1st Place
Athena Moorthy
Academies of Discovery
October 24
Mother came home quieter than usual.
What’s wrong, mom?
I knew she could hear my doubtful tone
echoing through the silent house.
She looked up at me
With tear streaks running down her face.
I’m sorry, but your grandfather died.
It’s not true.
It couldn’t have happened.
I felt my heart shatter.
The man I only got to see once a year
who lived across the other side of the world.
Gone?
The memories flooded my mind
Like a never-ending storm
It was so easy to talk to him,
even as his dementia progressed
We could understand each other,
even though I saw him so little.
The pain deepened in my chest,
I could feel it rip apart into tiny pieces
as I realized my best friend was gone.
I held on to my mother
who was sobbing in my arms
Reassuring her,
It’s going to be okay,
But how could it be okay?
The painful embrace of death
wrapped its arms around my grandfather
And took him away forever.
How could it ever be okay?
Mother came home quieter than usual.
What’s wrong, mom?
I knew she could hear my doubtful tone
echoing through the silent house.
She looked up at me
With tear streaks running down her face.
I’m sorry, but your grandfather died.
It’s not true.
It couldn’t have happened.
I felt my heart shatter.
The man I only got to see once a year
who lived across the other side of the world.
Gone?
The memories flooded my mind
Like a never-ending storm
It was so easy to talk to him,
even as his dementia progressed
We could understand each other,
even though I saw him so little.
The pain deepened in my chest,
I could feel it rip apart into tiny pieces
as I realized my best friend was gone.
I held on to my mother
who was sobbing in my arms
Reassuring her,
It’s going to be okay,
But how could it be okay?
The painful embrace of death
wrapped its arms around my grandfather
And took him away forever.
How could it ever be okay?
2nd Place
Jamie Kerce
Academies of Discovery
A Tree’s Transformation
I laugh at the sun
The sun who plays games
Who gives me light
Who gives me heat
I greet the grass
The grass who cushions me
Who lets me lay in its beautiful lap
I tease the birds
The birds who chirp all day
And peacefully sleep all night
Who rise very early
Just to say hello
I stare at the man
Who carries an ax
With a blank expression
on his sturdy face
He means to bring suffering
To destroy my existence
All that I am
All I can do
Is watch
And let his ax
do the work...
I laugh at the sun
I greet the grass
I tease the birds
Who land on my ledge
I welcome the kids
Who climb the ladder
And play inside
The shelter that I
Now provide
Sometimes pain destroys
But if one can see
The beauty
In transformation
Then one can grow
Into something
That is cherished
A testament to the power of rebirth
I laugh at the sun
The sun who plays games
Who gives me light
Who gives me heat
I greet the grass
The grass who cushions me
Who lets me lay in its beautiful lap
I tease the birds
The birds who chirp all day
And peacefully sleep all night
Who rise very early
Just to say hello
I stare at the man
Who carries an ax
With a blank expression
on his sturdy face
He means to bring suffering
To destroy my existence
All that I am
All I can do
Is watch
And let his ax
do the work...
I laugh at the sun
I greet the grass
I tease the birds
Who land on my ledge
I welcome the kids
Who climb the ladder
And play inside
The shelter that I
Now provide
Sometimes pain destroys
But if one can see
The beauty
In transformation
Then one can grow
Into something
That is cherished
A testament to the power of rebirth
3rd Place
Zander Alegria
Cherokee Bluff Middle School
What Happened?
Oh the trees!
Where did they go?
Once upon a time ago they flourished, thrived, and stretched across the lands
Then we let them go
One by one they disappeared, as the loggers and farmers tore them down
and we let them do it, let them take them to make pencils and paper,
the sad truth is we did nothing
Oh the animals, where did they go?
land stripped of vegetation, no water to drink
thirsty, hungry
Then they too disappeared
and what did we do?
nothing
desertification, the water went, they could not drill, or drink the salty water of the sea
hunters killed them for fun and thrill
Then cities were built their homes destroyed, trees destroyed
pollution overtook the ocean
Oh where did the fish go?
plastic, oil, metal galore!
The ocean surface barely visible, the fish then went away, gone
The arctic gone, the sky invisible no more shall we see
the beautiful blue, birds gone,
and the list goes on and on
This seems bad, maybe horrible
But after all the year is 2030.
Oh the trees!
Where did they go?
Once upon a time ago they flourished, thrived, and stretched across the lands
Then we let them go
One by one they disappeared, as the loggers and farmers tore them down
and we let them do it, let them take them to make pencils and paper,
the sad truth is we did nothing
Oh the animals, where did they go?
land stripped of vegetation, no water to drink
thirsty, hungry
Then they too disappeared
and what did we do?
nothing
desertification, the water went, they could not drill, or drink the salty water of the sea
hunters killed them for fun and thrill
Then cities were built their homes destroyed, trees destroyed
pollution overtook the ocean
Oh where did the fish go?
plastic, oil, metal galore!
The ocean surface barely visible, the fish then went away, gone
The arctic gone, the sky invisible no more shall we see
the beautiful blue, birds gone,
and the list goes on and on
This seems bad, maybe horrible
But after all the year is 2030.