Christina Kamnikar

Christina Kamnikar of Cheyenne was this past year’s 1st place winner in the Eugene V. Shea National Poetry Contest. Her poem, “Dream Request”, opened with the line “We want a poem about your nightmares, said the dream publisher”. Writing dream scenes can be tricky, and we often wish we could choose our dreams. As poets, the best we can do is choose our words and still, like a dream and our inner emotions, the words take us where they need to be. We lose control but retain our public courage, which Christina shows us. Her attitudes about cheerleading and accepting praise are the spirit of WyoPoets.

Like many people, I wrote poetry in high school and college which was heavy on emotional therapy but sparse on word quality. Since I was writing for myself, that was fine. I kept writing off and on over the years. After entering several contests, I got discouraged and stopped showing my work to anyone -- ever. I kept writing for fun: short stories with friends, journaling, poems, anything that did not require public risks. I kept reading Neruda, Alice Walker, and anyone else I came across.

In the last several years, my mom started writing and publishing her poetry and memoirs. She was invited to speak at a poetry reading in Loveland, and I went along to cheer her on. After the session was over, I thought, "Why not share my poetry with Mom?". I sent her two of my most recent poems. She showed them to one of her friends and her writing teacher. With their encouragement, I got back into writing poetry that I'd show to other people.

So far it's been a year since I've been submitting my work for publication. I was thrilled to win last year's WyoPoets’ Eugene V. Shea National Poetry Contest. Most of my writing is inspired by nature or the questions I can't answer. What is that sound? Why do weird things happen the way they do? What is the point of feeling an emotion you can't understand?

I can say that being a member of WyoPoets has brought me into a writing group full of great people and into a larger community of writers. Thank you, every one of you.

The namesake of our contest, Gene, would likely say, “Keep writing -- about anything.”


Empty World
 
Sometimes
what I want
is an empty world
 
I wake up early
I stay up late
the world is larger
while the rest of you sleep
 
I can drive my car faster
there are no lines
at the 24 hour stores
I can distinguish noises
without the buzz of the world
I own everything I see
with no one to contradict me
 
If the Rapture comes
takes everyone but me
leaves the world quiet and still
I will miss everyone
go out of my mind with lonely
but for five minutes
 
I will be thrilled

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