Thanks to everyone who entered the Brookfield YA Poetry Contest! We received many great entries. Here are the four winners:

May

May dances
in with a
hush voice
It flutters
along with
the last of
April showers
with it floats
in the beautiful
fragrance of Spring
from the flowers.

Talented Boy

You're such a talented boy
What is there you can't do?
I know you succeed
At anything you set your mind to

And your long dainty fingers
Play on those ivory keys
A song for me
Such a sweet melody

And it's past midnight
We're dancing 'round the room
You're trying to teach those steps to me
But I'm watching you

My talented boy,
What did I do to deserve
A song written for me on piano
You losing your sleep to teach me some moves

You're my talented boy, but I can't do anything
You say my smile is enough for you
I feel so helpless, but you stay true
Because you want to be my talented boy

October

October candy
with tootsie rolls and snickers
fall leaves blow
on cold crisp sidewalks
tip toe tip toe
spooks and goblins
say trick or treat
On Halloween night

Untitled

Once on a yellow paper with green lines
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Chopo"
because that was the name of his dog
and that's what it was all about
and his teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
And his mother hung it on the kitchen door
and read it to his aunts
That was the year Father Tracy took all the kids to the zoo
And he let them sing on the bus
And his little sister was born
with tiny toenails and no hair
And his mother and father kissed a lot
And the girl around the corner sent him a
Valentine signed with a row of X's
and he had to ask his father what the X's meant
And his father always tucked him in bed
And he was always there
to do it

Once on a white paper with blue lines
he wrote a poem
and he called it "Autumn"
because that was the name of the season
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A
And asked him to write more clearly
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because of the new paint
And the kids told him
That Father Tracy smoked cigars
And left the butts on the pews
And sometimes they would burn holes
That was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
And the girl around the corner laughed
when he asked her to go see Santa Claus
and the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed a lot
And his father never tucked him into bed
And his father got mad
when he cried for him to do it

Once on a paper torn from his notebook
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Innocence: A Question"
because that was the question about his girl
And that's what it was all about
And his professor gave him an A
and a strange steady look
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because he never showed her
That was the year Father Tracy died
And he forgot how the end
of the Apostle's Creed went
And he caught his sister
making out on the back porch
And his mother and father never kissed
or even talked
And the girl around the corner
wore too much make up
That made him cough when he kissed her
but he kissed her anyway
because that was the thing to do
And at three a.m. he tucked himself into bed
his father snoring loudly

That's why on the back of a brown paper bag
he tried another poem
And he called it "Absolutely Nothing"
because that's what it was all about
And he gave himself an A
and a slash on each cursed wrist
And he hung it on the bathroom door
because this time
he didn't think he could reach the kitchen.