RACHEL THOMPSON: NC STUDENT POET LAUREATE AWARDS

RACHEL THOMPSON'S submission to this years NC English Teachers Association's Student Laureate Awards has received Honorable Mention in the High School division. Rachel, the daughter of Gary and Lynda Thompson, is a senior and an orchestra student, a violinist, at Penn-Griffin School for the Arts. She wants to write a novel one day. Her poetry has won honorable mentions in contests sponsored by the Phoenix Festival and N. C. Poetry Society, as well as a second prize from Muse on Greensboro, a contest sponsored by the Greensboro Public Library.

Ripples or Pages

Pink sunset

glittering off the lake

as Your voice whispers through tree tops.

In the sun behind the distant storm clouds

I see Your features-- quite subtle

quite obvious.

You wrap Your arms around me

as the lake, the meadow,

and the forest of oak and pine surrounding.

Deep breath - closed eyes

I float to the surface of the lake

Your touch is the ripples

Smile

~~~

Brow furrowed and science books

the frown on his face forms another wrinkle.

Diagrams and charts lay scattered below his eyes.

Head on hand on desk-- the lamp's light

when looked at directly, causes its shape

to repeat itself with every blink and eye's movement.

If he looked out the window

he'd see the lamp's ghosted image

instead of the stars.

-Rachel Thompson,

Penn-Griffin School for the Arts