of view—

you saw the side of the plane, the cockpit,

and the bombs squeezing out the rear

like you know what—but how to show the wings?

The wings were even worse than

the girls’ task of drawing feet and noses.

And Kudos to the following: 

Second Place: Jeffrey Dieter, Perry Hall, MD
Third Place: Teja Dupree, Woodbridge, VA
Young Poet: Emily Zhang, Boyds, MD
Honorable Mention: Adrian Kombe, Takoma Park, MD
Honorable Mention: Sarah Sansolo, Washington, D.C.
Honorable Mention: Becca Wolfson, Rockville, MD
Honorable Mention: Kendra Clarke, Rockville, MD

http://www.bethesda.org/bethesda/writing-contests#Poetry