Poems

There's still time to enter the Washington County Free Library Poetry Contest. Poems may be submitted to the library through March 31, 2008. There will be two winning entries and an honorable mention for each of five age divisions in the contest. The age divisions are as follows: Children in grades 2-3, Grades 4-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, and Adult. To enter a poem in the contest, you must live in Washington County; only one submission per person is allowed. Poems must be original work and may be on any topic.

The Washington County Free Library, in partnership with Antietam Review, the literary magazine of the Washington County Arts Council, announces its seventh annual Washington County Poetry Contest. Entries may be submitted to the library from Friday, Jan. 2, through Monday, March 15. First and second place winners in each division will receive a book of poetry. Honorable mention certificates will be awarded for third place. Age divisions are as follows: second and third grades, fourth and fifth grades, sixth through eighth grades, ninth through twelfth grades, and adults.

Ginny Burdette was in the grocery store one day when an unfamiliar man stepped up to her. "He said, 'Do you remember me?'" Burdette recalled during an interview at The Herald-Mail. "'When you used to go to church and read your poems, it changed my life.'" Burdette, 52, a lifelong Tri-State resident, has recently published her first volume of poetry, "Ginny's Book of Poetry. " Many of the poems are religious in nature. For Burdette, stories like her encounter with the man in the grocery store explain the power of poetry.

Growing up in Montgomery County, Md., Kristine Bainbridge spent many a weekend at the Mason-Dixon Dragway, southeast of Hagerstown. The whole family - Mom, Dad, brother and herself - drove at the dragway. It was part of their family culture. Bainbridge loved the family's time at the track, but she struggled in other areas. To help, she turned to poetry. "I wrote my very first poem when I was 5," she said during an interview at The Herald-Mail. "I wrote seriously when I was 13. I started using it as a therapy, to work through negative feelings and problems.

One is exposing his soul through poetry and the other is trying to get people to re-evaluate their souls through a fictional novel. Khary H. Tolliver of Hagerstown has had his second book of poems published, "More Poems from Khary's Poem Journal: My Thoughts, My Feelings. " Brian D. Sandell from Boonsboro has written a religious suspense thriller that delves into what makes people happy - personal relationships or material possessions. We live in a society that is largely materialistic and that's not making people happy, said Sandell, 21, a junior at Grove City College in Grove City, Pa., where he studies Christian ministries.

Craig Kercheval is an artist. His apartment in Hagerstown is lined with his drawings of superheroes, some copies of favorite comic book characters, some original heroes and villains Kercheval came up with. But once, as a struggling, Christian teenager in Smithsburg, Kercheval turned to another creative outlet. He wrote a batch of inspirational poems as he worked through a troubling time in his life. Those poems are now available in a book, "They That Wait Upon The Lord ... " Kercheval is still a little surprised at what he produced three decades ago. "I wrote those between 10th grade and 11th grade," he said.

Leave it to Henrietta Cassady to find humor in her knee replacement surgery, a procedure that inspired her to write these lines years ago: Now you'll sit on firm, straight back chairs. Well at least you can still comb your hair. No more sitting on the bottom of the tub. Just stand on the floor and rub, rub, rub. Five years and another knee replacement surgery later, Cassady has published 84 poems in her book "A Mother's Thoughts in Verse" (2005) - a 91-page testament to her self-described optimism and light-hearted outlook on life.

Washington County Free Library is sponsoring its 10th annual Washington County Poetry Contest beginning this month. Poems may be submitted to the library anytime from Jan. 15 through March 31. There will be two winning entries and an honorable mention for each of five age divisions in the contest. The age divisions are as follows: Children in grades two and three, grades four and five, grades six to eight, grades nine to 12 and adult. To enter a poem in the contest, you must live in Washington County.

Poetry contest The Washington County Free Library is accepting entries for its 11th annual Washington County Poetry Contest. Poems may be submitted to the library anytime through Tuesday, March 31. Hand deliver your poem to the children's department or send entries to: Washington County Free Library, 100 S. Potomac St., Hagerstown, MD 21740, attention: poetry contest. Include on your typed or legibly written poem your name, address, telephone number and age division.

Teen pageant scheduled The Miss Teen Western Maryland competition will take place Saturday, Feb. 17, at Hagerstown Community College's Kepler Theater. Miss Teen Western Maryland will advance to compete in the Miss Maryland Outstanding Teen pageant in June. An orientation will be held Saturday, Jan. 6, at Plaza Hotel. Parents are welcome to attend the orientation. In order to be a contestant in the pagfeant, girls must be 13 to 17 years old and not yet be a high school senior.