Maeve O’Hara read her prize-winning poem to baseball fans on May 3 at Worcester’s Polar Park. O’Hara, 11, is a fifth-grade student at Claypit Hill Elementary School in Wayland. She was one of twenty elementary school students from across the state who won the contest sponsored by the National Baseball Poetry Festival. It was a celebration of poetry which focused on either a baseball or softball theme.
According to Jacqueline Moquin, O’Hara’s teacher, although her students enter many writing contests throughout the school year, O’Haha was the only student in her class who was interested in entering this poetry contest. “I am thrilled that she won this contest,” Moquin said. “I was impressed that her poem not only focused on the theme of baseball, but also on the feelings of the player. Maeve is an empathetic person who cares about her classmates’ feelings, so the theme of her poem didn’t surprise me at all!”
The budding young poet likes to write and play soccer. Her favorite animal is a dog.
This was the third annual National Poetry Festival which takes place in Worcester the first weekend after National Poetry Month. There were multiple winning categories: elementary, middle school, high school, little leaguers, college students and adults. Entries were evaluated for creativity, originality and style. Winners are awarded a certificate of achievement, a festival t-shirt and two tickets to the Woo Sox game. Polar Park is the home of the Worcester Red Sox, nicknamed the Woo Sox . They are a professional minor league baseball team that is a Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
What Would You Rather? By Maeve O’Hara
Whether you pitch
whether you swing
or whether you catch.
You matter.
They would rather
you be a batter,
rather you catch.
You’re still incredible.
Win or lose
you keep standing up
on those shiny shoes.
Boy or girl,
they or them
Keep moving forward.
Root for your own team
not theirs.
Do what you want
even if it gives you a scare.
I will always and forever
be on your team
and watch you catch those
beautiful dreams.
