Jocelyn Brooks

Third Place

“Rings” 

by Jocelyn Brooks
10th grade, Mount Olive High School
Teacher: Christopher Murphy
Third-place prize: $100

I’ve had an alter-ego once or twice,
A pair of mismatched gloves,
A false set of dice,
But I’ve never had to tell you twice.

I’ve burned a lot of bridges, sure,
Trinkets of the past wash up and litter my shore,
The Phoebe Bridgers DVD and the starfish I mourn.
But our Jersey Shore is Neverland,
And we run wild, our feet flying off sand.

I had a dream of a jungle gym,
Rings of all kinds were encrusted on every inch,
Under the bright moon, glittering unend.
And here we weren’t just girls or women,
We were the stars, the milky way’s bend.

You reached up with a pair of rusty pliers,
Broke off a ring. I couldn’t help but stare for a while,
The stars, the rings, and us compiled,
At the ring you gave me, I broke out into a smile.

And I believed it the most beautiful thing,
You, never ending, the giver of rings.