Earth Day Poetry Contest First Place Winners 2016

Kindergarten

By Kilee Martinez

A Rock

I found a rock. The rock was not too big and
not too small. It was perfect. The rock was
Shaped like a circle, and it was awesome!
I gave the rock to my sister and she
loved it like I hoped she would. My
sister dropped it and it cracked open.
We found out it was an emerald jewel.
The days passed as we laughed because
we didn’t know it was special even
though it was gold.

Grade 1

By Zeke Clinkingbeard,

Pepsis Wasp: A Tarantula Hawk Wasp Story

I have orange, sparkly wings.
My body is a pretty black-blue.
I have beautiful, curly antennae,
And long, spiky legs, too!

I have strange lines on my wings,
The desert scrub is where I live.
I live near flowers on the ground.
A painful sting is what I give!

I paralyze a tarantula with my stinger,
Then I drag it to my home.
I lay my eggs on its body.
The tarantula cannot roam.

The larvae hatches from its egg,
Then eats the tarantula alive!
When it grows up, it eats nectar and pollen,
But now it eats a tarantula to thrive.

Grade 2

By Aryana Clinkingbeard (tied overall winner)

The Queen of the Night: The Night Blooming Cereus

In a sandy wash
Is a skinny, spiny stick.
Is it a dead bush?
Its root is fat and thick.

But one summer day
A bud appears.
Something magical comes
Just once a year.

When the sun goes down
On a dark summer night,
A flower opens with
Many petals of white.

It’s the shape of a trumpet.
It smells like sweet perfume.
You are very lucky
If you see this desert bloom.

It blooms for one night,
Then its job is done.
It closes forever
With the morning sun.

Grade 3

Alex Gutierrez (tied overall winner)

O’clock

Sun is up
Everyone’s home
It’s much too hot for things to roam

By 6:00 spiders still hide
By 7:00 the snakes start to slide

By 8:00 the sun is going down
By 9:00 the creatures go to town.

Grade 4

Amara Strange (overall winner)

Dream On

Sleeping in the shade,
eating cacti seeds
gnawing nasty weeds,
burrows under trees,
umbrella tail,
over flies Quail,
coyote slinks by,
looking for some lunch,
over flies a bunch,
of tiny cactus Wrens,
the wild wind whistles,
an animal with bristles
slowly slithers by,
squirrel goes to sleep,
dreaming rodent dreams.

Grade 5

Freja E. Jensen (tied)

The Monsoon

The clouds are wings of the sky
Sweeping over desert,
Dripping wet with a midsummer storm.
Pausing over an unvisited place,
They dry themselves,
Only helped by gravity.
The saguaros drink up the rare water,
Storing some in their well-protected arms.
Earthworms evacuate their flooding tunnels,
Exposing themselves to desert birds.
Lizards run to puddles,
Drinking in the collecting rain.
The creosote release their pleasant fumes.
The land nourished,
The clouds dried,
The sky’s wings glide to another place.

Grade 5

Xander Clinkingbeard (tied)

Saving the Desert’s Dark Skies

The sun goes down, giving way
To the blackness of a midnight sky.
A single star, and then another —
As the world turns, they multiply.

Legends made of stars
Andromeda, Leo, Pegasus,
“The sight of the stars makes me dream.”*
Man studies the celestial abyss.

Kitt Peak, Steward Observatory,
Use the dry desert nights
That show off the opaque sky
Displaying the luminous lights.

Tucson, Phoenix, Casa Grande,
Eating the pitch black dark,
Brilliant, radiant monsters,
Civilization leaving its mark.

Nocturnal creatures are thrown off,
Circadian rhythms disrupted.
Drastic environmental change.
Nature being corrupted.

Can we save our desert darkness?
Will we save our darkened skies?
Red and yellow lights don’t glare.
Hooded lights are very wise.

The desert dwellers have to find
An intelligent solution.
The world will follow what we do
And bring an end to light pollution.

*Quote by Vincent Van Gogh.

Grade 6

Roman Nasif

The Waiting Snake

The rattlesnake is on the ground waiting, waiting
For prey to jump into his mouth
He sits in the burning sun waiting, waiting
Until a rabbit comes on her usual route

The snake sits still like a stick waiting, waiting
The rabbit jumps into his jaws
Snow-white teeth curl around the helpless rabbit waiting, waiting
Until the rabbit lay motionless with no movement in her paws

Now the snake slithers back and forth waiting, waiting
For another victim to face its terrible fate
The snake blends in with a giant stone waiting, waiting
For he isn’t evil but has to survive surrounded by our hate