“He grabs her hand, he pulls her close, and he sings, ‘you are my sunshine.’ ”

Those were the opening lines of Savannah Spencer’s poem, “Gray Dancing.” As she recited, she switched between spoken word and song, depending on what her lines called for. (See her full poem at the end of this story.)

Savannah, a senior at Harrisonville High School, and 18 other students from around Cass County recited poems delivered with crisp cadence Nov. 12. The 12th annual Poetic Voices event was held this year at the Belton branch of the Cass County Public Library.

Savannah’s poem won first place, and Samuel Bellefy of Belton and Jacqueline Harp from Pleasant Hill took second and third, respectively.

But far more significant than the judges’ scores were the poems themselves, each divulging a fleeting but insightful look into the young writers’ lives.

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Cass County Democrat Missourian