1998 James McIntyre Poetry Contest Winners
Junior Kindergarten to Grade 3
First Prize
Ingersoll
By Sarah Lindsay
Is a great place to me and my Dad
Never a bad place
Great community to me
Excellent place to people
Rivers are so fresh
So good that people live here
Oxford County is cool
Lots of best friends here
Lots of quiet here
Junior Kindergarten to Grade 3
Second Prize
Ingersoll
By Brian Johnston
Independent
No place as nice as Ingersoll
Good schools
Exciting
Rivers are clean
Sweet neighbourhood
Oxford County
Library rocks
Lots of friends
Junior Kindergarten to Grade 3
Third Prize
Ingersoll
By Corey Cheung
Ingersoll is cool
Nice people
Great place to live
Excellent place to live
Rivers are fresh
Sweet neighbourhood
Opportunities to learn
Lots of friends
Library is the best
Junior Kindergarten to Grade 3
Honourable Mention
Ingersoll
By Sophie Roe
Ingersoll is the best
Nobody ever litters
Great water
Excellent town
Really good stores
Super libraries
Oxford County rules
Lots of land
Lots of water
Grades 4-6
First Prize
We won the war of school
By Josh R. McDonald
(sing to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic")
We have burned down all the backboards
Now the teachers can not teach.
We have launched all the pencils,
They are gone past enemy reach.
We've shredded all the notebooks,
And we bolted the door,
The school is no more.
Glory, glory hallelujah!
We've won the war, what's it to ya!
There is no more quizzes,
Not anouther stupid test,
The school is at rest!
Grades 4-6
Second Prize
What I like about cheese
By Althea C. Green
Cheese and crackers
Hot melted cheese
Eating it on all kinds of food
Eating it sprinkled on popcorn
Swiss cheese
Eating melted on nachos
Grades 4-6
Third Prize
All about cheese
By Randy Allcock
Cheese is good
Cheese is weird
Cheese makes my teeth turn yellow
Cheese is food
Grades 4-6
Honourable mention
Lots of Cheese
By Shelby Warden
Crackers
Holes
Excellent
Extra Cheesy
Swiss Cheese
Eat
Grades 7-8
First Prize
It would be nice!
By Amy Dicicco
It would be nice if we could fly,
Fly high and soar through the nice blue sky.
It would be nice if there was peace on this earth,
NO sirens ringing, NO funerals for singing, NO children crying,
No people dying.
IT WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE A WONDERFUL LIFE!
It would be nice if everyone was kind, and no one had nasty minds.
OH, IT WOULD BE NICE TO LIVE SUCH A WONDERFUL LIFE!
It would be nice if there was no suffering, and that all families had money and food.
It would be nice if every person got treated the same, not left out or
made fun of because they think different or are different in any kind of way.
IT WOULD BE NICE IF WE COULD LIVE SUCH AN IMPORTANT LIFE!
It would be nice if we could all be loved, and we all believed in the one above.
It would be nice if there was no suffering, NO cries for help, NO screaming out.
IT WOULD BE NICE TO LIVE SUCH A PEACEFUL LIFE!
Wouldn't it be nice if this all came true?
If you want it to, it starts with me and you.
If we all help out one day it could be a wonderful life.
OH, THAT WOULD BE NICE!
Grades 7-8
Second Prize
Remember Them
By Kristal Thompson
Remember them the ones who fought for our rights our peace and our country
Remember the poppy the red and the green
Those colours are something no one knows what they mean.
On November 11th we raise our heads high and proud of our soldiers who fought and who died.
On November 11th the flag flies at half mass waving in the clear crisp blue sky.
I wonder how it feels to die or to be left all alone, no wife no children no home.
So Remember the poppy the red and the green
Our peace and our freedom and what Remembrance Day means.
Grades 9-12
First Prize
The Bond
By Katie Clark
I feel as though
You've let me slip before
I've even slipped.
Keep in
mind and heart all the times we've shared: the ahyulkas,
the teardrops, the "obsessions".
no distance between our imperfect corpses
shall expunge these memories. We can and will hold on, I have
not fallen to my death
as you believe. The
bond we share will
never break. And yes,
I am glad that someone truly cares.
Grades 9-12
Second Prize
I Love a little hate a lot
By Tracey Durham
I love a little hate a lot
Deep dark immoral thoughts
Sleep a little dream all day
Stupid things that we say
Speak a little then start to shout
Open the cage and let them out
Look a little then close your eyes
Stop wait open your eyes and listen
You don't know what you're missing
Things are falling from the sky
When will I? When will I?
Hope a little wish a lot
Look at all I think I got
Laugh a little I think then you cry
Why do I? Why do I?
Open your eyes and listen to all the lies
Iron tears deceive the truth
A little boy robbed of youth
Everyday I can't say
Watch them fly! Watch them fly!
Grades 9-12
Third Prize
Racism
By Ashley Peters
Don't discriminate against me for who I am
Fear for the ones who need it most
Don't hate me for who I am
Support those who are scared
Don't hate me because of the colour of my skin
Don't accept for what I am but who I am
Get along with those around you
Don't judge people that you don't know
Don't judge people by their appearances but by their personality
Racism help stop it now!
Grades 9-12
Honourable Mention
No limitations
By Kristen Mackay
The things I use to do for fun have now become serious,
The things I use to be good at I have now become better.
There are no limitations to what I do.
I strive for improvement and suffer if I don't.
I'm pushed to success and won't accept failure.
I believe in my abilities and myself.
I'm not ashamed to lose but merely disappointed.
I have conquered and also been conquered.
Either way I gave it my best.
I may climb the wall in pain and agony
But at least I made it,
At least I can say I did it.
I look for improvement in my performance.
I pick out the bad, not the good,
But I don't complain when I can't do it,
And I don't get down on myself when I can't do it,
I just practice until I can.
I'm a girl. I'm not ashamed. I love it.
Cheese Poet Laureate's Award - Juvenile
(Best Cheese Poem)
Cheese
By Alysha McLeod
Pizza is yummy! Kraft dinner is too!
I'll sing a song about cheese just for you!
Cheese buns, lasagna, popcorn, galore!
Paris and Italy... cheese on the floor!
OAC to Adult
Limerick
First Prize
A teacher whose name was Lew
By H. Ruthanne Foster
A teacher whose name was "Lew"
Had students who wished time flew
He taped his motto in place
Of the classroom clock face
"Time passes, but kid what about you?"
(some people who attended I.D.C.I. in the early '60s may remember the sign)
OAC to Adult
Rhyming Verse
First Prize
Back Forty
By H. Ruthanne Foster
Daffodils, robins' trills
Lady bugs on window sills.
Blood roots, rubber boots,
Barn owls' "hooty-hoots"
Old brooms, violet blooms
Lilac sprays in living rooms
Willow weepers, spring peepers,
Red wool flannel sleepers.
Cat tails, fence rails,
Maple sap drips in pails.
Kittens' purrs, fishy lures
Purple wands of lavenders.
Potato bugs, kids' hugs,
Binder twine to braided rugs.
Quince jams, spring lambs,
Babies pushed in wicker trams.
Frosty nights, northern lights,
Wild geese in moonlit flight.
Orioles, swimming holes,
Piping, hot cinnamon rolls.
Newborn calves, childrens' laughs,
In the haymow, full of chaff.
Maple keys, winters' breeze,
Red wings crying "Oke-a-lees".
Quilt frames, crokinole games,
Spring bonfires' leaping flames.
Sunrise, fire flies,
Evening painted purple skies.
Sunflowers, windmill towers,
Late spring thundershowers.
Grandpas' clock, "tickety-tock",
Nine day pickles in the crock.
Fields of grain, summers' rain,
Close my eyes,... I'm home again!
OAC to Adult
Rhyming Verse
Second Prize
Stolen cheese
By June Goff Smith
You may call that grey mouse
Slightly dumb...
But he justly knows
Where his lunch comes from,
He is smart, and mighty quick
For he carries with him
A tiny stick....
He can trip that trap
In a very short time
Grab that cheese
And quickly run
So you can see that
Grey mouse not dumb.
OAC to Adult
Rhyming Verse
Third Prize
Someday
By Tom Lamb
Someday I'm going to take a trip,
To lands so far away.
Explore the sights and hear the sounds,
Will do it all, Someday.
Someday, I plan to learn new things,
Some hard, some just for play.
They add to make me who I am.
Will do it all Someday.
Someday, we meet up with old friends,
To laugh and spend the day.
To share the memories now gone by.
Will do it all Someday.
Someday has slowly passed me by,
Am left with just today.
Can hang my head and feel so bad?????
Or do my best Today.
Someday will pass you by and yet
Will never come you way.
So make the best of what you have.
Enjoy and never walk away.......
OAC to Adult
Free Verse
First Prize
Wild war ponies
By Gary Robson
My horses, prancing they are coming.
Have you loved this land;
My horses, neighing there are coming
For what it is -- it's for wealth,
Prancing they are coming
It's freedom,
All over the universe they are coming
It's northern wind,
They will dance; may you behold them.
And above all
A horse nation, they will dance
Upon the wild and graceful wind.
OAC to Adult
Free Verse
Second Prize
The writer's dreams
By Nick Edwards
Where do they come from, my dreams,
In the middle of the night or the heat of the day?
Where do they come from, my dreams,
To tease me, or plague me?
Why do they come, my dreams
When nothing has summoned them?
Why do they come, my dreams
Is it to curse me, or make me wonder?
Why are they forgotten so quickly, my dreams
When I need them?
Like fog in morning sunlight they glisten,
And then disappear from my view.
Perhaps my dreams are to tell me
Who I am, or why I am here.
But, gone and forgotten are my dreams
No matter how hard I recall.
So appearing just once in a lifetime,
Write them down the first time they call.
OAC to Adult
Haiku
First Prize
Oishi
By Kim Koyanagi
Soothe and nourish me,
Delectable, delightful
Ubiquitous cheese.
Cheese Poet Laureate's Award
Adult
(for best poem about Ingersoll history)
Hear ye, hear ye
By Ken Hughes
Born in an era when survival was tough,
Ingersoll developed because we had the right stuff,
Built around the banks of a river so strong,
History was in the making, it wouldn't take long,
Who'd have thought we'd still be here today,
Where did they come from, why did they stay,
We've nurtured famous people and withstood a flood,
Do you remember Aimee McPherson, Laura Secord or Lefty Judd,
Divided by a river, surrounded by rich limestone rock,
Our prosperous survival shouldn't come as a shock,
Some towns are know for their landmarks or abundance of trees
Ingersoll is known for it's people and it's great cheese,
Hear ye! Hear ye! Sing out a cheer,
If it's solace you search for, you'll find it right here.