2006 Creative Writing Contest Winners
This Passion
By: Alexis Mohler
Slick, smooth, cold to the touch;
vibrates my fingers,
gives me a rush.
Satisfies the soul, soothes
complicated feelings.
Razor strings slash,
and your tips start bleeding.
Don’t know when to stop,
and take a deep breath
as your fingers slide by
touching each fret.
Get lost in the rhythm
as you close your eyes,
and lick by lick become
one with the vibe.
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Poetry)- Honorable Mention
Elida High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Peggie Stubbs
Interests – Writing Poetry and Fictional Stories, Reading,
Music, Japanese Bands, Manga, Animation,
Japanese/American Movies
Inspiration for the Work – “My inspiration mainly comes from
my mood and what is going on in my life at the time.”
Future Plans – “I plan on going to college, although I’m undecided
on which one at the current time, to major in an English related topic.
I plan to become either a fictional writer or a poet.”
Excerpt –
“I stand here before you
A knife held high in my hand
I cut my shimmering celestial wings off
And hurl them towards the ground”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Poetry)- Honorable Mention
Temple Christian High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Elizabeth Knick
Interests –Playing Softball, Writing Poetry, Playing Oboe for Band,
Playing Piccolo for Pep Band, Playing Flute for Solo and
Ensemble, On Church’s Bible Quiz Team
Future Plans- “I plan to be a high school science
teacher…I believe that becoming a high school
teacher is a great decision because it will combine my
love for science and God’s calling in my life to work
with the next generation of teens.”
Excerpt –
“I decide to go back the way I came.
I dare not go much farther.
Yet when I turn around,
I realize that the path behind has started to crumble.”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Fiction)- Honorable Mention
Delphos Jefferson High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Mrs. Siebeneck
Excerpt –
“My name is Chuck Michealson, and I have a
dog named Fido. One time, Fido saved my life. I was
being attacked by a rabid rock star. This rock star had
everything: women, money, a giant house, women, a
Rolex, women, and everything else you can imagine,
unfortunately, he also had rabies. And this made him
sad…
That’s it! That is the perfect story! I knew if I
kept at it I would get it! I never, EVER, doubted myself
for an instant. I better get working on it right away.”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Poetry)- Honorable Mention
Temple Christian High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Elizabeth Knick
Interests – Playing Volleyball, Reading,
Writing Plays, Veterinary Medicine, and
Classic Literature.
Future Plans – “Attend college for
veterinary medicine and run my own large
and small animal clinic.”
Excerpt –
“Together, we could bring color and life,
The air would ring with the sound of the mountains.
But the time is not right, the sun cannot shine forth, it is a prisoner.
I must wait for the time when it is freed, I must continue to flow.”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Poetry) – Honorable Mention
Bath High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Charlyn Ellington
Interests – Music (piano and percussion), Tennis, and Languages
(studying 3rd language)
Inspiration for the Work – “The month that I had spent with my mom
and grandmother at this datcha several summers ago was what first
came to my mind.”
Future Plans – “I am still undecided as to my major or future profession,
but I hope to continue to write, regardless of either”
Excerpt –
“Little girl, losing her head, picking all
that’s in sight, forgetting mom’s warnings, returning
home beaming, little basket all full of
bad mushrooms.”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Fiction)- Honorable Mention
Bath High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Charlyn Ellington
Interests – cheerleading competitively for The Lima
Rebels, The Center Stage Hotshots, and Bath High
School
Inspiration for the Work – She wrote this story because
it describes typical high school life. It is also based on
real-life situations she experienced first and second-hand.
Future Plans – Attend college to become a nurse
Excerpt –
“The bowling part was a little lame but I will get over it. Chad asked
me out Friday, so I have two days. I wonder what will happen!!”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Poetry): Honorable Mention
Elida High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Peggie Stubbs
Excerpt –
“Listen to the tale of a man’s dull life,
Who was married to a cantankerous wife,
Who being as broad as she was tall,
Dwarfed this man, who being very small,
Feared her more than any known disease,
She was a mean old woman and hard to please.”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Poetry)- Honorable Mention
Spencerville High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Emily Klosterman
Interests – Drawing, working with animals, golfing, singing, reading
Inspiration for the Work – “I dream a lot and thankfully, I remember
them most of the time. The poem I wrote was simply me explaining all
of the things I have done in an alternate world. Things that can hardly
be done in this time and world, but [they] are everyday happenings in
the realm of dreams.”
Excerpt –
“I have been a merchant and a mercenary
I have been the darkness and the light
I have been human and I have been animal
I have been part of the most brutal fight”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Fiction)- Honorable Mention
Bath High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Charlyn Ellington
Excerpt –
“Ark looked at the ravaged
village in disbelief. He looked
around for something to bring
him hope; maybe they had taken
a wrong turn. His last shred of
hope was torn from him as he
found a familiar building, his
home. He ran inside and found
his family scattered about. He
checked them for life but found
none.”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Poetry)- 3rd place
Delphos Jefferson High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Mrs. Siebeneck
Interests – Snow boarding, art, guitar
Inspiration for the Work – Her interest in playing the guitar
Future Plans – Attend college to pursue a degree in design
Excerpt –
“Slick, smooth, cold to the touch;
vibrates my fingers,
gives me a rush.
Satisfies the souls, soothes
complicated feelings.”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Fiction)- 3rd Place
Delphos St. John’s High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Christina Elwer
Excerpt –
“She occasionally popped a bubble,
causing it to explode. The tink tink
tink of her type writer began to get on
my nerves, but I kept silent.”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Poetry)- 2nd Place
Excerpt –
“The memory of my time with
The Rock God,
Forever seared into my mind
To replay over and over again,
Until the day he rescues me
Form this cold,
Dark abyss.”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Fiction)- 2nd Place
Lima Senior High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Jeannine Jordan-Squire
Interests – Irish History, Scottish History, Researching
Medical Information, and Politics
Inspiration for the Work – “I have always been interested
in psychological issues, but after I read One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest, it cinched my interest in writing a story
around mental illness.”
Future Plans – “Heading for Medical School”
Excerpt –
“Later, Alastair lay in the psychiatry dormitory and opened
up his T.S. Eliot book. He tried to finish the poem he’d
started earlier that day. The man who had cursed so
profoundly earlier grinned at him from the bed next to him.”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Poetry)- 1st Place
Delphos St. John’s High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Christina Elwer
Interests – “I like to try to play my guitar. I love to
listen to music. Music is my very own ‘little secret
hide-out.’”
Inspiration for the Work – Inspired by a true story
Future Plans – “Something to do with music because
music is a very large part of my life…Music is what
inspires me to be creative, express myself, and show
people how I’m feeling and who I am.”
Excerpt –
“Make my mind stop thinking of the only thing it does
Make my body rid you from me
Because I can’t stand knowing my medicine man is killing me”
Freshman/Sophomore Division (Fiction)- 1st Place
Delphos Jefferson High School
Sponsoring Teacher – Mrs. Siebeneck
Hobbies and Interests- Wrestling, Soccer, Writing,
and Sketching
Future Plans – “I hope to be a writer when I’m older.”
Excerpt –
“The Returner threw back the long sleeves of his
trench coat and laced his fingers. The ink across his
knuckles formed an ancient symbol that had long lost its
true meaning. A translation was unnecessary now; the
symbols meant one thing and one thing only: repulsion.
Between his hands, the Returner could feel the
cool metal of the medallion as he gripped it tightly.”
Junior/Senior Division (Poetry): Honorable Mention
Bath High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Elaine Bradley
Interests – Writing poetry and stories, playing Alto
Sax in Marching and Concert Band
Inspiration for the Work – “My twin actually inspired
me for the reflection bit because we used to look so
much alike that I can’t even tell her from myself in old
pictures.”
Future Plans – “Attending Rhodes State to
become a medical transcriptionist… I also plan
to write a little on the side just for a release from
my stressful environment.”
Excerpt –
“Dying in a room with no way out
Will my soul be able to leave when my body dies
I am so ashamed of the way I must go
Crushed by my own dark web of lies”
Junior/Senior Division (Fiction): Honorable Mention
Shawnee High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Margie Bush
Excerpt –
“The air is hot, moist, and stale. He hates
the smallness of the room. He hates the tiny
window which allows him a view of paradise,
but blocks the sweet kiss of an ocean
breeze. A familiar feeling has returned. It is
the notion that he is in some sort of
dungeon. His tie, its knot tightly pressed
against his Adam’s apple, feels like a collar,
choking him and weighing him down. The
Spanish speaking voices now belong to
cruel inquisitors, and they demand loyalty to
a mighty patriarch in whom he no longer
believes or trusts.”
Junior/Senior Division (Poetry): Honorable Mention
Apollo Career Center
Sponsoring Teacher- Jane Ewen
Excerpt –
“I am like a wild flower
Silent to corruption, deafening to vividness
Growing rapidly and creating secrets
Anger and passion feed my fiery disposition
And my dreams and desires multiply
Creating subsistence within the fields that I thrive
Emptiness consumed by desires
Built up in the blackened fires
Of corruption
The reach of a total loss
Sanctioned by our own cross
Of Redemption”
Junior/Senior Division (Fiction)- Honorable Mention
Lima Central Catholic High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Joshua Vasquez
Inspiration for the Work – An experience Alex had
with a stranger at the downtown Kewpee inspired this
story. “I think that the story is more about classism
than racism and I think sometimes those two are
confused. I wanted to write about that and about
unreasonable fear towards the poor.”
Excerpt –
“At each stop, more and more of the same people began to enter the bus
and take their seats around Frank. Dark skinned and ragged, poor and
mischievous, he thought. The shiny belt of the purse of the woman
sitting to his right flashed at him like an impatient knife. Bulges in the
men’s pockets began to take on the form of portly pistols waiting for the
opportunity to take aim. The glint of snow lost its wintry feel, replaced
instead by bags of cocaine.”
Junior/Senior Division (Poetry): Honorable Mention
Bluffton High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Beth Cogley
Excerpt –
“She thought a long while as the game went on
And watched as Mike struck out anew.
She watched a the parents waved to their child.
Who still smiled at a loss of 13 to 2.
After the game had ended
The woman guided Mike with a tug
To sit down as she said she’d like to be friends
And she drew him into a hug.”
Junior/Senior Division (Fiction)- Honorable Mention
Temple Christian High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Elizabeth Knick
Interests – Music and Sports
Inspiration for the Work – “What inspired me most
was a short story I read by Jack London entitled ‘MoonFace.’”
Excerpt –
“One day, I was fervently drawing away with what
was possibly one of the best drawings I had ever
drawn, when the Blue Admiral flew away. I ran
after it, searching with all that I had. I was so
involved with the chase that I became completely
disoriented. I had no clue where I was, until it
dawned on me. I had stumbled into the very land
upon which was forbidden to me: the north
woods.”
Junior/Senior Division (Poetry): Honorable Mention
Delphos Jefferson High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Mrs. Siebeneck
Excerpt –
“I am not your average feline
Though I may seem sassy and high maintenance
A contributor to life’s lessons
A good companion for a teenage girl
Remember curiosity never killed anythingExcept a few hours.”
Junior/Senior Division (Fiction): Honorable Mention
Temple Christian High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Elizabeth Knick
Excerpt –
"The proposition was mailed to all the countries, and all of the arrangements were
made for the princesses to come to Lekvoria. A new day was dawning, and the
time was nearing for everything to fall into place. Now this brings us to the large,
quaint town of Benestra, where in the center sat a magnificent palace. It was
surrounded by a moat that flowed from a huge fountain, practically a waterfall,
located in the center of the palace. Vines with gorgeous flowers climbed the
palace walls and wrapped around the gates."
Junior/Senior Division (Poetry): Honorable Mention
Bluffton High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Beth Cogley
Interests – Reading, sleeping
Inspiration for the Work – “I was inspired to
write my work because of the heavy stress of my
life at the time, including going to college and
tearing my ACL.”
Future Plans – “I plan to go to Albion College in Albion,
Michigan next year.”
Excerpt –
“she was traversing the high, pale clouds
with wings unfurled and eyes bright
until she crossed paths with Reality
and he kicked her out of flight”
Junior/Senior Division (Fiction)- 3rd Place
Bluffton High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Elizabeth Cogley
Hobbies and Interests- Playing Piano, Writing,
Playing Soccer, Acting, and Singing
Inspiration for the work- Rachel got the idea for this story from a
paragraph she had brainstormed a year ago.
Future Plans – “I plan on majoring in aviation and minoring in
Spanish at OSU (in Columbus) next fall and hope to eventually
become a commercial pilot for international flights.”
Excerpt –
“There is nothing on it, no name etched into its wooden
cross. But looking at it, somewhat isolated from the
others, I know whose it is.”
Junior/Senior Division (Fiction)- 2nd Place
Lima Central Catholic High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Joshua Vasquez
Interests – Reading and Writing Short Compositions, Playing
Violin and Piano, Traveling, and Louisianan Cooking
Inspiration for the Work – “I believe that I wrote this story to not only express my
interest and recognition of the Cajun/Creole heritage in Louisiana, but to show that
people should not always judge on their first impulse.” Dennis previously lived in
New Orleans and loosely bases his style on Creole writer Kate Chopin.
Excerpt –
“Sitting at his dimly gas lit bureau, Andre was efficiently filing
papers in between huge gray puffs of smoke from his Mexican cigar. As he
was finishing up with his bank statements, he neutrally asked his wife for
something to drink. After mixing it a little with the slotted absinthe spoon,
she nonchalantly set it next to him. As she silently approached him, he eyed
her with a slight suspicion- one that only comes when a normally inquisitive
wife is sharply silent.”
Junior/Senior Division (Poetry)-2nd Place
Delphos St. John’s High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Susan Knippen
Hobbies and Interests- Dance, Writing for Leisure, Drawing, Watching Silent
Movies and Independent Art Films
Future Plans – “I plan to attend Columbia College of Chicago and major in
film/video production with a concentration in cinematography.”
Excerpt –
he
this boy,
his reflection
punch that mirror
destroy the beauty
with glass in his knuckles
on the bathroom floor
with the blood and tears
he can trust the lies she’s told him”
Junior/Senior Division (Fiction)- 1st Place
Shawnee High School
Sponsoring Teacher- Kathie Naab
Inspiration for the Work – “The
War in Iraq. …This work was
written as a means of catharsis, to
release the tension I feel when I
hear of some new atrocity.”
Interests – “I sincerely enjoy
the act of writing and stringing
words together in such a way
as to be new and exciting. I
have been an avid reader for
as far back as I can remember,
Future Plans – “I plan to try my luck at
encouraged by family and
Stanford University in California…
teachers alike.”
Maybe something in journalism… or
perhaps something in the medical field
(both my parents are doctors).”
Excerpt –
“Then you would see a face so removed from the
present that you could see right through his eyes, like the
panes of slightly warped glass, and behind it a dropping
away as if of some vast cliff, and at the bottom who
knows?”
Junior/Senior Division (Poetry) – 1st Place
Bluffton High School
Sponsoring Teacher – Elizabeth Cogley
Interests – Reading, Writing, Running, Flag Corps,
Watching Movies, and Listening to Music
Future Plans – Study Pharmacy at The University of Toledo
Excerpt –
“And as each moment passed
Reason faded from their minds
At first they began to squabble
And then they began to fight
And as the minutes passed
They failed to see their plight”