Poetry month is celebrated with Poem in Your Pocket Day and the poetry contest every April. The winners of this year’s poetry contest were Aiysha Ashfaq ’13, Yilla Chen ’12, Vivian Chen ’11, and Yang Lu ’10.

Each year, Mrs. Sharon Lustbader and the English department come together to encourage students to participate in this competition. First, second and third place winners are chosen from each grade.

Second place winners include Esther Milina ’12, Geraldina Salcedo ’11, and Calvin Sauveur ’10. Helen Pozdniakova ’11 won third place and Jinanne Taha ’11 won honorable mention.

"I enter these things, and I never expect to win," said Salcedo, whose poem was based on a true story about an abusive father and a son standing up for his mother.

Salcedo said she enjoys writing poetry because it’s her way of showing herself. For her, its importance lies in its ability to portray how one feels at the moment one is writing.

To Lu, this win is something to be proud of. Her winning poem was at first just an English assignment in her theater production class to rewrite Hamlet’s "to be or not to be" soliloquy. She rewrote the piece to be about food and says she owes her win to her appetite.

Mrs. Lustbader said sometimes people speak poetry and don’t even know it. As an English teacher, her goal is to make the fears of poetry go away and to encourage students to make a greater connection to the words and how they are expressed.

"The stress isn’t on win or lose," she said optimistically. "Have fun with it."

According to Mrs. Lustbader, there were fewer entries this year than last and far more junior entries than any other grade. This turnout is most likely due to the three junior creative writing classes she teaches. Mrs. Lustbader encourages her students and hopes in the future more teachers and faculty members will motivate students to submit a poem or even just participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day.

Yilla Chen said her English teacher, Mrs. Wendy Guida, encouraged her to submit her poem titled The Jazz Age. "I get tongue tied a lot, but when I’m writing poetry it’s easier to express myself," she said.

Ashfaq, whose poem was about the lack of communication between people, thinks poetry is a good outlet for getting one’s feelings out.

One problem the judges encountered this year was the length of certain entries. According to Mrs. Lustbader, many strong contenders were disqualified because their poems passed the 30-line limit significantly. She says students must follow directions and adhere to the rules.

Although some were disqualified, Mrs. Lustbader feels each person who won deserved to have his poem recognized.

To her, poetry is like forensic science, and we are the scientists.

"With each poem, one must investigate and interpret what it means," she said. "Poetry is a mystery."