Politics & Government
Bucks County Government: Bucks County Commissioners Honor 2021 High School Poet Of The Year
Epstein-Gross, the 34th recipient of the annual award, was selected from more than 150 high school students throughout the county. She a ...
May 21, 2021
Casey Epstein-Gross, a senior at Solebury School, was recognized this week by the Bucks County Commissioners as the 2021 Bucks County High School Poet of the Year.
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Casey Epstein-Gross, a senior at Solebury School, was recognized this week by the Bucks County Commissioners as the 2021 Bucks County High School Poet of the Year.
Epstein-Gross, the 34th recipient of the annual award, was selected from more than 150 high school students throughout the county. She and three runners-up were chosen by this year’s judges: current Bucks County Poet Laureate Jane Edna Mohler and 2019 Poet Laureate Mary Jo LoBello Jerome.
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Epstein-Gross, the 34th recipient of the annual award, was selected from more than 150 high school students throughout the county. She and three runners-up were chosen by this year’s judges: current Bucks County Poet Laureate Jane Edna Mohler and 2019 Poet Laureate Mary Jo LoBello Jerome.
“These poems are masterful,” Jerome wrote in her judge’s remarks. “The poet has crafted delightful images around original subjects with an artful and gifted grasp of language.”
“These poems are masterful,” Jerome wrote in her judge’s remarks. “The poet has crafted delightful images around original subjects with an artful and gifted grasp of language.”
Mohler added that Epstein-Gross’s poems “offer the reader a fantastic kaleidoscope of pungent images. This poet masters language, bends it to her will with an onslaught of sometimes uncomfortable, true images. The lines are pure excitement.”
Mohler added that Epstein-Gross’s poems “offer the reader a fantastic kaleidoscope of pungent images. This poet masters language, bends it to her will with an onslaught of sometimes uncomfortable, true images. The lines are pure excitement.”
Epstein-Gross, the student runners-up and three finalists were honored at a virtual celebration and reading held Sunday, which was livestreamed and posted to the YouTube channel of Bucks County Community College. The competition is part of the Bucks County Poet Laureate Program, supported by the county commissioners and directed by Dr. Ethel Rackin, professor of language and literature at BCCC.
Epstein-Gross, the student runners-up and three finalists were honored at a virtual celebration and reading held Sunday, which was livestreamed and posted to the YouTube channel of Bucks County Community College. The competition is part of the Bucks County Poet Laureate Program, supported by the county commissioners and directed by Dr. Ethel Rackin, professor of language and literature at BCCC.
Epstein-Gross serves as co-president of her senior class at Solebury School, has had her work published in at least a half-dozen literary magazines and journals, and recently won a National Gold Medal in the 2021 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
Epstein-Gross serves as co-president of her senior class at Solebury School, has had her work published in at least a half-dozen literary magazines and journals, and recently won a National Gold Medal in the 2021 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
The commissioners on Wednesday presented her with a proclamation at their regular meeting, where she read the three poems included in her winning entry. Below is one of them:
The commissioners on Wednesday presented her with a proclamation at their regular meeting, where she read the three poems included in her winning entry. Below is one of them:
It’s Kind of a Really Nice Day
It’s Kind of a Really Nice Day
i have lived among the saddles and the geese
tied tight like a woman gone feral
i have been born again once in new hampshire
birth-trauma circling around me like a belt
i have found the devil in public bathroom mirrors
cold eyes trapped in the baby fat of my face
i have scattered myself throughout the northeast
ashes from an urn brought on a wintry road trip
i have scaled a fire escape with broken fingernails
swallowed a star and puked it up in a sink
i have hauled logs and run from bears outside castles
inhaled burnt acceptance letters at bonfires
i have stood like a shadowed rabbit in blue fields
evening air plump and ripening by the second
i have yearned and sung and shat and raged and been
and been and been and been
i have lived among the saddles and the geese
tied tight like a woman gone feral
i have been born again once in new hampshire
birth-trauma circling around me like a belt
i have found the devil in public bathroom mirrors
cold eyes trapped in the baby fat of my face
i have scattered myself throughout the northeast
ashes from an urn brought on a wintry road trip
i have scaled a fire escape with broken fingernails
swallowed a star and puked it up in a sink
i have hauled logs and run from bears outside castles
inhaled burnt acceptance letters at bonfires
i have stood like a shadowed rabbit in blue fields
evening air plump and ripening by the second
i have yearned and sung and shat and raged and been
and been and been and been
but that breath in your eyes when you sit smooth
on a couch on the porch on the
blacktop that curve of your arm when you
rest it on his shoulder the way you hand
off the grocery list and kiss cheeks with ease
and make even the word “hey” sound
blanketed in wool wrapped in wist and spun sugar
smelling like chopped wood and june that
is all new to me
but that breath in your eyes when you sit smooth
on a couch on the porch on the
blacktop that curve of your arm when you
rest it on his shoulder the way you hand
off the grocery list and kiss cheeks with ease
and make even the word “hey” sound
blanketed in wool wrapped in wist and spun sugar
smelling like chopped wood and june that
is all new to me
Media contact: Larry R. King, 215-348-6413, lrking@buckscounty.org
Media contact: Larry R. King, 215-348-6413, lrking@buckscounty.org
This press release was produced by the Bucks County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.