The Wood County Committee on Aging (WCCOA) has announced the winner for the 17th Annual Poetry Contest. Submissions were accepted from Wood County residents 50 years of age and over, with a theme of “Loss and Gain.” A total of 31 poems from 21 authors were submitted, and a BGSU associate writing professor reviewed the submissions and selected a winner and an honorable mention.
Karen Wood of Bowling Green received first place with her poem entitled “Manual for Life,” winning a $100 gift card sponsored by the Manor of Perrysburg. Wood said she will donate her winnings to the Wood County Humane Society to assist with their garage sale event.
Wood has only written two poems in her life, and has not previously entered the WCCOA poetry contest. The other poem she created was for a contest in Toledo. Her first poem focused on the importance of community gardens in urban settings.
Bowling Green State University Associate Writing Professor Chad Van Buskirk stated that the poem “Manual for Life” had many features that focused on the theme of the contest.
“As the title portends, the winning poem reads as lyric instructions for operating one’s life,” Van Buskirk said. “Through cascading indented lines reflecting the outward-to-inward shift in perspective that accompanies aging, the poem imparts much insight to the reader: the wisdom each of us have might benefitted from sooner; the revelations that come to those fortunate enough to see their life span beyond middle-age; and the essential directives for navigating the inescapable losses accompanying life’s gains.”
Honorable mention was awarded to Scott Regan with the poem “An Ode to Sacandaga.”
All of the submitted poems can be read on the WCCOA blog at: https://woodcountycommitteeonaging.blogspot.com/
WINNING POEMS ARE INCLUDED BELOW IN THEIR ENTIRETY:
Poetry Winner for 2023
Manual For Life
Karen Wood
When You’re Young, No One Tells You To
Start a 401(k) ASAP, or
Major in something you love, or
Not hold grudges or make enemies, or
Say I Love You to your grandparents twice a day, or
Always have 5 bucks in your pocket for the unhoused guy, or
Know the good life is not a boat or diamond ring or Gucci.
And When You’re Old, You Figure Out That
AARP magazine is going to come on your 50th birthday, and
The first thing you do each day is read the obituaries, and
Time goes really, really fast and there is no slowing it down, and
Losing friends and loved ones never, ever gets any easier, and
The young do not want to hear that you walked uphill in the snow to school, and
Doctor appointments take up more and more space in your daily calendar.
If only we were issued instructions at birth that told us
Be Bold
Love Fiercely
Stay Strong
And that even though we might lose our friends and loved ones and money and
maybe our minds and eventually our very lives,
If we do it right, and with a lot of luck, and a little help from our friends,
We may have everything we need. And that’s all that matters in the end.
Honorable Mention
An Ode to Sacandaga
Scott Regan
A hairpin turn off the lumber trucking highway leads down a magic trail.
Past becomes present as cabins compete with forest and granites along the shore.
Campers mingle with residents: chipmunks and squirrels, eagles and loons.
Morning mist rises over the ever-peaceful lake.
A paddleboarder and a family of ducklings sail by in silence.
Morning sun brings walkers and joggers battling the gnats that surround the fields.
Laundry chores compete with unread chapters to engulf the morning hours
until, slowly, inflatable dolphins carry towels and treats to the beach.
Children rediscover the joy of wet toes in the sand, rebuilding castles of their dreams.
Grown ups, armed with fly swatters, lose themselves in racy novels, and with the endless task of solving the mysteries of the world.
Evening falls early in the mountains and wine, food, and flashlight-tag frame the day.
But the new day will no longer dawn.
Let the school bell toll one last time.
Sacandaga summers have passed but the memories remain.
