New York State In-depth

Former Washington Resident Places in the Art Show | local news

Harry C. Craft III, a former Washington resident, was recognized for his poetry in third place at the 2022 Orlando Veterans Creative Art Show held on January 27, 2023 at the Orlando Veterans Medical Center in Lake Nona, Florida.

Craft entered the Creative Writing category for poetry on August 5, 2022. There were several categories for poetry and Craft took third place in the humor category with his poem Our Heroes. He also received a Contestant Award in the Poetry Rhyming category for his poem “A Poet” and in the Poetry Non-Rhyming category for his poem “Diamonds and Blood”.

The competition is sponsored each year by the Veterans Health Administration at the local level, and veterans compete for a chance to advance to the national level competition. First place winners advance and advance to the national level, which is held at a different location within the Veterans Health Administration.

The Veterans Creative Arts Show has many different categories of creative writing, dance, oil painting, watercolor, drama, vocal music, instrumental solo, and group and band categories. The competition is designed to help disabled veterans express their emotions and feelings in a creative atmosphere and help them heal themselves through their creative endeavors.

The competition has been very successful in recent years and many veterans have taken part. This was the first year that Craft attended the event. He has been published in many collections of poetry across the country and is now working on his first volume of poetry, which will be published soon.

Craft is a 27-year veteran who served in the US Army and US Coast Guard. A 1978 graduate of Washington High School, Craft holds an AA Liberal Arts degree from Saint Leo University in Saint Leo, Florida, a BS Liberal Arts degree from Excelsior University in Albany, New York, and an MPA in Public Affairs from Indiana University.

For more information on the 2022 Orlando Veterans Creative Arts Show, call 407-622-4267. Craft’s winning poem follows:

“Our heroes”

I was sitting on the couch with a fat man

who happened to be my father

The show had just started, it was Batman

and boy were we glad!

We watched the cloaked crusader

rushed down the street

and all his arch villains

he was sure to be defeated

“Holy cow,” cried the wonder boy,

when he spied on the penguin trying to loot

while batman raced into action, his opponent

takes his licks

They spotted the Joker using some of his new tricks

Boom, boom, pow

We’re really seeing some action now

boom, boom, pow

our heroes, we did wow

So off to jail our accomplices go

which usually means we’re running out of time

I jump out of my seat and turn on channel four

Just so we can see our heroes one more time.

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