Local boy wins poetry contest

Ryan Brown

A poem written by Ryan Brown of Agoura Hills, was chosen from several thousand entries as one of the top 10 poems in his grade in the Creative Commun ication's Young Poets Contest.

Ryan won a $50 savings bond, and his poem will be published in a poetry anthology called "A Celebration of Young Poets."

The author is a sixthgrade student at Lindero Canyon Middle School. The poem, "I Wish I Could Be," is written from the point of view of a Jewish child in a Nazi concentration camp.
I wish I could be a blue jay,
soaring high in the sky with no worries,
not living as a prisoner in a dismal, windowless room
as I do here.
I wish I could be a frog,
scanning the surface of a pond for flies
not seeing helpless people and terror
as I do here.
I wish I could be a bear,
charging through the forest confident and strong,
not feeling frightened, weak, and small
as I do here.
I wish I could be a fawn,
listening to the wind sweeping through the grass,
not hearing cries for help with no answers
as I do here.
I wish I could be a rabbit,
sniffing out a new patch of sweet hay,
not smelling the stench of unwashed bodies,
as I do here.
I wish I could be.
              I Wish I Could Be