Karl Dettmann’s work “Spring” is featured as one of the Top 10 poems in an anthology of poems from 4-6 grade students around the Midwest.

By Paul Downer

Community Editor

Maybe it’s the picturesque landscape around Norwood Young America.

Maybe it’s inspired teaching.

Whatever the cause, it seems that young poets are thriving at Central Elementary School.

Out of hundreds of schools around the Midwest that participated in a poetry contest put on by Creative Communication last spring, Central was one of a select group that received a Poetic Achievement Award. The award recognizes schools that have a large number of students participate, and have 50 percent or more of those poets chosen for publication in a poetry anthology.

What’s more, Central was the only one of those schools that had three teachers (Jane Fasching, Lisa Heckert and Carol Schneider) with 15 or more students published in “A Celebration of Poets,” a collection of poems from fourth through sixth grade students around the Midwest.

Most impressive of all, out of the thousands of poems submitted in the contest, Karl Dettmann’s was chosen to appear first in the anthology, at the head of a Top 10 list of poems.

Dettmann, now in sixth grade at Central Middle School, wrote the poem “Spring” last year when he was a fifth grader in Heckert’s class. His poem was chosen to make the Top 10 list by thousands of students and teachers through online voting after contest judges had narrowed down the entries to a list of “top poems,” which were chosen for their literary merit, creativity or social significance.

“I thought I could maybe get published, that I could maybe be one of the other poems in the back, but I didn’t think I would be in the Top 10. I didn’t think I was going to be in the front of the book,” said Dettmann, who wasn’t involved in the contest in fourth grade and so made the Top 10 on his first attempt.

Dettmann explained that students were allowed to write either about an emotion or a season for the contest.

“I picked spring because it was the next upcoming season,” he said. “We started in January and mailed them in March. I wrote about spring because it’s one of my favorites and I could write the most about it. It’s all about spring.”

Of all the aspects of the poem, Dettmann said he was most proud that he was able to come up with the rhymes. So were his parents.

“We are very proud of our poet,” said Ann, his mother, who noted that Dettmann has done some writing for fun outside of school.

“He did a really good job on it,” added Dave, Dettmann’s father.

As a reward for his selection to the Top 10 and recognition as one of the Midwest’s top young poets, Dettmann received a $25 check toward the purchase of a $50 savings bond.

With that kind of start, does Dettmann plan on continuing his poetry?

“Maybe I’ll write some more,” he said. “I don’t do it too much anymore because I’ve got too much homework.”

"Spring"

Trees growing

Winds blowing

Flowers blooming

Clouds consuming

The sky and sea

Forests swaying

Grasses waving

Storms playing

An orchestra of thunder

Children laughing

Changes happening

Lawn mowing

Cutting the grass

Birds tweeting

Dogs barking

Crickets chirping

Day and night

Spring is coming

Nights are shortening

And days are growing

The season of spring

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