Earth Day Poetry Contest Third Place Winners 2010

Grade K

3rd: Jordyn Leonard Rattlesnake

Rattlesnake

Brown White
Rattle Hiss Bite
Rattlesnake!

Grade 1

3rd: Katie Nguyen The Desert Poem

The Desert Poem

Dry plants
Energy from the sun
Snakes hissing
Eagles flying
Rabbits hopping
Turtles crawling

Grade 2

3rd: (Tied) Matthew Garrett I Know the Desert

I Know the Desert

A long, smooth rattlesnake is
Slithering towards the small
Packrat hiding in his pointy prickly
Pear Cactus den

Small leaves on the desert bushes are
Shaking in the whistling wind

Dark, gray javelinas are eating ripe,
juicy cactus fruit by the new baby
Saguaro

The rough, hard sand is sizzling in
The warm, hot sunshine

The strong scent of the light green
Palo verde tree is flowing in the
Soft breeze

I know the desert

3rd: (Tied) Baylee Hilden Sunset

Sunset

Always beautiful
Comes in many colors
The end of the day

Grade 3

3rd: Emily McCallion-Kreiger The Desert

The Desert

It is hot
It is cold

It is sunny
It is rainy

It is sandy
It is rocky

It is bright
It is dark

It is beautiful
The Desert.

Grade 4

No entries

Grade 5

3rd: Jade Barber Monsoon in the Desert

Monsoon in the Desert

The land is dried, cracked, dead.
Storm clouds form overhead,
Like huge shadows over dull tile floor.
The animals wait.
They are anxious for the rain to come,
Anxious for the land to be quenched.

Finally it comes
Like a million butterflies
dancing in the air

Grade 6:

3rd: (Tied) Joshua Delfs "So We Meet Again Cactus"

"So We Meet Again Cactus."

It's everywhere.
Cactus pieces here and there,
but I will not step in cholla again.

"You may have won yesterday,
but you and your friends are going down.
I know that when the wind blows
hard your pieces of cholla jump,
but I will get through your army."

Let this be a reminder to you innocent people
to be aware of the killer cactus.
In Arizona, there is a war of awareness.

We can't kill these plants like we've done
to harmless plants, stepping on flowers
that can't even help themselves.
And these plants with more needles
than roses don't want to be stepped on.

3rd: (Tied) Terra Jeske El Sol

El Sol

El sol is scorching hot
El rio is dried to the bottom
There are no pescaditos
El escorpion scurries across
Las dunas de arena grandes son
muy rojas
El nopal is trying to conserve agua
La culebra buries himself
So he does not cook
Like he's in an oven
Hace calor in el desierto

(rio - river; pescaditos - little fish; escorpion - scorpion; las dunas de arena grandes - sand dunes; nopal - prickly pear cactus; agua - water; culebra - snake; hace color - it is hot; desierto - desert)