National Spelling Bee | Teen Ink

National Spelling Bee MAG

April 24, 2008
By Anonymous

While down my back a bead of sweat does drip,
And eyes go flitting to soft carpet floor,
My tongue does quake at thought of verbal slip
As parent-made applause begins to roar.
Letters, sharp as tacks, cease their dark allure,
Potent smells waft off spellers made to fear,
And as the slip of lip ’rounds sounds obscure,
Do I detect the faintest hint of tears?
But as now I stand with arms so entwined,
Trepidation a moment not supplied,
I find within myself a faith unmined,
And to my frightened nerves I merely chide
The glance of the judge stills the growing din;
I draw my final breath as I begin.



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This article has 18 comments.


on Dec. 13 2015 at 3:53 pm
Queenbee316 BRONZE, Spanish Fork, Utah
2 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I could give up, I could stay stuck, or I could move on" ~David Archuleta

Wow this was really really good!

NoniDoni GOLD said...
on Jan. 5 2015 at 8:25 pm
NoniDoni GOLD, Calabasas, California
11 articles 0 photos 54 comments
This sonnet is really good and the imagery is impeccable! The rhyming is very clever and witty. I love it!

on Apr. 23 2013 at 5:58 pm
WinstonSmith BRONZE, Columbia, Missouri
3 articles 0 photos 32 comments
This is a very cool poem.  I am proud of you.

lizzy said...
on Apr. 14 2013 at 8:55 pm
ummmm, cool poem 

Ella1 GOLD said...
on Nov. 26 2011 at 10:00 am
Ella1 GOLD,
14 articles 7 photos 137 comments
Great poem!! Could you read some of my work if you get a chance? Thanks!!

TheCreator said...
on Aug. 31 2011 at 12:30 pm
TheCreator, Dallas, Texas
0 articles 0 photos 3 comments
I liked how you express in words how the feeling was to stand up there and be in the spelling be,

on Jun. 3 2011 at 8:40 pm
Studio_Riet GOLD, Tonasket, Washington
16 articles 0 photos 124 comments

Favorite Quote:
" Times you see, is a little arrangement that man has made for himself to try to measure the immeasurable mysteries of life." -Calypso to Ulysses (Bernard Evslin.)
"You don't have a soul, you are a soul. You have a body" - CS Lewis

True. It made it a little bit hard to read. It still is cool, though. I mean, it takes a lot of practice to write any kind of poem well. Especially one with funny rules, like a sonnet.

By the way, is this an english sonnet? The rhyme patterns are different than what I learned.


on Oct. 4 2010 at 1:49 pm
ShenelleCrystal SILVER, M, New York
7 articles 0 photos 186 comments

Favorite Quote:
Laugh your heart out dance in the rain cherish the memories ignore the pain love + learn forget and forgive because remember you only have [one life to live] ♥

I really like this :) Please check out and rate my work ? :)

on May. 1 2010 at 12:48 pm
Isabella_B. GOLD, Cranston, Rhode Island
14 articles 0 photos 6 comments
i really like it, but in some places the pentameter seemed a little off. but i loved the analogies in it.

on Apr. 14 2010 at 11:55 am
KYLE199V5 BRONZE, SAUGUS, Massachusetts
2 articles 0 photos 5 comments
I LKED HOW U SET UP YOUR POEM, I LIKE HOW YOU TRYED TO CONNECT WITH OTHERS WITH THE SAME PROB..

Hamburglar said...
on Feb. 26 2010 at 6:21 am
Hamburglar, Sibley, Missouri
0 articles 0 photos 10 comments
The rhymes seem rather forced, although, other than that, this is a good poem. Keep writing.

on Dec. 22 2009 at 6:24 pm
munkyman95 GOLD, Medway, Other
18 articles 1 photo 100 comments

Favorite Quote:
I will become, what I know I am' Michael Jordan

This poem is so good, like the flow and the ending, it inspired me to write my own poem

on Dec. 9 2009 at 4:54 pm
Grania PLATINUM, Portland, Maine
33 articles 0 photos 79 comments
That is correct! You win! :-)

AmberA BRONZE said...
on Sep. 19 2009 at 10:28 am
AmberA BRONZE, Karachi, Other
4 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
-Oscar Wilde.

omg this is the same as i felt in my spelling bee! it captures my moment =) lovely just like u !

=D

on May. 9 2009 at 4:42 pm
GreenWriter826 PLATINUM, McAllen, Texas
21 articles 0 photos 31 comments

Favorite Quote:
''Their fruits like honey to the throat
But poison in the blood'' - Christina Georgina Rossetti "Goblin Market"

i love this sonnet...it is so good the fear giving way to bravery...bravo...(applause)

Haylynn GOLD said...
on May. 6 2009 at 7:53 pm
Haylynn GOLD, Skiatook, Oklahoma
10 articles 0 photos 23 comments
this is good. i like it.

on Apr. 30 2009 at 8:15 pm
Great sonnet! Nice use of iambic pentameter.

Redemption65 said...
on Dec. 14 2008 at 2:44 pm
This flows...AMAZING!!!!! This is the only poem on this website that has flow AND rhymed. Thank you!