Submissions for Poetry are open to one poem that was completed for coursework during the last calendar year. Submissions should not exceed 5 pages. Darin Neuberger wrote the 2nd place submission in the Poetry Category for the 2025 President’s Writing Awards.
About Darin
Darin Neuberger is an avid reader and writer of literature across all genres. Poetry and fiction are the main focus of his writing, allowing for the most opportunity for creativity and expression. Among his key influences in poetry have been Charles Baudelaire’s poems and Shakespeare’s sonnets. Darin sees writing as a constant challenge to grow and learn.
In addition to his casual writing, Darin is an avid basketball fan (Go Miami Heat!) who enjoys playing the game of Magic the Gathering on a competitive level, as well as going on outings with his family.
Winning Manuscript – Genesis 1 (Revised)
In the beginning
God created a formless white,
a bright, endless surface
that bent and twisted upon itself
into streets of spirals
and walls of whimsy.
After much time admiring His Creation
God tore a piece off the ground
and held its rectangular shape in His Hands.
“Paper,” He called it
—the first day.
And God said,
“Let there be lead
to contort this paper.”
And with great excitement,
He attempted to “write”
by scratching the lead against the paper
and the writing was good.
The way His words alternated stressed syllables God called “meter.”
Rows His words formed were “lines.”
Groups the lines formed were “stanzas”
—the second day.
As God wrote,
the landscape around Him began to change.
He was surrounded by
His descriptions of
a Heaven and an Earth.
Of land, ocean, rainforest, and desert.
Of high castles
against the blue sky
and lowly chimneys
against dirt roads;
all forming crosses.
There spawned content animals—
leopards, ostriches, rabbits, deer—
and beside them came mankind.
Man hated one another
and destroyed all he touched
making spoiled kings
and starving peasants.
God knew man
could not continue
as he was
—the third day.
And so God carefully pondered
what to build next.
His spirit rippled and billowed
with Celestial grace
causing the paper
to wrinkle like grinning waves.
God called this a “simile.”
The way his pen was a knife bleeding paper
God called a “metaphor.”
The squeak of the lead was “onomatopoeia.”
The glittering golden glow of His gaze was “alliteration.”
Air from His breath created the
swishing, whiffing winds of “assonance,”
and His Tongue clacked and clucked in “consonance.”
Songs about Heaven He wrote for humans were “allusions.”
And the combination of all this special
language God called “poetry”
—the fourth day.
And God said,
“Let there be poets”
and it was so.
And these poets
God believed
would selflessly work in His Image
as protectors of this great world
to expose and dismantle
the injustices of man
—the fifth day.
And God saw everything
that He had made, and behold
it was very good. There was prose
and there was poetry.
Achievements of design
and invention that had
to be applauded.
There was man
and there was nature
kings and poets
—the sixth day.