Joe Griffard

Attending the Beverly Hopkins Poetry reading, sophomore Rachel Griffard reads her poem “Chains” to the audience.

Since becoming interested in poetry in seventh grade, sophomore Rachel Griffard decided to enter her first poetry contest and submit her poem “Chains” to the Beverly Hopkins Poetry Contest and earned an honorable mention.

“It was my own decision to enter contest, but my English teacher, Erin Fluchel, mentioned the contest to the class, and I thought I should enter a poem,” Griffard said.

Griffard submitted three poems: “Doubt,” “Chains” and “Stitches.” “Chains” was the only one that was nominated for the honorable mention.

“Ironically, ‘Chains’ is not a poem that I believed was one of my better. Although I personally could connect to it, because I wrote it, I didn’t know there would be other people who would feel the emotion that I put into it,” Griffard said.

Griffard did not expect to be one of the finalists.

“Being my first contest, I did not expect to be a finalist, nor even get an honorable mention. I have always written poetry but never entered the contest. I thought it would be interesting to see how this one turned out, and I’m glad I entered because it gives me even more confidence I can write poetry that touches other people,” Griffard said.

“Chains” is about the societal pressure to change who you are.

“As a society, we categorize people and to force them into boxes. [‘Chains’] is meant to force the reader to consider who they are and whether that is who they want to be,” Griffard said.

“Chains” took Griffard 10 minutes to write but still took the time to improve it.

“I spent much more time reading through it and considering how to improve it,” Griffard said. “My writing process is to write what I am thinking, take a day, and then come back to the piece and try to improve it. I did change a few things before I turned it in, but for this poem, I felt it was better raw than if it were edited and polished.”

Since Griffard received the honorable mention, she is going to read her poem on May 17 at The Focal Point. The Focal Point is a place where concerts, dances and poetry readings take place.

“Although not getting an honorable mention would not have deterred my writing in the least, this makes me more confident in my writing abilities,” Griffard said. “I plan to enter more contests, and although I know I will not always end up placing or getting a mention, that is okay because I know that my poetry had touched at least one person.”