Home    Charger    Articles    Calendar    Bookstore    Library    News    Links    Destinations

Honor the Monitor    Speakers Bureau    Membership    Site Map    Contact Us   

Jon Thompson Poetry Prize Winners 
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2007, All Rights Reserved

Each year the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable sponsors The Jon Thompson Poetry Contest at Lee Burneson Middle School in Westlake as part of their annual "Civil War Days" event. (More on Buneson Middle School's "Civil War Days".)  The contest is named in honor of Language Arts teacher (and current CCWRT president) Jon Thompson who devoted over 35 years to the students of Lee Burneson before retiring in 2006.

Those entering the poetry contest are asked to consider a picture called "The Widow" showing a woman in black mourning garb kneeling next to the headstone of a Confederate soldier while a ghostly image of the dead soldier hovers next to her offering quiet solace. 

Over 2000 poems have been entered in the contest since its inception.  This page includes the winning entries from the past several years.

 

The Widow

2008
 Note: Due to the exceptional quality of the submissions, the judges selected three winners in 2008.

Not Coming Home

The somber silence of death
over the battlefield
where brothers fought each other,
and died, never to come home

The ghosts of those who fell
never to be calmed
standing next to the saddened widow,
who forever shall be alone

The North against the South
neighbor against neighbor
the battlefield and bodies
remembered by the gravestone

The horror of those years
not wanting to be remembered
and needing to be honored
but through the dark the light shone

Brother against Brother
families torn apart
the brave in the Civil War
never to come home

- Phil Papajcik

 

 The Widow

I kneel here, the grass cool and wet
Soaked from tears of grief and fret

As the sun slowly sets in the southern sky
I feel your spirit pass me by

As darkness draws nearer, gray and cold
I sense your presence warm and bold

Yet I sob from my heart, my soul and eye
I know you live, you did not die

As I kneel here mourning and long for death
I feel your embrace and warming breath

You went two weeks that seemed two years
Your debt I now return with tears

When they stole your life, they stole my breath
Life is now an everlasting death

Without you, there is no life in me
So I wait for death to set me free

- Abigail Kane

Widow Poem

For it has struck again
The dreadful death raven
Bringing Hopelessness, Sadness, and loneliness
Killing all men in sight
Bringing them all to an early grave
Wives, Mothers, and Sisters all weep
All have lost one, once loved
War is what summons the death raven
Once here it is here to stay
Killing all men in sight
Waiting until one falls
Then the raven strikes with full force
Killing all men in sight
perched up in that tall oak tree
Scanning and watching the horizon
Seeing woman come in widows weeds
Nodding slowly to himself
The raven quietly flies away
Waiting for the call of war once again
Waiting to kill all men in sight

- Dennis E DiFranco

  

 

2007

Sadness and Sorrow

Teardrops of sadness fall. 
Shattering the peace. 
Black clouds that hung 
Above rivers of sorrow

Two ribbons that could not be tied.
A ribbon of blue and a ribbon of gray
Seeds of cotton flying through silent winds.
Gray smoke like a dispersed fog.

Roads that were once connected,
Are now broken compromises.
Fragile birds once trapped in the dark Now
spread their wings and fly to the
light.

But somewhere beyond,
Beyond the silhouettes of sunsets,
Shines a ray of hope.
Waiting to rise in the morning sunrise. 

- Greeshma Allareddy

2006

The Widow

There he lies, may he rest in peace,
As his wife looks over and quietly weeps.

Her heart is torn, as it will be forever,
While she yearns to remember their times together.

She peacefully sits and tries to be strong,
And thinks to herself how war is so wrong.

She solemnly cries and misses him dear,
“My, how I wish my loved one was here.”

But it is all over, what else can be said?
Oh how she wishes her husband weren’t dead.

She longs to hear his whisper in her ear,
And suddenly feels that his spirit is near.

He kneels down besides her and holds her close,
Yet she cannot feel it for he is just a ghost.

There he lies, may he rest in peace,
As his wife looks over and quietly weeps.

- Marie-Andrée Belzile

2005

Mourning

Mourning over the once new born child
Mourning over the little boy she saw grow up
Mourning over the boy she saw become a man

Mourning over the young man she saw walk away
     from home
Mourning over the young man she hoped to see
     alive and well over her death bed
Mourning over the young man she hoped would
     have a loving family like his father

Mourning over the young man she saw go off to
     war
Mourning over the senselessness of war
Mourning over the letters she got from the
     young man

Mourning for the other families that have had
     this happen
Mourning for the future families that will have
     this happen

Mourning over the spirit of a dead soldier
Mourning over the death of her son

- Manda McPheter

2004

The Widow

Here but not here
In my heart always
Causes me to fear
Life without him near.

His cause was gallant
And he, full of life,
No one could guess
The agony and strife.

At first war was bitter
With conditions so bad
Turning men into litter,
And families so sad.

The clashing of swords,
The thunder of guns,
Seeking to end
Our husbands and sons.

The bullets sped at him
So fast he couldn’t see
The one who took
My husband from me.

My beloved husband
Here…but not here
Lies underground, but
His spirit is near.

- Lisa Pogue

The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable