Old Lyme Student Wins First Prize For Poetry

A Press Release from The Williams School in New London

Christina Flynn, a senior at The Williams School in New London and a resident of Old Lyme, won first prize in poetry in the 2013 Thornton Wilder Writing Competition.

This award was established in 1987 by the Friends of the Hamden Library to honor long-time Hamden resident and Pulitzer Prize-winning author and playwright, Thornton Wilder.  The competition is open to all Connecticut public, private, and parochial school students. 

Flynn received her award on Thursday, April 4 in the Thornton Wilder Hall at the Miller Library Complex.  Flynn was on hand to read her winning poem, "Writer's Block." 

"Writer's Block" by Christina Flynn

A tyrant spell has bound me. I’m bemused,
inhibited by vocabulary
famed Victorian poets overused.
Calliope is imaginary!
How Virgil penned ten thousand lines, I can’t
begin to guess. Each word eludes me like
a sylph who flutters, charms, and gallivants
through leafy forests of my mind. She strikes!
Perhaps this burst of inspiration,
divine and clear, is all-embracing.
Perhaps it’s only the susurration
of idyllic thoughts inside me pacing.
My muse is fleeting, as is November,
Crumbling beneath me like perished embers.

About The Williams School
Founded in 1891, The Williams School is an independent, co-educational, day school for grades 7 to 12. Located on the Connecticut College campus in New London, Williams serves students from 42 communities spanning from West Haven, CT to Westerly, RI. Williams provides a college preparatory program centered on a classical, liberal arts curriculum and small class sizes. The Williams School fosters the intellectual, moral, aesthetic, and physical development of young men and women in preparation for a lifetime of learning and active participation in a changing society.