Golden Poet

When I was about 10 years old, my dad talked me into writing a poem and entering it into a contest. I think I sent them the only copy of the poem I had, which is unfortunate; I'm sure it would be good for a chuckle. Maybe even a guffaw. All I remember of it is the title, "Children of Glass", and one line about a boy with a guitar, but (sadly) no one would dance a jig. Or something like that - I know there was a jig involved. Apparently when I was a child, it was the 1800’s and people danced jigs.

You may be asking yourself where the inspiration for such a piece of literary genius came from. I'd like to say it was about the fragility of youth or perhaps the tragedy of child abuse. But in reality, I looked around the living room and saw the shelves of little Hummelesque figurines my mom collected. Shevles of adorable porcelain children doing adorable things like holding adorable guitars or petting adorable puppies. Seemed as good a subject as any at the time.

A few weeks later I got an envelope from the contest people and inside was… a Golden Poet award! Oh my god! Can you believe it? I won something! Yeah. At the time it was a huge deal (remember, 10 years old) and my dad even framed it for me. Of course, also in the envelope was a letter asking me to buy a huge volume of poetry in which my masterpiece Children of Glass was published. Sadly, I didn’t have the $49.99, or however much it was, but I read and re-read that letter about a jillion times, wishing I was rich so I could buy a book with my poem in it.

On a side note, 18 years later my dad is still very supportive of my writing. And my mom still has the figurines.