Nicolet College Poetry Project Contest Winners!

A big congratulations goes to Evelyn Pritchard for her poem "The Unfinished Work" (posted April 5)! Evelyn will be awarded the Ron Parkinson Poetry Matters Award for the Best Original Student Poem. 

Another big congratulations goes to Tazia Oxendine for her poem "Atlantic" (posted April 7)! Tazia will be awarded the Best Original Poem by a community member. 

Both Evelyn and Tazia will be recognized at the Student Award Ceremony on May 10 at 6:00 p.m. in Lakeside Center. 

Again, congratulations to Evelyn and to Tazia!

Announcement

Today marks the end of the Seventh Annual Nicolet College Poetry Project in celebration of National Poetry Month! Thank you to all those who submitted poetry, to those who read the daily postings, to those who attended the open mic night at ArtStart, to ArtStart for hosting and promoting the evening event, and to Rhinelander High School and WXPR for getting the word out! A special thank you goes to Nicolet College for their steady encouragement and support for this yearly event. Lastly, thank you to those who served on the selection committee for the poetry contest! The winners will be announced shortly. See you next year! 

April 30, 2017

"Old stone Hare"
By Hannah Arbuckle

Perched by the pane, you sit
Petrified in stone. Alert, ears up
Overtaken by ferns, you wonder not.
To flesh you are foreign, movement
is a stranger, a foe.
You sit weathering, avoid
of what you represent,
only to the eye you are the hare.

"Nicolet Transfer student. This poem was created in a local coffee shop with ideas powered from a caramel latte."

* * * * * * * * * *

“Waiting”
By Evelyn Pritchard

I used to be a little sprout
eager and excited
waiting with anticipation of how the world would be when I got to be a big old tree
now I am a twisted tree barely hanging on
the girl with the dark perspective
now I am the pessimist that this world made me to be
but somewhere deep inside is that eager little sprout waiting for its day to shine waiting in this world

“This poem was one that I was hesitant to turn in. I feel that it is a true expression of who I have become as a person. I know that being as young as I am this should not be so, but I have found that through thick and thin that little sprout from before is still there rooting on the old tree."

* * * * * * * * * *

“Auction”
By Darlene Machtan

They came to bid
on pieces of
my father’s hands,
ny mother’s heart.

Only the bitter March wind
that blew them raw
seemed to understand
they had no right.

April 29, 2017

"Content"
By Brooke Modjewski

I understand that I am different 
I relate strongly to the ugly duckling 
I'm not bad-looking but 
I'm just not like everyone around me 

I understand that I am different 
I dance in public to the music that's in my ears
I act like my life is a music video 
I know I look childish 

I understand that I am different 
I like expressing myself through material things 
I wear hot pink eyeshadow 
I don't mind wearing something that others wouldn't  

I understand that I am different 
I have a disorder that makes me go haywire from time to time 
I can often be two different people 
I am not ashamed to be mentally ill

I understand that I am different 
I am a woman that likes women 
I can sense your distaste every time I tell you
I don't see why who I love is distasteful 

I understand that I am different 
I am very comfortable with who I am
I may not be like you but
I am a diamond in the rough

"This poem is a growing product of my process of self-knowing that started at age seventeen. As I am now nearing twenty, I've found that it's not possible to change myself as I thought it was in adolescence. I hope everyone can learn to embrace everything about themselves rather than feel ashamed."

* * * * * * * * * *

“Dan in Blue”

I've seen the pines
Pink desert skies
Snow falling
Slowly 
Green grape vines
Ocean views
Sand and sleet
But nothing compares to when we meet 

[Please see the posting for April 25 for another poem by Cirina Gasparri.]

April 28, 2017

Untitled
Aaron Mangerson

In hopeful dreams I see by day are silent screams I yearn by night.
The warm embrace and a subtle taste of lips flash through my mind.
My faded memories are reclaimed now bristling with luster.
Yet my heart is fraught and dreads the thought; it's all that I can muster.
This maiden fair with golden hair belongs with someone else.
So I toil away until that day I feel just what I felt.

“I'm a 33 year old single Dad trying to work towards a better future for me and my kids. I wrote this poem after bumping into an old flame from high school that kindled some long lost feeling that I had to put aside.”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Toad In the Tub”
By Macy Washow 

A tiny toad clings to the mirror above the bathroom vanity. 
My still sleep-blurred eyes mistake it for . . . 
some type of Florida roach. 

Then it leaps . . . how astounding for something so small! 
Just a toad, I sigh, amazed at what fear can do. 
His eyes bulge, astonished at our encounter. 

Relieved to be dealing with toads, not bugs, 
I try to capture him in my washcloth. 
He watches my hands come near, 
then escapes to the tub in two gigantic leaps. 

Deceived. The tub is no safe haven but a trap. 
He hops from side to side until fatigued. 
When he stops in a tub corner to rest, 
I seize my chance, swooshing down! 

Unaware that in capture lays salvation, 
he twitches inside the cloth 
until I set him down outside, 
where he hops away without giving thanks. 

Later I research “toads” and find he is a frog, not a toad at all. But things are not always what they seem. 
A toad made for a better poem.

“This is a poem I wrote while in Florida last spring about an unexpected morning encounter. I am retired and live in Lac du Flambeau.”

April 27, 2017

“One Plane Ride”

By Zachariah Farris

The heavens,

not some place way off, way far.

It rests in you,

placed right where you are.

Crafted are we not - joined in song?

The hymn - it speaks.

Come play,

come dance,

we don’t last long.

Join me in pain, in suffering and sorrow

weep – weep - weep with me now,

there may be no tomorrow.

Join me in hate, in fears, in selfish gains,

desire itself, works in mysterious ways.

Join me in honesty, in truth, and in love,

qualities seeming - to come from above.

Join me in respect, in joy, and in peace,

we have but one life,

one,

divine lease.

Dance – sing – laugh and cry,

for this fraction of heaven with certainly cease,

surely, it will die.

As lights go dim, do not mourn 

We all, one day,

 join the forevermore.

Die not before, the heavens closes its door,

Live with me! Live with me! Live with me now!

Before, before,

we join,

The forevermore.

“Attending Nicolet, enrolled in the Early Childhood Education program. This poem started with my lack of understanding, with my tiny eyes, and ends with it as well – but I understand the best that I can.”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Of Nations and Worlds”

By Samantha Siefert

Toppled towers, frozen fields

Fleeing armies and dropped shields

Missing magician, lost elixir

Terrified defenders, a broken fixer

Bravery used to be our banner

And daring was our dance

Fearless was our favor

And courage was our cry

Hidden truths, plain lies

Hurt homes and blood skies

No hope, broken heart

Kingdom and world torn apart

But then terrifying terrorists took

Our bravery away

Vile villains stole our victory

And we didn’t take it back

Foolish wisemen, broken glass

Faded flowers and wilted grass

Dead bodies, lost cause

No cities, and no laws

We didn’t defend our homes

So there’s really no reason to cry

We lost the fight

We didn’t try

No? No. NO!

We should have fought!

We should have tried!

We should have done our best

To give justice to those who died.

Learning lessons, wisdom grows

Through cracks sneaks a rose

Growing hope, revealing truth

Teaching history to our youth

This is what dreams are made of

Good things and light

Defence against an enemy

And teaching what is right

Knowing knowledge, building towns

Music always makes better sounds

Laughing, dancing, and singing

Trumpet blares and bell ringing

And now we stand here staring at our little world.

They think it’s unfixable; they think we’ve lost,

But we know better because we’ve seen it in the past.

Come now, there’s work to do. Let’s go prove them wrong.

Tallest towers, brave knights

Burning of a thousand lights

Raised shields, banners unfurled

Welcome to a new world.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

“I’ve always liked alliteration and rhyming in poems, so I knew that I wanted this poem to include that. I’ve also always liked hearing old stories about knight, castles, and kingdoms because war and peace occurs just as it did back in those days just in different ways. Thus, this poem was born from a mix of those ideas. We can always fight for what matters, even if it’s hard.”

April 26, 2017

“Spring”

By Katie Moreau

Spring is in the air

Spring is in my hair

The grass is green

With the cutest babies ever seen

Flowers bloom from everywhere

Only smell them if you dare

The bumble bees buzz around

All the new life on the ground

Spring is in the air

And everyone has not a care

* * * * * * * * * *

"Together Again"
Marcia Obukowicz

They come,
The house feels full, 
What's been missing, returns.
The air crackles with the electricity 
of good conversation and the joy of being together.
Friends arrive, food is shared. 
Traditions and stories, fill and spill across the table,
bonds of love renew and strengthen.
In the connection of moments, all is right!
But the clock ticks away the precious time, too fast, ...
way too fast.
The need to return to the lives we all have left 
grows into the reality of departure.
The hearts break just a little and a few tears fall as we wave goodbye. 
They drive away and
then the little prayer rises
Be safe, safe travel, safe journey, safe life
until we can be together again.

“Host mom of several foreign exchange students, thankful when life aligns so we can reconnect in person.” 

April 25, 2017

“Amnesia”

By Patricia Brewer

Learn from your mistakes – 

They say it makes you stronger – 

I have amnesia

“I am attending Nicolet as a nursing student and have a BA in English with a minor in Women’s Studies from UW-Whitewater. The poem is a reflection of myself.”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Phoenix Hotel”
By Cirina Gasparri 

You caress my curves as though you carved them yourself 
Hot breath 
And sweat
And sheets that scream wealth

A taste for the finer things
You find in me
The places even I don't see

[Cirina is a community member.]

April 24, 2017

“Bald Eagle”

By Jennifer Sturzl 

American Pride 

Honor and Glory 

Symbolic Patriotism 

Soaring High 

Perched in a Tree

Freedom and Courage 

Powerful Spirit 

Wisdom and Strength 

National Emblem 

Bald Eagle 

“I am working towards my Associates of Applied Science Degree in Early Childhood Education, with an end goal of being a kindergarten teacher.”

* * * * * * * * * * 

“The Mourning After”
By Jazmyn Chaulklin

A rip in the lace
A crack in the vase
The lines on your face
The way that we invade this space
The lack of grace 
A tight grimace
How I want to leave this place
But love the hurt and so will stay

[No comment from community member.]

April 23, 2017

Untitled
By Amelia Weber

When your hands first touched me
they felt like flower petals against my skin. 
Soft, loving, caring. 
I felt truly beautiful. 
When your hands last touched me the flowers were dead. 
For months, I tried to water them, but the petals were gone. 
I can still remember all the times that I was hurt by you. 
For two years I was hanging by a thread hoping things would change. 
I feel empty and tired of fighting. 
You lit fire in my mind, burning the garden that's grows in me, 
and now I'm drowning in my thoughts trying to forget.

It's been months now since I've heard you say my name. 
I've never been more happy. 
I am a garden. 
I am a garden full of beautiful flowers of all beautiful colors. 
I am strong. 
I am strong enough to be alone.

* * * * * * * * * *

“NO WORDS” 

By Tracy Dailey

How are you? –Doesn’t fit & I’m so sorry! –Won’t do

When someone you love is taken from you

How awkward the feeling telling how much we care

No words can quite say this, but know that we’re there

Is there anything you need, can I help out -We ask

We’d be happy to help with any type of task

We just want to ease the emotional drain

And somehow to help take away your pain

They say time will heal –That life must go on

But how can that happen without “him” around

When he found out there just wasn’t a cure

He said his good-byes, and he didn’t show fear

He didn’t think of himself, he thought only of others

His family and friends, sister and brothers

“Take care of Mom, and each other” he said

While he laid there so brave in that hospital bed

What lessons he taught us – What examples he’d shown

In the midst of that room full – When he was called home

But you are as strong as the one we love so

We just wanted to help, but only God would know…

That you’d be there for us, in your darkest hour

Holding us too, like a vase holds a flower

We know we can count on support from each other

Until the day that we’re with your husband… my father

“Thoughts for my mother after the sudden loss of my father.”

April 22, 2017

“My Best Friend Who Never Spoke”
By Bailee Haase

In fourteen short years you had taught me all I needed to know.
You taught me that my emotions were okay to show.
You held my hand for as long as you could,
And I always knew you would. 
Time was not on our side,
And every night I cried. 
My memories of you are supposed to be shared, 
I can now see who truly cares.
I carry you with me where ever I go. 
You are my best friend, this I know. 
May 24th came so fast.
Brought on so much of the past.
All gathered in a tiny room.
Emotions heavy with gloom.
Strangers came and went,
Leaving an eerie scent.
Meetings with doctors came with dread.
You were unable to attend, chained to your bed.
Unhappiness in the air.
The future so hard to bare.
We had so many memories we shared.
Trying so hard to be tough and unscared.
Goodbye my best friend.
You should have been spared.

“I am currently attending Nicolet College. I am working towards transfer credits in the hopes of becoming a genetic counselor and receiving a minor in Spanish. I wrote this poem in the memory of my little brother who passed last May."

* * * * * * * * * * *

“Why”
By Gary Zarda

Run for the elusive
Runner’s high, they say.
Not much more than the
Oxygen-laundering of an otherwise
Stagnant brain.

Run for the knowing
Of a limitless will, others say.
Mere compensation for
Nagging doubt amid
A daily, abstract grind.

To be honest, for me
It’s hunger for a measure of glory.

The glimpse of home,
Beckoning as finish line;
The woof of a friend,
Cheering my arrival;
The steam, the kneading
Beneath the sheets of a waking masseuse

I’ll not trifle with ethereal pursuits.
I’m no marathon monk.
I run to win.

“In an activity-averse era, many ask runners a question that we too often elevate to the existential to separate ourselves, further, from the crowd that mocks our passion: 'Why do you run?’ Recently, I came to a realization that, for me, it really just heightens an appreciation for simple, yet glorious, things.”

April 21, 2017

“Happy Times”

By Hunter Berwig

As you smell the flowers

You realize that spring is here

All of the creatures 

Are coming alive again

The new year is here again

"My name is Hunter. I am currently a student at Nicolet College. I wrote this poem during my senior year for a poetry project in my creative writing class. This brings a lot of memories to mind because I am a very outdoors kind of person."

* * * * * * * * * *

Untitled
By Andrew Bontz

Ten years ago I dreamt of you
You making me happy
Happy beyond my wildest dreams
Dreams so vivid and far off
Off in the distance
Distance only the imagination could see

Four years ago I met you
You with your stunning beauty
Beauty beyond my dreams
Dreams of past years come true
True thoughts, true dreams, true passion

I’ve always been the one dreaming
Dreaming of how love works
I always thought When? Where? How? What?

When did it happen?
It was in the house on prospect.
It was an awkward first date when I tried to cook
It was building up the courage to have our first kiss
It was holding you in my arms as you drift off to sleep
It was bringing home our very own puppy

Where did it happen?
In our many nights at the Franklin house
Seeing how beautiful you looked at formals
Having fun with my brothers at the fraternity house
Relaxing back in Rhinelander
It was deciding Madison is where we are going to make our home

How does it work?
It is the tingle I feel inside whenever I see you
Like hundreds of explosions of happiness in my heart
The spark I feel when our lips meet
How I want to hold you and never let you go
The way you fit on my shoulder like a puzzle piece

What is love?
It is knowing that you are my one true love
Love that overwhelms me every moment we are together
Together forever.

“This is one of my favorite poems that I have written since I read it to my wife right before I proposed to her.”

April 20, 2017

“Times”
By Savannah Rankin

She sits alone looking into the sky
Wondering where he's gone
It seemed like only yesterday 
She thought he was the one
But times change and people grow
Sometimes they grow apart
Sometimes they grow closer
Sometimes they break their hearts
Sometimes we look in wonder
Sometimes in joy or shame
Sometimes in shock 
Sometimes in love
Sometimes in awe or pain
She smiles at the stars
As it passes through her mind 
That wherever he may wander
He's still hers tonight

“I am a Nicolet transfer student striving toward graduation in these beautiful woods many of us call home.” 

* * * * * * * * * *

“Dakota”
By Paul Ehlers

When the moon is shining in my window

Reflected off of the snow below

The empty silence speaks, and my anxiety peaks, 

       And I’m ready to go

With the wind blowing from Dakota

And the sun riding low in the sky

I button up my shirt, and get on back to work, 

       And make another try

There’s an old man living by the river

He don’t get on alone too good

When the weather’s cold, he gets to feeling old

       I go and cut his wood

We’ve done quite a lot of talking

He’s got a lot of things left on his mind

Like how he used to be when he was young and free

       The things he left behind

I said I’d probably end up just like him

Reliving all the mistakes that I made

I was such a fool, I did too well in school

       I learned to be afraid
       
“This is a song I wrote a long time ago. I always have considered myself a happy-go-lucky type of person, but most of my original music contradicts this. Sort of like Faye Dunaway talking about her photographs to Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor. I always think I write songs about other people, but maybe this isn’t accurate either.”

April 19, 2017

“One More Try”
By Carli Zimmerman

one more try is all i need
is all i need
to take away
these tears you cry
one more try
to stop the love we had
from slipping away
with each passing day
one more try
i am willing to give
to keep our love alive
and to never let it die
one more try
to make our hopes
and dreams come true
letting go of you
is one thing i can not do

[See the posting for April 2 for another poem by Carli.]

* * * * * * * * * *

“Never Forgotten”

By Darlene Machtan

My father’s favorite Washington war memorial:

Cherry blossoms.

Not granite or bronze renderings,

marble obelisks,

larger-than-life presidents

or reflecting pools.

Not a wall of 50,000 names that scars the earth

or the platoon of nineteen still on Korean patrol.

Not the valiant six at Iwo Jima,

not even the orderly

endless white tombstone soldiers

row on row

marching for eternity.

My father’s flag is woven

from cherry blossoms,

the last ones,

the ones that linger,

late blooming

fragile sentinels of spring,

foreign pink gnarled fists that

sadly

will too soon disappear.

The ground is littered

with their remnants,

but he looks up.

Cherry blossoms.

He breathes.

Take a picture of this.

This is what I came to see.

They were supposed

to be gone by now, he says,

but some things last.

He grins into the camera,

shoulders hunched against the wind,

wheelchair proud—

a silent one man salute

to cherry blossoms.

“A retired Rhinelander English teacher, I am now working as a Nicolet adjunct and writing tutor. I have published 3 chapbooks of poetry along with a memoir called Conversations With My Mother. I'm currently working on a second memoir titled Daddy's Long Goodbye which includes this poem.”

April 18, 2017

“The Place to Be”

By Riley Brockman 

A bat needs a place to live 

For every day and night to hang 

So put a bat house in a 

Batty place

Where there is wild water

And plenty to eat 

Build it in a 

Batty place 

Put it no in a predator place

So go and find a perfect place

Find a 

Batty Place 

Now you know where 

So go out and find a 

Batty Place

“I am in my second semester at Nicolet. I am working towards the radiography program and will hopefully get accepted in January of 2018.”

* * * * * * * * * *

No new poetry submissions by staff or community members for today’s posting. 

April 17, 2017

“Lessons”
By Faith Haenel

My darling as time progresses you will forget a lot of things.
You will forget the clothes you wore,
The words you spoke,
The reasons behind your ways,
Even some of the things that light up your eyes.
Soon the things you will remember will either be two things;
Near and dear to your heart strings
That they play a symphony on the acoustic draw of your breath.
Or they will be the damage,
The rust that has spread through the crust of a once polished instrument,
Used purely to play your life.
But my dear,
Heed these words.

Do not feed the toxin.
Do not be as unforgiving as the tides rushing to swallow the depths of the sand.
Do not be as hateful as the poison in a mushroom to the unknowing poverish.
Do not be as forgetting as the never-ending crowds whose hunger yearns for each bystander.

Forgive as if it is easy,
Yet trust as if your expectations are but a balance beam.
Love with all your might,
Until the very gentle caress may break your deepest sorrows.
But do not love the darkness.
Forget the mistreatment,
The pain,
The cold.
And remember the hope,
The light,
And the happiness.

“I have been writing poetry ever since I was young. I love the art that words can depict. This is my first year at Nicolet and I am working on my degree for animal rehabilitation, with a minor in journalism. I have had a lot of rough patches in my life that could possibly have been avoided, but that have made me who I am today, and this is my poem to honor that.” 

* * * * * * * * * *

No new poetry by staff or community members for today’s posting.

April 16, 2017

Untitled

By Tiffany Hauser

Flying – fluttering – flaunting

What else…

Do 

       Bats 

       Do?

       Do they bite my bitter blood?

       Or, do they hibernate in my horrid hair?

       No.

       

       Bats are animals, just like,

       My mother,

       My brother,

       My sister,

       My friend.

       

       Bats are just like any human around,

       They help you get abound,

       Eat the insects that you don’t like around,

       Kill them,

       So you hear no sound.

       No more insects, you hate in town!

       So with that you know,

       Bats are helpful.

       

“I am a nursing and science major. I enjoy living up north because I can hunt and fish.”

* * * * * * * * * *
       
“Getting Religion”
By j.anderson

My baptism began in the waters of this stream
As I tentatively stepped forth
Feeling the soft bottom through booted shoe
Searching out rock from muck
Gravel within whirling pool
I advanced, still tentative

Line cast into the air
A rainbow so thin as to mimic dragonfly flight
Alighting on the creek surface
Silent among the ripples
Cresting an aquatic universe
Invisible within the swirling cosmos
Of rain and spring thaw flowing south

My fly tethered fast
Impedes the forward motion, stops time
As I wait for the intersection
Of two worlds, their collision

The trout snaps, jumping free beyond boundaries
Soon snared by such a daring impudence
Second thoughts frantically emerge - submerge
Safety in the hole beneath the log - sought
To get there a tasking battle – fought
The distance too great, defeated and caught

But the honor is in the meeting
In the test of each other’s mettle
Not the carnage nor the aftermath
So, hook removed, goodbyes waved
I emerged from the baptismal font
A far better man

“In those moments of quiet concentration the questions that have arisen over a lifetime are sometimes answered - if we only listen.”

April 15, 2017

“Where I Belong”
By Sarah Polinski

In the woods I roam
This is where I feel at home
Spring, Fall, Summer, Fun

“I am in my first year, and I’m studying dental hygiene.”

* * * * * * * * * *

“She’s in the waiting”
By Ed O’Casey

room, putting all of her energy
into staying upright.

Every cell in my body asks
me to curl into the tightest

ball possible and wink out
of existence to a pinpoint,

to bring with me the fluorescent
lights, the gravity, every grain

of dust that makes this building
a hospital, everything as it is at

this second, the last

one in which
we have two pulses.

Sometimes these things just happen—

sometimes we’re unprepared for
how the body will react.

I will collapse into
a singularity

and bring this godforsaken
building with me—when people

come here in the future, they
will find an immeasurable

pit of black that swallows their hope
before anything else.


One day, under the influence of my
own mass, a dwarf star will take shape, dispersing

itself to create a new system from
clouds of carbon. Stones, planetoids, water,
life eventually.

We’re so sorry for your loss.

[See the posting of April 13 for another poem by Ed O’Casey.]