Tiptoes: 2026 K-12 Poetry Contest Honorable Mention

Author: Penelope W.

these jokes are old and getting older

my humor gets worse as I grow taller

touching doorframes on my tiptoes

slipping underwater in a summer stream

childlike wonder tiptoes away

on soft feet, closing the door with

a creak and not looking back

what became of those

California summers spent under

Japanese maples in the front yard

telling stories to the sky

daydreaming about religion

wishing I could believe in something

that deeply or easily