Olympian Poetry Contest Runner-up: “CARRION.”

We want to congratulate Amelie Fleur de Jesus, The Olympian’s Inaugural Art and Writing Contest Runner-up in Poetry. Their poem “CARRION” had “the most interesting concept” and “the most interesting imagery” according to Poetry Judge and CVHS English teacher Eric Unti. “I love the first line,” he said. “I see the link between falling from the surface of the sea into the abyss and falling from the heavens. I like the speaker’s reflection on their own life and the tension between the nothingness of the abyss and the cycle of rebirth.”

“A whale fall is an ecological phenomena that occurs when the carcass of a whale falls into the abyssal zone of the ocean,” said de Jesus. “This piece takes inspiration from that, but also a conversation I had with a friend in which he conceptualized the term “whale fall” as a whale—falling out of the sky.”

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CARRION.
I talk about the world ending in terms of falling whales
A bloated corpse descends from the heavens, apocalyptic
Only when happening to you or me.
It’s meant to hang over the abyss
A cycle of rebirth.
Those microorganisms organisms consume corpses over decades
Sacrament, in its own way.

Would that I find such peace in passing.
That this host be taken in by scavengers and bottom trawlers
Nothing left to recall my presence but a patch of black,
Pure in its potential.

When I lie under the stars
I promise not to think of you. There’s the shame to contend with
Bleeding out in front of everyone.
Yes, well. Change. I’m leaving behind this
Ontological hall of mirrors.
The waver in my voice
When I fail to say I love you—it’s done nothing but cause me pain.
My heart starts to stutter; it’s disorder, darling, and

It’s killing me.
Not everything is something else.
Not everything is something else.
Exalt, it’s difficult to exist without definition
The windows split the sunlight into three, and
It isn’t over any time soon
There are no borders to your body.
Praise to this: you are yourself.