GSMST student selected as a finalist in 2025 Georgia Poet Laureate’s Prize

A student from Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (GSMST) has quite a way with words. Max Lee, a senior at GSMST, has been selected as a finalist for the 2025 Georgia Poet Laureate’s Prize. Max is one of four finalists, not including the winner. More than 260 students submitted poems for the 2024-25 school year, with 105 high schools participating statewide.

Max was recognized for his poem “Savannah, Georgia (+Other Bolted Places).”

“Writing poetry for me feels like a constant search for connection, pulling together bits and pieces from the experiences I remember, the media I read, the subjects I learn, or the people I encounter,” Max says. “There's so much waiting to be connected, and I love diving into a concept just to see where it goes. My poems are never finalized (there are always factors I could tweak or ways to expand), and that freedom to leave something incomplete is why I prefer writing poetry over anything else.”

As a finalist, Max had the opportunity to share his story and poem with Atlanta Magazine for publication and participate in a private poetry reading at the State Capitol, where he took a photo with Governor Brian Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp to commemorate his accomplishment.

“I feel thrilled to be recognized for this honor, and I'm excited to see my poem published online,” Max adds! “Poetry is an art form that relies on its audience, so I'm glad I'm able to share my poetry for others to interpret and internalize for their meaning.”

Max says his work has been recognized by the Pulitzer Center and the Live Poets of New Jersey. Additionally, he plans to combine his interest in writing and computer science by researching computational linguistics and presenting his work at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium and the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair.

“In the future, I plan on double majoring in Computer Science and Linguistics, with a minor in Creative Writing for college,” Max shares. “I'd love to be able to continue conducting research in computational linguistics while also pursuing creative writing as a side project. I hope to begin submitting my poetry to literary journals for publication, and my goal is to publish a poetry chapbook before I graduate from college.”

Before college, Max will continue fostering his passion for writing at the Iowa Young Writer’ Studio this summer.

In collaboration with the Georgia Council for the Arts, the Poet Laureate contest aims to inspire young poets and writers to share and enhance their craft. The competition is open to all students enrolled in a Georgia high school in grades 9-12, including home-schooled children and those enrolled at private schools.

Read the piece below.

 

“Savannah, Georgia (+Other Bolted Places)”
By Max Lee

Between overheating parents, dueling distance apart,
the city sits cross-legged on the trembling ground,
untying Dad’s bootlaces and undoing Mom’s heel straps.
Spit droplets rain on the floorboard and seep into the fault lines.

Summertime fallout.
Moonlight waves a hand through the shutters,
while I witness the eventual death of a union.
Carpets stained with regret from quarrels,
history in the fibers.

Before marriages went south, we took vacations down south.
With the AC blasting, we cruised alongside Amtrak rails
before reaching the city of canopies and Confederate monuments
with plaques I couldn’t read back then.
We grinned at bronze soldiers as Dad positioned the camera.
These must be our heroes, my naivety surmised.

Horses in streets. Reenactors in parks. Howitzers in yards.
Pockets stuck in pasts, Dad still asking passersby to capture family photos.

I remember crossing bridges on the Jefferson Davis Highway,
binoculars searching for alligators in clay-infested rivers,
unaware of the drowned ghosts in Ebenezer Creek.

The Union Army once waded here,
leaving behind matchsticks and scrapwood.
Marigold blazes blossoming out of collapsing cottage shells
as families evacuated beneath smoke shrouds.
Firestorming through Atlanta. But some cities were too beautiful to burn.

There are roads I can’t take, sites I can’t visit anymore.
Cities no longer places, but emotions.
Capsulized feelings of what once was.

Some nights, I imagine stars as cities flickering in the distance.
Darkness and brightness, past and future.
Like lightbulbs blinking in rooms we were all once in.