Christmas with snow
Frigid.
Bitter
snowflakes
creeping,
Frigid,
presents
chocolate
laughter,
Frigid
Snow with Christmas
William Hess
10/5/2022
William Hess is a senior at Arrowhead Union High School. He is a varsity athlete in both Hockey and Baseball. This is Hess’s first time competing in a Skinny poetry contest, and he is excited for the opportunity to show the world how much emotion his poems bring. His excitement is only matched by that of The Skinny Poetry Nation.
Crash
A car is flipping and screaming
anger
pain
horrified
stabbing
anger
scratched
bleeding
breathing
anger
Screaming and flipping in a car.
Trinity Dahl
10/5/2022
Trinity Dahl is a senior at Arrowhead High School. She enjoys writing, hiking, drawing, watching movies, and hanging out with friends and family. This is Dahl’s first effort with skinny poetry and was really proud with the outcome of the piece as a student writer–as is The Skinny Poetry Nation.
The Plastic Ocean
Waves of plastic wash ashore
destruction
bottles
straws
Hazard
destruction
dirty
damaging
tainting
destruction
Washes ashore, waves of plastic
Alex Sobczak
10/5/2022
Alex Sobczak is a senior at Arrowhead High School. He enjoys his time playing football for Arrowhead, going out on the lake, and being with his friends and family. Sobczak acquired a vision for this poem when he traveled to Florida with his family. He looks forward to a great senior year and hopes to go to college for business and finance.
A Goodbye
The image of death
Replaying:
hiccups–
choking
labor.
Replaying:
tears,
cigarettes,
alcohol.
Replaying
the image of death
Emma Rathje
6/3/2022
Emma Rathje is a junior at Arrowhead Union High School. She keeps busy with running track, playing ice hockey, and reading in her free time. Rathje enjoys reading fiction, but when writing, she finds herself using poetry to express her thoughts, ideas, and feelings.
The red currency
Blood
spills
open
wounds
Blood
Ruby
tokens
glistening
Blood
The red currency.
Ana Casper
6/3/2022
Ana Casper is a student-writer and incoming freshman at UW-Milwaukee. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking and creating digital art. This is her first time composing a Skinny and The Skinny Poetry Nation is very glad she did.
The Lone Traveler
Death walks
forgotten
broken
wounded
dying
forgotten.
They
lay
still,
forgotten.
Death walks.
***
What We Made
The end.
Made
smoking
burning
future
Made
ignorance,
unchanging.
WE
Made
The End.
Michael Stadler
6/3/2022
Michael Stadler is a junior at Arrowhead Union High School. In his free time, Stadler enjoys camping and spending time with friends. These poems represent his first attempt at writing Skinnys, and he greatly enjoyed the experience. He loves writing poetry and looks forward to writing more in the future.
“Whatever Fruits Your Loops”
Toucan Sam loves colorful, circular, fruity cereal.
Delicious!
ix-nay,
oot-fray,
oops-lay!
Delicious!
Follow
your
nose!
Delicious!
Toucan Sam loves colorful, circular, fruity cereal.
Luca Schiro
6/3/2022
Luca Schiro is a junior at Arrowhead Union High School. This student author loves Disney, eating cheese curds, and watching food reviews on YouTube. Schiro is on the Autism Spectrum, and this first published poem is a good reminder to be kind, reverence the talent in all people, and to celebrate and honor all of our differences.
Author’s note: The Pig Latin phrase ”oot-fray, oops-lay” was Toucan Sam’s strange language in the original commercials. It gave a unique identity to the new cereal “Froot Loops.” It was brilliant marketing and all the kids wanted to learn Pig Latin so they could talk like Toucan Sam.
fast fashion
done quickly —
stabbing
needles
cheap
seams
stabbing
pains
aching
hands
stabbing
quickly done.
Caroline Frost
6/3/2022
Caroline Frost is a senior at Arrowhead Union High School, where she enjoys playing lacrosse and field hockey. Frost is also part of Earth Club and is passionate about the environment, which helped inspire this piece. She loves how poetry allows her to express complicated emotions in a concise way.
Stumbling around.
Crashing
cans
cut
me.
Crashing
captain
bottle.
Father,
crashing,
stumbling around.
***
Pain
I flinch.
Pain.
Bloody
round
fist.
Pain,
waiting
for
more
pain
I flinch.
Emma Schwenker
6/3/2022
Emma Schwenker is a junior at Arrowhead Union High School and enjoyed writing Skinnys. Schwenker likes to play soccer and get together with her friends in her free time. This is her first time composing Skinnys. Relatedly, she reports that she is “glad when she considers the reach of her work,” especially in the context of how her readers may relate to her poetry.
Gone in a Hurry
time
Passes
through
the
flame.
Passes
my
skin
and
Passes
time.
Brooke Hafferman
6/3/2022
Brooke Hafferman is a junior at Arrowhead Union High School. She loves dancing and spending time with friends and family. This was her first time composing a Skinny. As she found it to be a creative challenge, Hafferman also really enjoyed how the finished product turned out (as does The Skinny Poetry Nation).
The Skinny Poetry Nation 