Editor’s note: For this edition of Poetry Corner, we’ve chosen to spotlight the first and second place winners of the 20th annual Santa Cruz County High School Poetry Competition: Ellie Loustalot and Erin Gudger of Harbor High School. Poetry Santa Cruz administers the annual contest, which is open to all high school students in the county.
Each year, approximately 50 poems are selected for inclusion in the annual anthology. The poems are selected from hundreds of entries by a panel of three published poets, who have no knowledge of who wrote the poems until all selections have been made. This year’s judges were Frances Hatfield, Danusha Lameris and David Swanger. The pictured photograph, titled “Self” by Natalie Hales of Aptos High School, was selected for the cover of this year’s anthology.
THE GRANDFATHER
Glass of wine and a thick mustache
gold pinkie ring and a lot of cash
an old Lincoln Continental and values fundamental
always stern yet sentimental
Gentle hands though big and strong
there to guide me when things go wrong
A plate of pasta never without a meatball
Cholesterol may perhaps be his downfall
Cigar embers burn and the poker game starts
no one will know he is cheating, that man is so smart
women slaving away in the kitchen and preparing the meal
Call it old fashioned but their cooking’s unreal
He loves his family through thick and thin
would risk the world to protect his kin
a man of strength, love and pride
My grandfather heart stands Semper Fi
—Ellie Loustalot
Harbor High School | First Prize
ONE LOOK
With each passing moment
He slumps farther into the corner
Coat tattered
Left sock missing
Someone accidentally kicks over
His “anything helps” sign
But doesn’t look back
As he stares up at each person
Who passes him by
He is filled with longing
Not to be rich
Not to be clean
Not even for a dollar
He wants most to be acknowledged
A smile
Even a frown
Anything to prove he is still there
—Erin Gudger
Harbor High School | Second Prize
photo: Natalie Hales
