WSGC High School students joined students from across Long Island for Adelphi University’s Annual Poetry Day Conference on April 29th. The virtual event included workshops taught by Adelphi faculty, a poetry contest with an awards ceremony, and a keynote presentation by poet American Poet, novelist, and screenwriter Melissa Lozada-Oliva. The day culminated in an awards ceremony where 10th grader Orestes Blades and 9th grader Zoe Case were awarded Citations in Poetry and 10th grader Sara Fioribello took home the General Excellence in Poetry Award.

Congratulations to Zoe, Orestes, Sara, and all the participants! We are very proud of your accomplishments.

See here for the award-winning poems.

 

“Lady Justice”

By Zoe Case 

“Law is not Law, if it violates the principle of eternal justice.”

– Lydia Maria Child

She swings down her hammer, swift and gentle, and carries its weight in her soul.

She sees all, even what goes unseen.

She knows all your deepest secrets and your lightest truths.

She is forced to protect those who don’t deserve her;

Justice herself unwillingly shields them from their crimes

Because they wear blue and black.

With a system not created for her,

They merely used her for others’ advantages.

Justice weeps for those who deny her comfort;

She rattles the earth around her

When her renegades escape her grasp.

But Justice always finds you.

She’ll hunt you down and tear at you

until your organs bleed and your brain can no longer remain quiet.

When your heart begins to pump rapidly.

And your legs can no longer sit still,

She will always find you, always.

Justice can smell your sweat, guilt, disgust, and blood on your hands.

She’ll see you.

Whether in a courtroom or outside your home,

Justice will serve you your final meal,

and it’s cold as ice.

 

Gender Assignment

By Sara Fiorbello

Pretty long hair

And a feminine face

A dress and heels

Makeup

And a feminine name

-A thousand stinging bees

Come with this sound: a beautiful flower of a name

Bearing thorns only I can see

A body that is not me.

 

I want to rip it away

Claw it off

Cut it out

I want to be stripped

Of this insufficient form

Until I achieve pure light

Not weighed down

By this sound and this form.

 

“The Journey”

By Orestes Blades 

Acted crazy so they wouldn’t take me in,

Came out crazier than I ever have been,

Dunked on Troy got my arm in the rim,

Prayed to Zeus to forgive all my sins,

Left Penelope to suffer,

Wasn’t my choice I wanted to love her,

So I had to take her back undercover,

But that comes later, you’ll soon discover,

First, I traveled to Ismarus,

My crew soon destroyed by Ciconians–vengeful,

Little did I know a disaster,

That would come upon us shortly after,

Dozens of my men perished,

And not because they were malnourished,

Chased and slaughtered were we,

And fled as quick as can be,

The Lotus Eaters made us delay,

But I kept them at bay,

The Cyclops was a different story

Proud and stuck up in all his glory,

Put my mind to use did I,

And burned from him his only eye,

My name he simply did not know,

His friends jeered at him so,

But alas nothing is ever perfect,

And much did I do to cause conflict,

A man with a cunning brain,

Is after all, one who causes pain,

And he cursed me,

The man who rules the sea,

Who put greed and jealousy,

In the hearts of my crew,

Who released the winds and away we flew,

To the land of cannibals again I lost numbers,

But nothing stopped Odysseus and his wonders,

With only one ship I reached Circe,

Her piglets screams were piercing,

But gods again rescued me,

Rewarding me for my resilience,

For one whole year we stayed,

And momentarily were strayed,

But sense soon restored,

And once again I was on board,

From the dead I got advice,

 

But was forced to roll a dice,

The treacherous whirlpool or monster Sylla,

I thought I could kill her;

With a flash my crew vanished at the hands of the sun,

But my adventures had only just begun,

Drowning in my tears I lay in anguish,

All those I loved had vanished,

Torn and defeated,

I pleaded,

But for 10 years was marooned,

All the while holding my wound,

Free at last he sailed,

To reach home he failed,

Friends he found in a land unknown,

Who sent him on his way to restore his throne,

Reaching home–he did at last,

But not without a final blast,

for with his fame

we know comes pain,

For the gods are cruel,

And cannot be fooled,