Brittany is a senior in Champlin Park High School. She is an advanced pianist and loves to write, play softball, and is involved in National Honor Society and Literary Arts Magazine at her school. She is a volunteer at the local elementary school, and a teacher's aide at Temple Israel. She is participating in Keren Or for the first time and submitted both poetry and photography.
POETRY - 2006
Grades 7 - 9
First Place - Sarah Aizman
Third Place - Shirley Aurand Wilson
Grades 10 - 12
First Place - Brittany Jaekel
Poetry, Grades10 - 12: First Place
Death Maracas- Brittany Jaekel
Hey, hey, boy--
Rain don't fall here often.
You're a fool to look up
And think a storm's brewing.
We don't pray to Zeus--
We pray to the guitar and the swish
Of orange fabric at a woman's waist.
Here, boy--
Shake these death maracas
In the night breeze,
Or else wait for the sun to split open
Like a ripe old mango
And spill its meat down on the world.
Me, I'd rather hear the music
Make tempo with the moonlight.
But my hands are worn from wooden handles
And my feet are burned up by sand.
Here, boy--
Take up them instruments,
Make us a little symphony that reminds us
Of rain, of streaking storms,
Of moonlight shaking in the breeze.
Come on, Death-maker,
Old Rain Reaper.
Suck dry our dreams and
Let us lie bored in our beds,
Working our tongues around the
Dust. Let us limp to our
Sand-whipped barns and feed
Lanky cows with old barley,
And sing our children songs about
Finding God;
A hummingbird flitting from flower
To pink flower.