“Share the wonder and power of your poetry.” Two Chester students won top honors in the Southwestern Illinois College Poetry Contest.
The due date for your poem was on March 3. The entries in each division were Adults, High School Students, and 4th-8th grade students.When the awards were announced, in the section of high school students, Will Welge won first and TJ Lyons won second.
Both students attended a reading by winners on April 18.

Will Welge won 1st place for “Unsung Metamorphosis.”

A Chrysalis in an unknown place,
Out of the Realm of Space and time,
Within a subconscious I lay.

Always thinking never doing,
Stuck within a personal paralysis,
Unsung from within,
Celestial dreams of grandeur,
Crying out for an answer.

I have had my genesis
Yet I still cannot move beyond
I long for answer
Will I ever break through?

Tj Lyons won 2nd place: for “An Ode to a Valiant Jester (Prologue).”

There once lived a jester
Who hailed from Wiral
A land of opulence;
A grand sight for all

While the name of our hero
Be important for naught
Fulvus, our king
Matters a hell of a lot

The king is known from far and wide
For being a trickster, cunning and malign
As well as having a face that, being unsightly,
Did not match his much charismatic stride

Our story begins one gloomy morn,
Where our beloved Fulvus sits, brimming with scorn
As he feels that his two-bit jester needs to do something
Other than dance and sing for the madam and youngling

“Hither forth!” snarked the king
With his piggish nose and his crooked brow
And as the jester came down the isle, merrily bouncing
The king crafted his plan, one malicious and vile

“What for today, my liege?” said the naive jester
“Juggling, slapstick, maybe something surreal?”
“None of those, my boy, none at all!” roared Fulvus
As he pointed to the foot of his throne; “Kneel.”

The jester did as he was told
For what better is there to do?
Now, the king’s plan begins to unfold.
“Young man, I have a task for you.”

The conversation was much too lengthy
For how little the jester got out of it
But the drake Mirvyt was the jester’s opponent
And so begins a tale of courage and wit

Congratulations to Will Welge and TJ Lyons!!!