Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - September/October 2015 - (Page 44)

creative minds imagine Poetry Contest Thank you to all who entered our Creative Minds Poetry Contest! We received nearly 600 entries to this year's contest, and we are thrilled to announce the winners here. Please visit our website at http://cty.jhu.edu/imagine/creativemindscontest/contestresults.html to read the second- and third-place poems as well as the judge's comments on them. Our Creative Minds Essay Contest is open through November 5, 2015. Read submission guidelines and enter online at www.cty.jhu.edu/imagine/guidelines/contest/creativeminds.html. AGES 14-18 FIRST PLACE Georgia on My Mind by Audrey Spensley Just an old, sweet song- Later we'll wonder how we hadn't noticed the hills blooming open, goldenrod scarring the scrub grass, gorgeous & hungry. This was the summer my father bought guppies by the pound, sheared the coats off his sheep, knuckles memorizing the difference between hot flesh & warm air. The babies cried, soft nervous sounds soaked up by dirt, as if the whole world could feed on their blistered feet. My father slept on the kitchen floor with a baseball bat, listening to Ray Charles claw his way through AM radio waves, dawn dripping like honey over his thick breath, his scabbed knuckles. We craved the acidic rain of haunted promise lands, the only city we'd ever known a hollow circus three hundred miles away. No peace I find, Ray said, and we clutched at his words like jeweled peaches, ripening. We traced the promise over & over into the soft meat of our small palms- The road leads back to you Audrey Spensley is a senior from Avon Lake High School in Ohio. Her poetry is published or forthcoming in Magma, The Blue Pencil Online, and The Best Teen Writing of 2015, among others. Audrey has been named a Foyle Young Poet of the Year and a National YoungArts Winner, and is a poetry reader at The Adroit Journal. 44 imagine Judge's comments: There's something chilling about the beauty of this poem-a slight unease intermingles with the smooth familiarity of Ray Charles's famous song drifting in and out like a refrain. The poet litters the lines with imagery and language that is at once soft and sharp, decadent and dire, creating a contrast that makes the poem sizzle with a haunting energy: A sheep's fleece and scabbed knuckles, honeyed dawn and acid rain, jeweled peaches and a baseball bat. Ray Charles's velvet voice claws its way into our ears, the speaker's palms become soft meat. The poem makes me feel held in a manner that's both threat and embrace. It's a dark, lovely little lullaby. SECOND PLACE Nativity by Daniel Blokh, 14, AL THIRD PLACE Poppies by Anna Lance, 16, AK HONORABLE MENTION Girl by Michelle Chen, 15, NY Please read all these poems and our judge's comments on them at cty.jhu.edu/imagine/creativemindscontest/contestresults.html. May/June Sept/Oct 2015 http://cty.jhu.edu/imagine/creativemindscontest/contestresults.html http://www.cty.jhu.edu/imagine/guidelines/contest/creativeminds.html http://cty.jhu.edu/imagine/creativemindscontest/contestresults.html

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - September/October 2015

Circuit Training Electrical Engineering at CTY
Turning Brainwaves into Action Meet ARTIE, the robot activated by thoughts
Robotics in the Real World How robots are helping us explore space, overcome disability, and so much more
My First FIRST The climbing robot that taught me to aim high
Adventures in Botball
So Much Fun, It’s Inhuman Destroying the competition in combat robotics
Born to Build The making of an engineer
The Engineering Summer Academy at Penn Three weeks that launched my future
Music in the Woods Six weeks at Tanglewood
Big Picture
In My Own Words Daniel H. Wilson, author of Robopocalypse and Robogenesis
Selected Opportunities and Resources
Off the Shelf Review of Obert Sky’s Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options Interview with NASA robotics engineer Jaakko Karras
One Step Ahead Be fearless
Planning Ahead for College Express lessons in financial aid
Students Review Dartmouth College
Creative Minds Imagine Poetry contest winners
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - September/October 2015