MILTON — City officials and members of the Santa Rosa County Writers’ Guild attended this week's launch of the Blackwater Literary Journal Issue II in the Milton High School media center.
The second issue of the journal contains Milton High student works as well as guild student and adult member poems and short stories.
Since the Milton City Council appointed Marc Livanos as poet laureate in 2017, a number of opportunities have been made available for aspiring writers. For instance, the guild has Tuesday workshops at the Guy Thompson Community Center; dozens of teens attend them, according to Livanos.
Since November, Livanos has been working with Milton High to include student poetry in the second issue. The Issue II acknowledgements section includes thanks to MHS English teachers Hank Bunnell, Rhonda Waters and Leslie Briggs for their help in launching the issue.
The issue is dedicated to Milton City Manager Brian Watkins.
"None of this would have been possible without Mr. Watkins," Livanos said. "He dressed me with what was needed to succeed: getting me the city of Milton email address, the city of Milton T-shirt so people can see [the] poet laureate and understand who I am, the city of Milton business card, the city of Milton poetry tab (at www.miltonlocal.com), the room free of charge continuously every single Tuesday at the (Guy Thompson Community Center)."
Issue II features first-, second- and third-place winners for all four Milton High grades. Twelfth-grader Jade Finch won first place for her untitled poem.
"I’ve been writing since I was little," Finch said. "I did elementary school contests. My mom and teachers told me I was good at writing."
Finch attends Milton High’s Poetry Coffee Shop, where students can buy coffee and snacks and read their poems in the school media center.
"I didn’t realize we had (the Santa Rosa County Writers’ Guild) for the city of Milton," Finch said. "I’m grateful I won. There were a lot of people.
"I didn’t realize the scope of it."
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Milton High students' poetry appears in literary journal (PHOTOS)