A huge thank you to all who took the time to enter the 2024 Solano County Library Teen Writing Contest!

We were honored to read your work, and encourage each of you to continue writing.

Please enjoy the winning entry below!

POETRY WINNER

Author’s Note: This poem is a reinterpretation of Dante’s Inferno (Canto I) from the perspective of Anakin Skywalker. Dante’s Inferno details Dante’s journey through the nine circles of Hell. In my poem, Anakin Skywalker experiences a metaphorical Hell as he descends to the dark side.

Anakin’s Inferno

by Philip Lee

My mother’s bloody corpse

crusted on the scorching sands of Tatooine.

I’m not scared but terrified.

A massacre

at my calloused hands.

I am the chosen one.

Anakin Skywalker,

son of Shmi Skywalker.

The prospective savior of universe

has strayed from the Jedi Way.

Who am I?

Of whom will I belong?

I’m lost, alone in the endless desert mounds.

I trudge through the barren landscape,

aimlessly searching for a light of hope in the pitch black.

I tumble into the sands,

the weight of the prophecy

too heavy for me to stand.

I am engulfed by the beast of fear,

torn by the devil of revenge,

consumed by the spirit of hatred.

I weep, tears evaporating instantaneously

My skin, wilting in the heat

As my consciousness slips away

I descend into a dream,

a vision.

It’s my love, Padme.

Plagued by visions of her death,

Tormented by the thought of my powerlessness,

Frightened by the prospect of her absence.

I’m jolted awake, body trembling.

But a hooded figure approaches me

and hoists me to my feet.

My good friend,

my true savior all along:

Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Republic.

Standing amidst the blazing sun,

an aura of stalwart and confidence.

A presence of power.

With a troubled countenance,

I inform him of my dream,

confess to my uncontrollable rage and fear.

He implores me to follow him,

to not refute the shadows of my fear and anger,

but to embrace it, to use it to overcome any obstacle.

Consumed by my emotional turmoil,

Unable to make rational decisions,

Her safety was the only necessity.

Jedi vows forsaken,

I decide to follow his footsteps

to trust his word.