Prizewinning Poems

from the 5^th Annual 2002 Cambridge Public Library,

Cambridge Tree Project and Cambridge Public Schools Poetry Contest

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First Grade Winning Poetry

In the Sky

Fire burns

Lightning cracks

Water waves

Rainbows fill the sky.

Thunder roars

Sun shines

Clouds float

In the sky.

I shine

I play

I laugh

With happiness.

David

Fayerweather Street School

First Place

A Poem

A poem is juicy

Like a freshly picked apple,

A ripe one too.

A poem is crunchy

Like a cracker.

A poem is soft

As a softly stuffed pillow.

A poem is all those and

A poem is more.

Hannah

Shady Hill School

Second Place

Pink

Pink tastes of sharp bright colors.

It feels as soft as comfy leather.

Memories of beautiful pink flowers drift away in my head.

Pink smells of tasty chocolate.

Pink sounds like soft pretty music.

by Madeleine

Tobin School

Third Place

Second Grade Winning Poetry

Stars

Stars are bright.

They feel hot like the sun.

A star twinkles like music.

People reach up and try to touch them.

Stars make me feel special.

Skye

Martin Luther King, Jr. School

First Place

Trees

The grass is soft

I see flowers on the tree.

The tree has different smells.

I smell pine cones.

Everything is fresh and clean

The tree is growing purple plants.

Trees, trees, trees,

I love trees.

As Ms. Jones and I walk

We feel the wind on us.

Shahara

Fletcher Maynard Academy

Third Place

When pressure builds up

It feels like my head is going to pop off

It feels like I’m drowning in a sea of madness

Pressure, pressure, pressure

It’s weird to be pressurized

Benjamin

Cambridgeport School

Second Place

Rain

Rain is sparkly, falling liquid.

It smells sweet, makes my clothes drippy and is

refreshing on my tongue.

It sounds like water dripping in the sink.

Rain helps the flowers grow.

It’s cool!

Halen

Martin Luther King, Jr. School

Honorable Mention

Third Grade Winning Poetry

The Tree’s Slender Trunk

Glittering under the sun ‘till winter welcomes

“Good night.” May’s warm greeting brings

blossoms to the lonely branches. The crippled layers

of bark tell a youth of

many seasons.

Michael

Peabody School

First Place

Growing Tree

Try try to push out of that seed.

I know you can burst into a tree

with leaves everywhere.

Relax, it’ll take awhile.

Be patient, soon you’ll

sprout. I imagine you now…

So big, so strong they say.

Excellent so huge so big. Ahh! Look out

You’ll fall on me.

Extraordinary oh my God you’re looking good. Ah, oh, look who’s growing.

Zara

Peabody School

Third Place

The U.S.S. Constitution

To the U.S.S. Constitution

We took a bus ride.

It was humongous,

Nicknamed Old Iron Side.

There was also a museum

And next we went there.

In the auditorium

We each got a chair.

At first we was

A lot of slides.

Then we split up

With three different guides.

Here are some things

That I got to learn.

The front is the bow

And back is the stern.

Port is left and

Starboard is right.

The model of the boat

Was quite a sight.

Our group went together

On board the ship.

That was the next

Part of our field trip.

We saw the masts

And some cannons too.

Then we asked about

Being the crew.

Soon it was time to

Go back to school.

Being on the ship

Had been very cool.

Now I’m sorry

But it’s time

To have an end

To this rhyme.

Aaron

Amigos School

Second Place

Fourth Grade Winning Poetry

Winter With the Simmons

As I walked

down the snowy sidewalks,

my feet

seemed twice as heavy.

Snow tickled my nose.

It kept dropping and melting.

Every snowflake

so different,

so special,

so beautiful.

I passed by the

Simmons’ front yard.

Mrs. Simmons

gently smiled at me

from the living room window.

Mr. Simmons

shoveling the snow,

invited me in

for some hot cocoa.

Mrs. Simmons’ hot cocoa

is the best.

The creamy marshmallows

and rich chocolate

just melt down your throat.

The warmth of the house

welcomed me.

The hot chocolate

was just the sensation

it always is.

As I left

the old couple

stood watching

admiringly at me

entering

that snowfallen world.

I felt their love following me.

The snow fell

on my brown hair.

The warmth of the hot cocoa

kept me warm

all the way home.

Honora

Amigos School

First Place

When the Fly Flew

Yesterday I saw a fly

Hovering my head in the sky.

He said to me he needed help

And gave a little tiny yelp.

Then suddenly a frog came into sight

And jumped on the fly with all his might

And ate him slowly,

bite by bite.

Oh no! A snake is coming near the frog

It was hiding in an old tree log

It’s eating the frog right in the bog!

Gulp!

A hawk swooped down toward the snake

And grabbed it with his large talons

It flew to the other side of the lake

And ate, ate, ate.

As the hawk was flying it opened its mouth

And to the hawk’s surprise the snake squirmed out

To the snake’s surprise the frog jumped out too

And frog was so shocked it dropped its jaw

And out the fly flew.

Rebecca

Peabody School

Second Place

Fourth Grade Winning Entries (continued)

Nature

Leaves fall

in weird patterns.

Sticks crunch

under my feet.

Birds chirp

very loudly

like coyotes

howling

at the moon.

Old Man’s Beard,

the fungus

gives beauty

to the trees.

Spiders,

creeping in webs

with dew.

Bark

covering trees secrets,

as if no one

would ever know.

Isaiah

Amigos School

Third Place

Autumn

When I’m walking home from school

I hear the leaves.

I’m stepping on the leaves.

I put my foot on them

as they crackle.

I’m skipping with joy

As the sun

Shines its first rays through the clouds.

When I have the time

I run and jump to feel the wind

fresh as a new born baby breathing.

When I feel the bright crisp sunlight looking over me

I sway back and forth

just like the wind going through my body.

I look at the bright red leaves

like fire speaking to me

saying hello.

Rebecca

Fayerweather Street School

Honorable Mention

The Tree in My Back Yard

The tree in my back yard

Is a giant Locust Tree.

It is bigger than our house

Which has floors three.

It leans the other way

And some people say

We are lucky because when it falls

It won’t come down upon us all.

Raccoons live in its wide trunk,

Where they are visited by an occasional skunk.

Squirrels build their nests high in its branches,

And they jump from tree, to tree, to tree.

It looks like the oldest

Tree of them all.

So we’ll never cut it down,

We’ll just let it fall.

It gives us shade in the summer

Leaves to play in during the fall.

These are the many reasons

It is special to us all.

Shane

Peabody School

Honorable Mention

Fifth Grade Winning Entries

Where Poetry Hides

Poetry hides in the wind in the air

in my hair in my ear

Poetry hides every where.

Poetry hides in the light

in the dark

it even hides in baby parks

in a game

in my pain

in my mother’s picture frame.

Poetry hides in stars of fame

in a baseball game in my teacher’s name

poetry hides in my dads last name

poetry hides in my life and pain.

Kareem

Morse School

First Place

Ce La Vi (Creole: That’s Life)

A girl who‘s smart and funny

And cool

She sits in a pool of her

Sorrows

And memories, remembering

The good and bad

But the good washes away

All the bad

And that pool turned from

Sadness

To Happiness

Stephanie

Amigos School

Second Place

White Tiger

Oh White Tiger

Sign of the gods

Where do you come from?

Where animals are changed,

To white with black stripes,

Where the White Tigers rule?

Where they come down,

As signs, as warnings,

To the ever changing Earth?

Oh Tiger, White Tiger,

Where do you live?

On some land far away,

Where there is peace?

Oh White Tiger,

Wonderful White Tiger,

Please answer me.

Karan

Morse School

Third Place

\

Sixth Grade Winning Entries

Hope Matters

Hope is living and breathing

And sleeping. It is wishing and

Watching and overcoming. Hope is

The value that keeps us alive.

It is looking forward to tomorrow

And editing today. To have hope

Is to believe in yourself and that

Is what matters.

Hope matters.

Julia

Fayerweather Street School

First Place

Love

Love is the word that tingles in you,

Love is the word that likes sticking on you like glue,

Love makes you feel that there is no life for you,

There is nothing about love that you can’t do

When you’re in love a lot of things happen to you.

Takela

Martin Luther King, Jr. School

Second Place

Anger

A river of rage

Rushes over me

As I become Angry

My body soon becomes

Heated like fire

My brain boils over

As I yell at my sister

While my face turns bright red

With ANGER.

Paulina

Cambridgeport School

Third Place

Ode To My Hat

This is what I ode to my hat.

I ode my hat for keeping the sun out of my eyes.

I ode to my hat for making me looking very cool and sharp.

I ode to my hat for saying magic on it.

I ode to my hat for being so comfortable.

I ode to my hat for being nicer than everybody elses.

Something else I ode to my hat is being blue and black.

This is all I ode to my hat.

Mookie

Martin Luther King, Jr. School

Honorable Mention

Seventh & Eighth Grade Winning Entries

Ode to a Spoon

Sparks flew in the factory.

A spoon was made.

Hot metal poured

into one of the many molds.

Flowing like a river

of molten lava.

It settled, and as it cooled

in a frigid room

it hardened like ice.

Once it was complete,

the spoon was polished

until it shone like the moon,

its soft silver glow seeming

faint

in the harsh factory light.

The spoon clanked with fear

as it was packaged

with other utensils

and bundled into a truck.

The spoon’s packaging

all but burst

as many forks’ prongs

pierced

the foam and paper

package’s flesh.

Soon the truck heaved

to a stop,

sending silverware

everywhere.

The spoon dealt

with the truck driver’s

rough handling

stoically,

though it often

felt the impulse

to check if it had

sustained bruising.

The bundle was unloaded

at a kitchenware store,

and the silverware

polished, arranged

and displayed.

A set of silverware,

including the spoon,

was bought

and taken home,

to my house.

The spoon

gleamed

molten, icy.

Once

I retrieved it

from the dishwasher.

Droplets of water

sprayed from it,

and shone like

morning dew

on its smooth

surface.

I placed the spoon

in the drawer,

to be utilized later.

It winked

in the sun,

as I closed the drawer gently,

so the utensils wouldn’t rattle,

and awaken from their

slumber.

Next morning,

I took the spoon,

poured milk,

and cereal,

into my bowl.

The spoon paddled

through

the mixture

like a seal.

It retreated

into the bowl

like a turtle, only to

reappear and

dive again.

The metallic tang

of the spoon filled my mouth,

its touch rang out

like a discordant bell,

and its harsh reality

filled my eyes.

Its sleek length seemed

a shark, as it

traversed

the ocean

of my cereal.

Its smell was hard

and brittle

and bright like

a sheet of ice,

glaring in the sun.

Its cold touch

radiated

throughout my mouth,

and its turpentine

glow pervaded

the kitchen.

It looked like

an orchestra of

flutes,

chiming in the wind.

Light refracted

from it

in small,

incandescent

rainbows

trailing across the

walls like snails

carrying ribbons.

I put the spoon back

in the dishwasher,

knowing

that the whole

process would

start again

for my spoon,

another time.

Casey

Cambridge Friends School

First Place

/2^nd place 7/8 grade

When I Think of You

When I think of you,

I win back my soul.

I would give you a star

Just for your embrace.

For a kiss,

I would mix

water and fire.

What is it about you,

that connects my powerful feelings

to your eyes.

Whenever I am close to you,

it’s as if I am in charge of caring for you.

Gabriel

Seventh Grade

Amigos School

3^rd place, 7/8^th grade

Another Day

9:00

September

Two thousand and one

Date eleven

A.M.