Claudia Ann Seaman Award
We Broke the Sky
Aurora Bateman
Springville, UT
Merit College Preparatory Academy
Poetry
Sometimes I think
We broke the sky
Blue to yellow to rusty red
Clouds cover in shame
The scarred atmosphere
The very air we breathe is deformed.
Sometimes I look at the sky at night when we’re driving
And see nothing
But the cities we pass are plenty bright
As if we knocked the stars
Stole them
From the sky
EDITORIAL PRAISE
Brief, yet powerful; simple, yet vivid; subdued, yet bold; this poem exhibits massive dexterity, attention to detail, and conviction. Its emotional gravity carries so much weight through the lines that the seemingly passive phrase "Sometimes I think" is rendered in such a vigorous and tremendous light by the end. Here emerges a poet of massive strength, maturity, and craft.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aurora Bateman attends Merit College Preparatory Academy in Springville Utah and will graduate in 2022. She enjoys theater, playing the cello, making Halloween costumes, and, of course, writing. She lives at home with her family like most high schoolers, and dreams of one day writing and publishing an epic story.