Poetry 99: Kids

First Place

The jungle vines

leisurely snake their way

up around the tree,

slowly mummifying it.

An old crow

caws a single mournful note

letting its brethren

know what is about to happen.

Many months later,

the tree is totally enclosed

in constricting vines.

All the birds

who have sat upon its branches

mourn the loss of their old friend.

Toby Pope, 10
Chico

“I like to write poems a lot.” And it shows, Toby Pope! This year’s top kid poet joins a long line of Sherwood Montessori students to win recognition for the works they create each year as part of literacy instructor Danielle Mennucci’s efforts to submit her students’ works to the CN&R’s Fiction 59 and Poetry 99 contests. Pope says he likes science as well as writing, and that he gets his inspiration to write from Chico’s natural environment, especially Bidwell Park.

Second Place

Frustration

Frustration is hot as magma.

It tastes sour like yellow, lemon juice hitting my tongue.

It smells like the reeking odor of a smoky blaze.

It sounds like the loud annoying screams of ranting babies.

It feels rough and dry like a desert.

It is misplaced Legos, melted ice cream, a broken bike, hard school work, and an annoying sister.

Alden Ingelson-Filpula, 8
Chico

Poetry runs in the Ingelson-Filpula family. This year Alden joins his sister Aline (who placed in last year’s contest) as a top finisher in Poetry 99. The CORE Butte Charter School student said that, after seeing his sister’s poem, he thought, “Wow, she’s really good,” and was inspired to write his own. In addition to writing, Alden

Third Place

Moonlight

The moon lights up like a flashlight, showing your way through the dark woods, keeping you

safe from all your fears. A see-through orb surrounds you and nothing can break through it.

Light shines through you as you turn into an angel with white wings and a white dress.

Julia Begley, 8
Chico

Julia Begley is another winner attending Sherwood Montessori. The fourth-grader said that, in addition to poetry, she likes to do math (especially “rounding”) and write stories with clues, and she has written a comic book about a “haunted letter.”

Honorable Mentions

My Closet

Everyday in the corner of my room

There lays a closet.

Not an ordinary one though.

This closet has no monster or a bug

It has toys and stinky socks

Dollies and Race cars

Apple cores and old yogurt

Underwear and cobwebs and spiders

That closet was gross

But it was there for a teenager

It had everything he owned

Was there

If your closet is dirty

It will be there

forever

Kelsey Imrie, 11
Durham

The mountains are huge

They are bigger and stronger

than giants.

They cover the earth

like gods of stone.

Markus Westerdahl, 9
Chico

Nightmare

Vial of death,

Cultures breath.

Evil torture brings

Darkened thoughts,

Human nightmare, devil’s dream.

Heart-shaped diamond, murder’s scheme.

Colin Bailey, 10
Chico

Whispering

Footsteps

on the sandy tree,

the chocolate clock making noise,

borrowed, quietly.

Cars flashing light while flying by,

looking for the army trucks

on the side,

carefully.

They’re whispering.

Cedar Bailey, 7
Chico

Poem of My Heart

I sing in and out of my lungs,

I breathe as if I ran the length of a mile.

I am on a horse galloping away.

As I drink out of my goblet a feeling of

warmth and safeness

comes over me as my heart pumps the

blood of millions.

I stand strong and fearless from within my ancestors.

The bones inside of me allow myself to be here.

My brain fills itself with questions and answers.

My heart lets me give out these last few words of wisdom.

Maya Klein, 8
Chico