Meow! Announcing the OIHS Poetry Contest Winners
By Guest Blogger Samosa, Oakland International High School ACE Poetry Contest Mascot
Tech inspires poets at OIHS. I would say these poets rock, but only I, Samosa, rock – but with my own rhythm.
Hooray for poetry! The winning poems at Oakland International High School reveal students’ complex relationships with technology and the power it has over our lives. Our students uncover the dark side of technology, with a first place poem about cyberbullying; the glorious side of technology, with a second place poem called “Tech,” and the power of technology to tell a story, with “Sounds.”
We’re so proud of our poets, learning to give voice to their thoughts, ideas, and opinions through their new languages: English, technology, and poetry. Thank you ACE for sponsoring National Poetry Month at Oakland International!
First place: Miguel Valencia Melendez
-E-nvironment
Flourishing roses stand alone moving
As the air sweeps the fallen leaves south
She detests the voice trapped in her mouth
Waves rise and disperse when hitting hard stones
Emotions inside her weaken her bones
Combinations of lettering squeeze her eyes
This has happened once, this has happened twice
Space in the ceiling is revealing a spot to remain
Healing from her belligerent feeling
She decides to sleep to zip her mind.
Withering flowers bow their heads
As the night starves for breathe
Logged out, but the images and messages are still out
Branches break ahead of her
Thoughts inside her pull her hair
She seeks for a change and finds one
Sighing because the night is gone.
Second place: Ravis Mubiangata
– Tech –
Why fight against the technology that makes our lives easier
When we just seat back and be brainier
Why say that new inventions makes us lazier,
when it is only there to help us finish the job quicker
Why wait for couple days for the letter to reach it destination by mail
When you the letter can reach it destination in couple minutes by email
Why communicate by drums like used in africa
When you can pick up your phone and express yourself in the new America
Can you see how lucky we are to have a helping hand
How lucky to have those who the imagination to create
Why don’t we just embrace our future and not just be separate
Why do we blame technology
When it is technology that wakes us up in the morning, it is it that helps students with all their research, technology helps us cook to fill our belly, when some of us find love in websites, when those who do not have friends feel alive in the chat sites.
Why hate technology when it makes our world so easier and happier.
Third place: Miguel Valencia Melendez
– Sounds –
The sounds on the streets are loud
I go in, lights go dim, I see a cloud
Planes in the sky cry bombs
While sisters play with each other’s combs
Listed in the magnifying eye
She is not able to fly
From a keyboard and screen
She spreads what the children have seen
Making the dictator’s rage scream.
The sounds on the streets are booming
I am in, I see people presuming
Beaten, mentally eaten
He is doing fine below the waterline.
The cloud can’t pour tears
To water the drought that has lived for years
He departs and the pouring starts
Curtains close, but the camera goes.