A Bismarck poet used one of her earlier works to win an international poetry competition this month.

Mara Rose Balaban's "Lady of the Night" won third place at the fourth annual Killie Writing Competition, in Scotland. Balaban wrote the poem when she was 9. She's 11 now.

Her mother, Hannah Balaban, discovered the all-ages contest while surfing the Web. She submitted Mara's poem last fall, and then kind of forgot about it until a letter came this month. Mara had taken third, and the contest's promoters wanted her to fly to Kilmarnock College to accept her $135 award. But she was too busy being a sixth-grader at Pioneer Elementary.

Mara has been writing poems for as long as she can remember, usually about four or five a month. They take her five or 10 minutes.

"I have to be in a certain mood to write them," she said. "When I'm sad or angry, Ihave to do something. I've written more lately because a lot of stuff has been happening. My great-grandpa just died."

When she was 3 or 4, Mara told her parents she didn't need to learn to read, because they could read books to her. But she said she needed to learn to write. Then she would scribble on some paper and "read"it to them, making up the words as she went.

Hannah Balaban has offered to buy her daughter books on poetry, but Mara doesn't want them. She doesn't want them to influence the way she writes.

Mara said she'll always write poetry - she doesn't have a favorite form - but sees her life taking a path toward a different career.

"Iwant to be a zoologist,"she said. "Ilike cats. Tigers and cheetahs and stuff."

Here is her award-winning poem:

Lady of the Night

As sunset fades and shadows grow,

She emerges from her lair, aglow.

Her eyes the stars, her hair the wind,

Her crown of darkness, lightning pinned.

Her face the moon, her gown the sky,

Into the darkness she will fly.

She slowly dances by the bay,

By rays of dawn she fades away.