In January 2005, I transferred into a new high school. It was in the middle of my junior year. After my tour of the school, I went home and turned on my parents' iMac. I freewrote.

I did not make one single edit before entering it into a poetry contest a local library. My poem, though untitled, won 1st place in the high school division. I read the poem to a small audience, but was confused by the lack of expression on their faces. I stepped down from the podium and sat back in my cold plastic chair.

Here's the winning poem, which I've titled "With A Pop And A Squish"

Imagine there's a blonde girl whom you have never seen before.
Imagine her eyes falling from their sockets,
bouncing slightly on the checkered floor--
the moment of silence before the realization.
She can see nothing now
but sneakered feet growing closer.
And with a pop and a squish
her sight is splattered. Her vision impaired,
her world a broken peel
lying in the juice of her thoughts.
Imagine the little blue lenses
stuck on the bottom of sneakered feet,
staring up at a boy and seeing nothing else.
Her motionless body, in a burst of panic,
starts screaming, endlessly and thoughtlessly,
but the boy keeps walking, headphones blaring,
leaving footprints of blonde girl all over.

I have been planning to rewrite this poem for a long time now. I'd like to experiment with word choice and length and line breaks with this piece, yet I don't want to damage its reputation amongst the other poems in my collection. Any suggestions / thoughts would be greatly appreciated and taken into consideration when revision time finally comes.

Keep an eye out for a new draft.