Award-Winning Poems 2010
_______________________________
2010 Border Voices Poetry
Student Winners
First Place, Elementary School
Special Award from the
Greater San Diego Council of Teachers of English
The Poetry of Life
The poetry of dream is the sparkling imagination
that lets you believe in yourself.
The magic of music is the honey-like sound
each individual makes when an orchestra begins.
The light of learning is when each bright student
shines with enthusiasm and knowledge.
The feeling of food is a sizzling egg
on a scorching pan with a sprinkle of salt
or a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg
hidden in a moist blueberry muffin.
The poetry of life is a baby's first cry
and an elder's last laugh.
It is a series of similes, because
no matter what, life keeps evolving.
Sophia Swedback
Grade 5, Hearst Elementary School
Poet-teacher: Celia Sigmon
Classroom Teacher: Chris Vasquez
* * *
Second Place, Elementary School
The Royal Wardrobe
In the Brothwick castle
there's a wardrobe with a scarlet
and pink stained glass mirror
that reflects light from an antique lamp.
Can you imagine how it must feel
to touch the priceless glass?
I've heard it is warm like a golden crown
and smells of rosewood and orchid perfume.
The important thing is, the lamp
that has given light to the room
for hundreds of years shines
like the hills of Scotland.
Look closely and you'll find me.
I am the tail of a robin that escaped
the painting on the green wall. What
do you think is in the wardrobe's drawers?
Savanna Hicke
Grade 4, Spreckels Elementary School
Poet-teacher: Seretta Martin
Classroom Teacher: Marisela Sparks
* * *
Third Place, Elementary School
The Lizard's Eye
Through the lizard's eye, I see
sand shifting the bright yellow sun,
sedimentary rocks, sparkling cactus
with prickly spines. I see
my prey on one spiny cactus.
This time of year, there are
no flash floods or rain storms.
But I’ll always remember the hot days,
as vast as the sand, and the Joshua trees
standing like guards of the desert.
Logan Quessenberry
Grade 3, Spreckels Elementaly School
Poet-teacher: Celia Sigmon
Classroom Teacher: Deron Bear
* * *
First Place, Middle School
Special Award from the
Greater San Diego Council of Teachers of English
Vatican City
Tourists everywhere,
all of them ignoring the man
sitting on the side of the road.
No taller than three feet,
he watches as people pass him,
his hands held out high,
hoping.
His spine juts out of his back.
The sorrowful sight touches my heart.
I reach into my jeans pocket.
The sleek, cold metal of the coins
touches my skin. I reach down
and slowly release my grip
into his poor, dirty hands.
He flashes me a smile of crooked teeth
and I walk away
back into the bustle of tourists
in Vatican City.
Julia Skyhar
Grade 7, Rancho Santa Fe Middle School
Poet-teacher: Jackleen Holton
Classroom Teacher: Alison Murphy
* * *
Second Place, Middle School
Nana
The sweet aroma of pollinated flowers
blows through the window.
My head lies on the worn-out pillow,
that speaks its stories of the past in my ear,
stories the generations passed down,
stitched into the pillow case.
She makes her dramatic but clumsy entrance
into the dusk-filled room.
Holding in a deep laugh, I jump up,
bowing to her.
She chuckles under her breath as we flop
onto the bed like two young girls.
My eyes take in her hair,
sweet red, a color on top of many colors past.
Less than a year left
of joking,
laughing,
loving,
enjoying.
Yet nobody had a clue then.
The smell of her perfume,
The jingle of her jewelry,
gone from this earth forever.
Julia Osteen
Grade 7, Rancho Santa Fe Middle School
Poet-teacher: Jackleen Holton
Classroom Teacher: Alison Murphy
* * *
Third Place, Middle School
Notice Him
– inspired by Picasso
I want you to see
someone named Rob
all alone
staring at the gargantuan maple-brown door
that no one will enter
Sitting in silence
not moving a muscle
he is a statue
made out of marble
who has no friends
I want you to see
his rich dark clothes
his perfect haircut
his lack of friends
I want you to see
the selfishness and vanity
that encircle him
that stain his heart
I want you to feel
what he feels right now
loneliness and depression
Let this be your lesson
I want you to see
his heart drowning
as it falls into a simple cup
drip drop, drip drop, drip drop
Luis Adan
Grade 6, Lincoln Acres School
Poet-teacher: Johnnierenee Nelson
Classroom Teacher: Rebecca Colangelo
* * *
First Place, High School
Special Award from the
Greater San Diego Council of Teachers of English
Big Brown Eyes
In the painting she sits barefoot on a step,
her dark hair matted, her lonely brown eyes
pleading for answers.
She has paused to rest, the fiddle quiet in her lap,
her hands callused from fingering the strings.
The bow with three strings comforts her with music.
Her roots can be traced to back alleys
and dirt roads in London.
She owns one gray dress two sizes too large
and a handmade shawl from a loved one
now in a place she's waiting to go.
In her blurry vision, an audience cheers
as they listen to the forlorn melody of her fiddle
and drop change on the pavement in front ofher.
She sits and fantasizes
the life she is longing to experience.
Sage Gautier
Grade 9, Point Loma High School
Poet-teacher: Seretta Martin
Classroom Teacher: Yolanda Beltran
* * *
Second Place, High School
Special Award from the
Greater San Diego Council of Teachers of English
Empty Chairs
Two empty chairs, a plain room.
I'm left with what could have been,
And the memories of what was.
I long for you to pull out a chair for me.
As I take my place in the first cold chair,
I long for you to sit next to me.
I giggle to myself, imagining
What we would have said, and
The plans we would have made.
As memories fill my thoughts,
They also fill my eyes. The empty
Chair, which is no longer yours, I add
To my losses.
I know eventually, more chairs will
Become vacant, and I will miss those
Who once filled them.
One bare room of my thoughts
Will be filled with unfilled chairs.
But my memories of those I loved will remain
Forever, until my chair becomes bare
And empty as well.
Jashell Smith
Grade 9, Point Loma High School
Poet-teacher: Seretta Marlin
Classroom Teacher: Yolanda Beltran
* * *
Third Place, High School
Grand Canyon
I look out and hold my breath.
I am suspended,
minimized, reduced to a speck.
I float
on the back of an eagle,
flowing with the moving plains
of blue,
curving and turning like a slide made from ribbon,
the ribbon of Earth that bumps
and curves,
rises and falls.
A squirrel's tail brushes my hand
and makes me jump.
I come back to myself,
my mind and soul
as my feet touch the ground.
Winter Paris
Grade 9, John Muir School
Poet-teacher: Jackleen Holton
Classroom Teacher: Joan Higgins
* * *
