Earth Day Poetry Contest First Place Winners 2018

Kindergarten

By Kiran Hobson

Hummingbirds

So fluffy and
they flutter
tiny little small eggs they
slurp from flowers
they are birds
nothing is cute like a humming bird

Grade 1

By Syver Rustad

The Desert

Oh the dry, dry, desert.
The scorching hot sun, dries the
desert and the beautiful animals creep
and crawl on the sandy desert floor.
Where the saguaros emerge from a small seed they become
a tall man reaching for the sky.
Inside you may find a cactus wren peeping out of a
small dark hole.
Below a herd of javalinas go for the juicy treat of the fresh fruit of a prickly
pear cactus. You may find me
sitting down enjoying the gorgeous sunsets of
the Sonoran desert.

Grade 2

By Lilah Anderson-Vosper

Rain in the Sonoran Desert

During the monsoon,
There is rain all around
The thirsty dry Sonoran Desert.
There are puddles here.
And puddles there.
There are puddles in the driveway.
There are puddles in the road.
There are puddles on the roof.
There are puddles on the ground.

When I jump
Into the puddles,
I feel a warm feeling,
Like love.
But it is not.
It is like fun.
But it is not.
It is like joy.
But it is not.
It is like the feeling
Of your mother making hot chocolate.
But it is not.
It is like a warm hug.
But it is not.
It is love, fun, joy, hot cocoa, warm hugs
All together.

The sun comes up.
The puddles dry.
I say goodbye.
Until we meet again…

Grade 3

By Lucy Mayberry (tied, overall winner grades K-3)

The Sonoran Desert Meets

As I sprint across the road
As I rush through the wind
Then I stop and rest
I see something through the stars
It is a human, ever so curious
He comes closer with every step
I stare blankly as I’m frozen still
But I recognize that he is a friend and not a foe
Finally we meet and he strokes my tender fur
And then he whispers
“We meet again little one.”
We stare forevermore and then we hear
The pattering of rain all around
A gust of wind is heard
We know we must depart
Then lightning strikes
And so he has disappeared
I stare ever so long
Another strike and I’m off as well
Trotting in the distance
Toward home
Which is the Sonoran desert
THE END

By Kyrie Knapp (tied)

A day in the desert

The wind in the air, the breeze
of the sky, the blaze of the sun a
drop of water is like magic a pinch
of gold shines in the dust,
the honey of grass as the
sky breaths in air the sun is
setting night has come it is
time to say hello to the moon

Grade 4

By Sonali Hobson (tied, overall winner grades 4-6)

Cactus Soldiers

On top of a mountain
three soldiers
in the night blue sky
one with four arms
another with two
about to grab me
with rifles aimed
but to my surprise
they didn’t make a move
not even a sound
I moved closer and closer
and saw two little eyes
was it alive or was it a trick?
suddenly I hear him speak
“WHOOOOO!” he said
his eyes disappeared
and something flew
cactuses in the night
with owls inside
now I know the little lies
they play on you

By Aryana Clinkingbeard (tied)

Where the Desert Meets the Sea

Whoosh! The wave breaks
On the desert sand.
Volcanic rock and cactus
Spread on the dry land.

Jack rabbits, deer
And foxes that are gray
Become totoaba, sea turtles
And manta ray.

The tiny vaquita
May someday be gone.
Too much salt makes
The water all wrong.

The sea is shaped
Like a long, narrow candle.
The Pacific Ocean
Is the holder’s handle.

We better care for it,
Or, I fear,
Someday the creatures
Might disappear.

Grade 5

By Elizabeth Irwin

Desert Ghosts

Come close and see
The ghosts that lie in history
Right here is where
Hohokam made their spears
Right over there
They hunted deers
Here is where they made the food
To fill their bellies
To give good moods
By the rocks they did their dance
To give the harvest
A better chance

Why they left
I cannot see
To all it is a mystery
But the spirit stays
For many moons and days
The Hohokam’s stories
Are still told
To those who listen
Young and old
Look closely and you can see
The desert ghosts as they used to be!

Grade 6

By Kendall Scott

The Desert Ocean

In the desert ocean, the blue sky is the
surface of the sea.

The pearly white whale-clouds swimming o’er head

Underwater mountains and their summits that
pierce the waves

On their slopes, the cactus-coral, and the
pine-kelp
where the mountain lion, like a leopard seal
stalks the shifting ocean bed
of shadow.

In the unbroken obsidian darkness of midnight,
the hog-nosed skunk fish scours the
sunken boulders

And from the mountain-tops, the tall great-horned owl’s eyes
search the waves like a white hot beam from a
lighthouse.

And the curious snake like a garden eel,
with his head poking out of a hole in
the sand and volcanic rock.

And in summer’s peak, the cicada fish screaming
at the heat

And in the dead of winter, the
tortoise-crab deep in his
hypothermic slumber.

In the desert ocean, the lapping waves at
the mountain-top, the organ pipe cactus
coral, the coyote shark, the spearing-
javelina fish;

the immense nothing that becomes something
the closer you come
towards it,
and the something that becomes nothing
the farther you come away,

but will always be the desert ocean, drifting waves over
the whale clouds.