2009 Poetry Contest Winners
This year’s winners were up against some serious competition. There were well over 200 poems submitted by students from across Windsor and Essex County. Every one of our contest winners should feel very proud of his or her accomplishment.
Each prize winner received a cash prize and tickets to an upcoming local performing arts event. We would like to thank our contest sponsors: St. Clair College, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, the University of Windsor School of Music, Theatre Alive, Korda Productions, and Literary Arts Windsor. We are also grateful to our panel of judges as well as all of the teachers and parents who encouraged poets to submit their work.
Award Winners, Ages 6 - 9
1st Place: Julie Heng (Bellewood Public School, Windsor), "The Most Amazing Thing"
The most amazing thing
I've ever seen
Is the
Earth sparkling
Like a jewel.
The most amazing thing
I've ever seen
Is a flower
With lovely pink petals
Hanging from its stem.
The most amazing thing
I've ever seen
Is light green grass
Growing in dirt.
The most hideous thing
I've ever seen
Is stinky pollution
In the Earth.
The most hideous thing
I've ever seen
Is dirty trash
In my garbage can.
The most hideous thing
Is a piece of metal
Hanging from a branch.
But...
The most amazing thing
I've ever seen
Is the Earth sparkling like a jewel.
2nd Place: Brielle Comartin (Έcole St. Paul, Pointe-aux-Roches), "I Don't Know What to Do or Say"
I don't know what to do or say,
When people are treating the earth this way!
Hurting animals and being mean,
Because of pollution the air isn’t clean!
You all know about pollution,
Well solar power is a great solution!
The animals could eat your litter,
Using a trash can is what I would consider!
3rd Place: David Nunes (St. Gregory Catholic Elementary School, St. Clair Beach), "Earth"
Help me, Help me, Help me please,
I really need to save the trees.
Those trees help us breathe,
and give us relief.
Please let's work together,
And give kids belief in
"Reducing, Reusing and Recycling!!!"
1st Place French Language: Brielle Comartin (Έcole St. Paul, Pointe-aux-Roches), "On ne peut pas bien respirer"
On ne peut pas bien respire à cause de la pollution,
Alors, un système d’énergie solaire est une bonne solution!
Notre famille commence à choisir des produits verts,
Alors, nous ne lancons pas nos déchets par terre!
Ça me blesse à dire,
Que bientôt notre planète va souffrir!
On a le pouvoir d’arrêter ça, je crois,
Il faut le faire un pas à la fois!
Award Winners, Ages 10 - 13
1st Place: Fatima Hamam (Roseland Public School, Windsor), "Our World"
I want to feel the sun’s warmth on my skin,Be able to live and win.
We have a life of meaning,
To save the earth and the living.
Sea levels rising,
Our ozone layer disappearing.
We can’t take the earth for granted.
But on the other hand,
We may survive,
If we stand together
And try.
2nd Place: Megan Noel (Princess Elizabeth School, Windsor [now attending F.J. Brennan Catholic High School, Windsor]), "As It Fades Away"
At the willOf our hand
The factories
Force fatal fumes
To pollute
Our air—
Contaminate rivers
And tear down
Our surroundings
We manipulate
Masses
Of modern metal
To mold
Into monuments
That will look
Down
Upon this blackened
Earth
And watch
As it fades away
3rd Place: Patricia Liu (John Campbell Public School, Windsor ), "We are the Guardians of the Planet"
Every day, every minute, forests are being choppedSpecies lost, illegal haunting and melting ice caps
Something we all could have come together and stopped
So do you at least feel guilty, perhaps?
Take charge and provide your donation
Because we will be the ones who have to suffer
It is the poor animals and future generations
They are the ones who must go through tougher
Something as simple as walking to get around
Installing solar panels, picking up litter
Or adopting a puppy from a local pound
Would help make the world much less bitter
As a human being we all have the responsibility
To care not only for ourselves
But for our planet and the animals to the best of our ability
So make it your choice to care for earth more than yourself
Because our world is slowly dying each and every day
We must put a stop to this global insanity
Before our earth slowly slips and fades away
To save our planet and all of humanity
We are the Guardians of the planet
We must take control of the situation
If we work hard, we can eventually make it
Because our earth is our only place to live and our only location
1st Place French Language: Isabella MacMillan (St. Anne French Immersion, Windsor), "Aujourd'hui"
Aujourd'hui c'est une belle journée parce que…Les oiseaux parlent et chantent
Les arbres dansent au vent
Les animaux courent partout
Aujourd'hui c'est une belle journée parce que…
Les parsonnes jouent avec les animaux
Les personnes nourrissent les animaux
Aujourd'hui c'est une belle journé
e parce que…
Il y a des adultes et des enfants
Qui aiment at prennent soin de la terre
Award Winners, Ages 14 & up
1st Place: Hanan Hazime (Catholic Central High School, Windsor), "Plantophobiac"
They said my maple treewas pointing
its branches upwards.
Like the devil's pitchfork
Threatening.
To extend its stringy fingers into
their windows.
And dismantle their shingles.
So they, sly serpents
Waited until I was away and
Killed
My tree.
They chopped her up,
like a lion feeding on its prey.
So I planted a rose bush.
But they were
afraid of the thorns,
which they claimed
were sharper than a shark's incisors.
And so they
Killed
My rose bush.
But perhaps, today,
I'll plant something
and keep it on my window sill.
Where nothing but the sun's rays
can touch it.
2nd Place: Hanan Hazime (Catholic Central High School, Windsor), "The End of October"
Naked trees shiver,ashamed of losing their
green gowns to winter.
3rd Place: MW (St. Thomas of Villanova High School, LaSalle [now attending the University of Windsor]), "In Our Reach for the Stars A Poem regarding the history and state of the earth"
In our reach for the stars,
Sputnik 1 is the first man-made object to orbit the earth,
leaving an exhaust of corrosive hydrochloric acid in its wake.
Perhaps we seek a new Earth,
for any single person who can’t tell who is the real murderer,
the Earth, or those who inhabit it.
Hidden in the sands,
mournful bards spoke legends of the cradle all life shared,
a place no infant remembers, watched over by their father.
Long ago,
the ancients found two sisters calling in the dark,
Neptune and Uranus, oblivious to their separation.
Found in our history,
robe-clad men make great discoveries,
spending all day theorizing, what should have been obvious.
When things seemed hopeless,
peasants thrived in seeing nobility’s demise,
unaware of the real tragedy, the lies on stage.
Furthering progress gave an awful thought,
for when we triumphed the oceans and conquered nature,
the only place left was skyward.
What were our ancestors looking for?
A dead man nailed to a slab of wood, controlled the future.
An exile’s hometown quest, done by words not of his own.
So many clues leading to confusing things.
Perhaps they sought their father,
after a teenage skirmish with Mother Earth.
Wretched Earth.
What horrible things you’ve done to us,
so our fascination with the starlit night grew.
She denied us passage to the starry sky,
and so we defied her, hurting her,
unaware that we were killing ourselves.
Now, as light pollution turned the starlit sky dim,
dopamine levels rise in the brain,
at the sight of morning dew on a leaf.
All poems on this page are the copyright (© 2009) of their respective authors, and may not be reproduced without permission.