Abbey Malbon is a sophomore who recently became a finalist for a poetry contest. Although so far she has only won the first round, she is hopeful that her poem will make it all the way to the national level.

What is the contest that you are a finalist for?
The contest I am a finalist for is called Reflections. It’s ran by the PTA. As far as I know, there are four levels to this contest; local, regional, state and national. I just received news that my poem moved on from local to regional level. Hopefully it will move on to state too, and who knows, maybe Nationals.

Do you write a lot on your own?
I do write a lot on my own. I have loved poetry since I was in elementary school. Since coming to Metea, I kind of forgot how much I loved writing, until this year when I started my creative writing class. Since then, I have been writing almost every day.

What is the poem about?
The theme for the contest was, ‘What is your story,’ so my poem is about how we feel as though  we are supposed to be confined to an indefinite thing, and how some people go against that ideology and some people decide to remain within their comfort zone.

What inspired this?
I saw the flyer for this literally the day before the deadline, so I wrote this in our school’s library. The inspiration for it came from what I was seeing. Some people sit alone content at tables and do their work, and others are obnoxiously talking to a group of people at a table. The poem is really about perspective, and just how people grasp conquering society in a sense.

Do you think you will continue to write in your future?
I hope I will continue to write in my future. I don’t really know of any careers that include getting payed to write poems, besides a poet, but I will hopefully find a way to incorporate my love of writing into my future.