Writing

Read Across Lawrence contest examines ‘Oz’

“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum is the featured book for Read Across Lawrence 2004. In conjunction with the month of events, a youth writing contest is open to any student in a Douglas County school in grades 1 through 12, or to any student in Douglas County who is being home-schooled at these levels.

The contest consists of two categories: creative writing and essay writing. Essays should be between 800 and 2,000 words in length. They may be handwritten or typed and should be turned in by Feb. 13, accompanied by an official entry form, to any school librarian or the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt.

Six prizes will be awarded, one for the best entry in each category in each age group. Winners will receive a copy of “All Things Oz: The Wonder, Wit, and Wisdom of The Wizard of Oz” by Linda Sunshine.

An awards ceremony will be 4 p.m. Feb. 29 at the library.

For more information, contact Maria Butler at 843-3833 or mbutler@lawrence.lib.ks.us.

Poetry

Send in your entries

18 & Under is accepting original poetry for publication. Send yours to teens@ljworld.com.

‘Psalms by My Father’
Oh, Son,
Lay down your burden,
For it is the weekend.
The world is your guardian,
And Heaven is your asylum.
My heartbeat is ancient
And will fall like the rusted leaves,
All so monotonous with the world.
Time seems all so irrelevant to you,
But, soon,
It shall morph into shackles,
Like all things do.
“Oh, dreams, Oh dreams
always flirting with the young.”
Tonight,
I taught you Genesis.
Tomorrow,
I teach you life.

— Pharouk Hussein, Lawrence High School student

‘Kansas’
The gentle fields of sunflowers
Caressing winds of ages
The buzzing of native grass
Air of time
Always the same joke
There’s no place like home.

–Andrea Haller, Lawrence High School student

A Sight of Simplicity
I hear the wind through the trees,
As I walk the road at eventide,
Alone with my thoughts,
My canine companions at my side.
Whispers on the wind press ever closer,
Till in a torrent of wings they pass.
Fly away home, little startlings,”
My heart sings.
It is autumn.

— Melissa Ettredge, Lawrence High School student