Congratulations to Jason Sibley for his second Poem of the Month win! Jason is a junior at Chester High School who is currently enrolled in Miss Hodge’s Creative Writing elective course. He is also a dedicated member of the CHS band, choir, and theater department.

Poets were asked to write about “growth,” and the CHS Writers’ Circle students judge all entries anonymously at monthly club meetings.

Students, faculty, staff and alumni are invited to enter next month’s competition no later than Monday, April 7, 2025.
Submit your poem here!

Shell Crusher

What makes a person a person?
Is it the fact that they have a heart?
Is it that they have human features?
Is it a thought process that makes them that way?
I think it has to do with how much they understand,
or how they look at a problem.
How much they learn from mistakes,
like I did.
Or how much they rise to occasions,
count on each other.
Then to eventually pass it on to their young,
so that they make good members of society.
And we could all use a drill of that lesson, I think.
We are not perfect.
We aren’t invincible.
And sometimes we feel invisible.
But we need to hit that spurt, take that chance, and sprout out of our shell,
take a chance.
But what if you get hurt?
It’s ok to retreat back to the shell for a little bit,
but you can’t stay there forever. Try again.