{"id":2217,"date":"2013-11-25T19:49:56","date_gmt":"2013-11-26T03:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/?p=2217"},"modified":"2013-11-26T09:05:23","modified_gmt":"2013-11-26T17:05:23","slug":"student-poem-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/?p=2217","title":{"rendered":"Student Poem"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Syzygy
\nby Nathan Cummings<\/p>\n

 
\nLike syzygy, we collided
\nin the darkness, ricocheted,
\ntwirled, aligned
\n(helped along by gravity?)
\nand were gone when the moon showed its face.<\/p>\n

I told you the word at dawn,
\nand had to write it on a notepad
\nbefore you would believe me.
\nMany things sound impossible
\nbefore you put your tongue into them.<\/p>\n

Listen.
\nFeel it in the roots of your teeth.
\nLet the\u00a0zy<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0gy<\/em>\u00a0crackle
\nlike the static on an old TV set,
\nturning sound galvanic,
\nmaking atoms tremble in ecstasy
\nuntil they leap skyward,
\nform rows and hang in the void to hear
\nthe planets sing with one burning voice.<\/p>\n

Let consonants carry you away.<\/p>\n

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Nathan Cummings has been appointed the West Region’s National Student Poet<\/a>\u00a0for 2013. This is the highest honor in the United States for youth poets presenting original work. Nathan currently lives in Mercer Island, a community which has afforded him many opportunities in the arts. These include playing the clarinet in marching and concert band and serving as the editor-in-chief of his high school literary magazine,\u00a0Pegasus.<\/em><\/a>\u00a0Nathan is also a reader for two national teen literary magazines, Polyphony H.S.<\/a> <\/em>and The Adroit Journal.<\/a> <\/em>His experiences with Polyphony<\/em> and Adroit,<\/em> as well as his time spent at the Iowa Young Writers\u2019 studio, have introduced him to a remarkably close-knit and supportive network of teen writers from across the nation.\u00a0Nathan also participates in cross country and track and field at his school. Some of his favorite poems originate from ideas that first came to him during long, solitary runs.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

Nathan Cummings pictured at the White House with Mrs. Obama (Nathan is just right of her) and his fellow National Student Poets. \u00a0Read more about this excellent program here<\/a> and\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n

(This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and\/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.)<\/h6>\n

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