Young Poets' Winning Words

The Monitor's 14th annual Young Poets Contest winners.

The Monitor was delighted to receive hundreds of entries for the 14th annual Young Poets Contest. Aspiring poets – from preschoolers to high school seniors – wrote passionately and thoughtfully about subjects ranging from hot chocolate and horses to family, nature, and the future. Poet Elizabeth Lund carefully read each submission and chose the ones on this page as the winners. Congratulations to these four students, as well as to all who entered.

Blue Jay

Blue Jay has a beak
And a blue crest on his head.
Sits on branches with black feet.

– Blake Moyer
Grimes, Iowa / Kindergarten

The Clock

The tick tock of the clock
The perpetual motion that never stops.
The future turns present
And present turns past.
The clock will keep running
And never give back.

– Mark McLaughlin
Sioux Falls, S.D. / Grade 7

The Mysteries of Summertime

Fling open the hidden mysteries
the mysteries of summertide,
Show us the smallest secrets,
O spread them open wide.

The hills and lush green meadows,
The rarest Bicknell's thrush,
The flowers sweet and scented,
The fawn in the underbrush.

The cool lake, sparkling silver,
The bear cubs in a tree,
The whisper of a soft breeze,
The buzzing of a bee.

The strawberries ripe in the pastures,
Sheep grazing on a hill,

And after the evening sunsets,
Everything is calm and still.

– Alissa Robertshaw
Elka Park, N.Y. / Grade 8

Sandy Sunday

Out in the dunes
playing in the sand
running with a dog
or tossing a ball,
You will always have fun.

The waves on the beach
Almost reach out to you
calling you
whispering in your ear.

Forget the ever-tumbling sand castles
Run to the waves
Faster! Faster! Faster!
with your dog right behind you

Get wet, is your first thought,
So you do.

(What is that you hear?
Already your mother is calling.)

Clothes now soaking,
you trudge home
Away from the
Soft dunes and
damp beach
But there is still part of them with you
In your pockets and shoes.

– Rowin M. Breaux
Fort Bragg, Calif. / Grade 7

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