Underwater*

2020 Walk Award
By Qwill Madrone, Grade 6

Alone.
The middle of the ocean.
Wide and scary.
The calm blue surrounds me.
My iridescent tail flashes and circles underwater.
I have nothing to worry about.
I dive under
The silence presses in on me.
I fill my lungs with the salty water of the sea.
Breath in, breath out.
The water evaporates in me
Leaving me with air.
A school of fish dart around me
Little silver bullets.
I use my tail to propel myself
Forward into the water.
I hold my hand out
The silky water flowing around my arm.
A bale of turtles glide under me
Their fins send water towards me
A small underwater current.
The ocean is alive.
And deep.
And blue.

*Copyright 2020 by Qwill Madrone. Broadside illustrated by Angela Boyle.

the basket weaver*

2020 Merit Award
By Penelope Keep, Grade 8

behold the basket
gaze upon the careful weave
each piece of cedar bark cut
each wicklike willow strand maneuvered
into its own
the next no different,
not the same

between the folds, each resource glints
giving itself up
being taken in
by the calloused hands who remember
that each tall tree, each abandoned ribbon of sap
creates a bigger, a better, a more beautiful
whole

and the hole, just there, is it also beautiful?
the frustration, the imperfection, the dropped stitch
machines could gloss each one without care,
no thought, no need for a furrowed brow that beads
the racing mind of the man
who sits, surrounded by his own creation
upon the garden he harvests from

*Copyright 2020 by Penelope Keep. Broadside illustrated by Megan Carroll.

Volcanoes of Anger*

2020 Merit Award
By Stephen Jacob Huxford, Grade 7

I
Am
Alone
With no one to save me
Walking through the depths of my own soul.
Trudging through swamps of misdoubts,
And hiking the volcanoes of my own anger.
Facing tigers and lions of fear
And seeing my happiness in the sun.
But the sun is so far away and is just a dot.
The dot of happiness in everyone’s soul.
Shrouded by darkness, anger and fear,
All this leads to death.
The death of you and me,
The death of others, and the death of the earth.

*Copyright 2020 by Stephen Jacob Huxford. Broadside illustrated by Kim Wulfestieg.

Outside*

2020 Merit Award
By Cristian Gonzalez, Kindergarten

I am playing outside with my brother.
A rainbow,
A sun.

*Copyright 2020 by Cristian Gonzalez. Broadside illustrated by Kim Wulfestieg.

Silence*

2020 Walk Award
By Chloe Nahani Braunstein, Grade 2

On the pillow in my ear
I can hear my heartbeat.

Silence, for me, is when
I look up at the sky
clouds like big white stars
moving slowly across the wind.

Silence for me is when
the sea has no waves,
birds are not chirping,
dogs lose their bark,

and all humans grow quiet.
Silence means a lot to me.

*Copyright 2020 by Chloe Nahani Braunstein. Broadside illustrated by Kim Wulfestieg.

In the Forest*

2020 Merit Award
By Miakoda Baughman, Grade 3

When the Mountain glows
And the River shines
And the trees speak to me
In the forest
There is magic
Everywhere
In the forest
With me

I think the moon is watching
Over me
And the sun shines
With me

In the forest
With me
I think the spirit
Is watching
Over me

*Copyright 2020 by Miakoda Baughman. Broadside illustrated by Angela Boyle.

Window*

2020 Walk Award
By Margaux Barber, Grade 1

I look out the window it’s cold and stormy
I remember the sunny days in May
but now it’s cold in the air like the ocean
I ask mom if I can call Anarah
to come over to look at the rain outside
she says that it will be in a hour
so I wait for an hour.
Finally, she comes.
We put on our raincoats and rain boots
and go out in the rain
as fast as mice running away from a cat.

*Copyright 2020 by Margaux Barber. Broadside illustrated by Christian Smith.

– – – – –
NOTE: Beginning with today’s post, a Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest 2020 winning poem will be posted each Sunday and then linked on the Winners page. Congratulations to all the poets, and huge thanks to the artists who illustrated the placards. Enjoy!

Jane*

2019 Merit Award
By Elliot Stockman, Grade 6

There once was a young girl named Jane,
Who lived in England, and took lots of trains,
She walked on the track,
And with a loud “Thwack!”
She ended up flying to Spain.

In Spain, they all rode on bikes, of course,
But what surprised her was they all spoke in Norse
She wanted a pie,
But she encountered a sigh,
And she ended up eating a horse.

. . . . .
*Copyright 2019 by Elliot Stockman. Broadside illustrated by Christian Anne Smith.

Sky Goes Flying*

2019 Walk Award
By Jaelyn Pitts, age 3

Sky goes flying
Sky goes with them
Sky goes digging
Sky goes flying
Sky goes digging for a bone

. . . . .
*Copyright 2019 by Jaelyn Pitts. Broadside illustrated by Christian Anne Smith.

Hummingbird*

2019 Walk Award
By Maddie Patterson, Grade 5

I stroked one finger along its delicate feathered body
It felt like nothing in my hand
allowing me to see its metaphors and similes
scrolled across it like a book of observations
Its neck was laced with bright red sequins
— Oregon grape in distress
Its eyes were little beads,
like tiny huckleberries
Its feet were the leaves,
of a Western red cedar
Its beak was bent,
like the branch of a Douglas fir
Its feathers, metallic flames
Its feathers,
soft scales
of rhody petals

. . . . .
*Copyright 2019 by Maddie Patterson. Broadside illustrated by Angela Boyle.