English Department Chair Tim Harrington '73 described Celina Rivernider '19 as a "poet warrior," high praise for any young writer at Wilbraham & Monson Academy.
Celina's poetic excellence was recognized and rewarded in February, when she earned four medals in the Boston Globe Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, a statewide contest for teenagers.
"I was really, really surprised," Celina said. "The last two years I've only gotten one honorable mention each year.
"There are thousands of people in this contest. I was hoping to get one Gold Key, and I got three Gold Keys and a Silver Key. I thought it was funny, too, because when I had Mr. Harrington sign my forms, I submitted seven pieces of work. He said, 'They've got to like one of them, right?' I said, 'That's the plan.' It was completely above any expectation I had. I was very pleased."
Thanks in part to a writing opportunity provided by the Academy, Celina's overall writing ability has flourished since May 2017, when she attended a highly respected writing workshop at Middlebury College.
"Before Middlebury I wasn't sure about my writing voice," Celina explained. "I wasn't willing to take any risk. But they (at Middlebury) encouraged that so much. I have been writing so much more since Middlebury. It's just a few days but you write and experiment and get used to it."
Long before her workshop at Middlebury, Celina has had a passion for writing, specifically poetry. She's already written more than 100 poems, and five of her works have been published outside of WMA.
"I like how abstract poetry can be," Celina said. "Lately my poems have been more abstract because I'm less worrying about them making sense and I can do what I want. You can talk about complicated, subtle things, like emotions or situations. It doesn't matter if people understand them or not. It's more personal that way for me."
"Celina lives and breathes writing and poetry and literature," Mr. Harrington said. "It's an interesting side of her, because the other side of her is tough. That's a powerful combination."
Tatiana Ravelli '18 earned a Silver Key in the Personal Essay/Memoir category, as well as an Honorable Mention for Mixed Media. Erika Convery '19 earned two Honorable Mentions in Poetry.
Below is Celina's Gold Key poem "Sermon at the Sea."
Sermon at the Sea
spell out my name into the breeze
as we stand at the edge and the tide guides our feet to dance
whisper it beside me, so your breath falters
and i can't hear anything but the hiss of the foaming Earth
to you, my name is Hallelujah
your sunday song after your
saturday nights of infidelity
your compass rose on an endless beach
your blind watchman with wide eyes
crouched in the crow's nest of our tipping vessel
it sinks and neither lookout nor captain abandon ship
we watch the sails melt down
with our fingers bound to each other
up to our ankles in grains of blissful ignorance
the moon peels the water away along with our wreckage
i bow to the breeze laced with your syllables
as they ricochet off the wreck laid to rest
back to us, we run to their rhythm
free, and i believe we are endlessly
Hallelujah.