Age 8 and younger
First Place
The Seas
Kaityn Smith, Plateau EC
The seas are blue when I go in
Sometimes green
I like the seas because in the summer
it’s warm
No matter what
It’s nice because that’s how God made it
God’s creations are beautiful
Especially the seas
The seas are nice
They have sharks and fish
and many other creatures
Second Place
Fall in Tennessee
Southwest Tennessee EMC
Tennessee in the fall
Is like happiness when opening a new doll
You look in the sky
all kinds of birds fly
You look on the ground
leaves of red, yellow, and brown
I wish seasons would not change
but they change, becoming more strange
This behavior in nature
in a season for all
Third Place
Tennessee Wind
Blakely Payne, Middle Tennessee Electric
Tennessee wind, Tennessee wind,
I like Tennessee wind.
The wind is cool and refreshing
On a hot day.
When you are hot and sweaty,
You can go outside, get up high,
And the wind will cool you off.
Tennessee wind, Tennessee wind,
I like Tennessee wind.
Age 9–13
First Place
Primordial Iris
Nethra Anbalagan, Middle Tennessee Electric
The flowers begin to bloom
as the sun peaks out,
From Tennessee’s garden wild.
A violet blossom catches my sight
out of all colours bright and mild
Amid the grass, an Iris thrives,
With its thick stem
it seems bold and clear.
Not to be mistaken for a lavender.
The shade of its colour
And
its breathtaking features,
drop me a message.
“Dream beyond your Imagination.”
I lean lower
to admire life,
to lend hope,
to gain faith,
to become intelligent,
From the only courageous flower.
The primordial Iris.
Second Place
Iron Will
Shay Simpson, Meriwether Lewis EC
The courage that drives you
When nothing can defy you,
That adrenaline rush
Coursing through your blood.
The pain, the fear—
Your enemy is near.
Fight. Win.
Never give in.
Life pulls you down—
You’re going to drown…
Look up, don’t fret—
You’re not dead yet.
Remember where you belong.
Stay strong.
That iron will
Is with you still.
Don’t lose that sight—
Yes, there’s a tunnel, but there’s also a light.
Third Place
Simply Beautiful
Kayla Lasher, Middle Tennessee Electric
Beauty is fleeting
But not this kind
Simplicity is beautiful
Beautifully divine
Its beauty never fades
Or goes out of style
For it’s always something
That is worthwhile
Complexity can ruin you
When you’re overthinking
But when things are complex
The beauty of kindness
Just gets blown away
While those are the things
That make someone’s day
See the beauty
In southern hospitality
Stop overthinking
Wanting more
Look at the little things in life
Take a step back
And realize more
Of the beauty of simplicity
The kind that isn’t fleeting
Never goes out of style
And is always worthwhile
Age 14–18
First Place
Moving On
Kameron Dickson, Southwest Tennessee EMC
Driving down backroads
All I can do is think
A bout my life, my past
and what’s to come
simple yet complex woods and country
that housed my ambitions for so long
Left behind
I’m graduating soon
going off to a place foreign to me
In my rear-view mirror, Tennessee
The land I grew up in
About to become an afterthought
As I travel forward and move on
I can’t help but think of the bonds
The friends and life that I’ve forged here
Part of my heart will stay there
But the rest of me has to move on
Second Place
Spring in Tennessee
Esther Jane Pope, Middle Tennessee Electric
The sun-kissed breeze that frolics through your hair,
The pastel sky that blossoms voidless pure.
Among the grassy soil fresh and fair,
The song of heaven plays upon the moor.
The dandelions sprout in buttered shine,
Their youthful calling born throughout the years,
Into their petals violets intertwine,
A leafy bouquet lush with purple tears.
When dusk arrives, her veil all silver white,
Horizon melts into a golden glaze.
The moon beams bath the world in cloudless light,
The gentle raindrops fall like melting flame.
Oh spring abloom an infant, tender still,
An instrument of Yahweh’s blessed will.
Third Place
“Listen”
Samuel Nunez, Jr., Powell Valley EC
As you travel along
Amidst these majestic mountains,
The sounds that preside
Gush up like a fountain.
There’s the bird’s sweet singing
From his perch in the tree,
And there’s also the humming
Of the busy bumblebee.
The roar of the wind
Rushing through trees;
The flowing of the river, which,
Of its banks, is free.
Still softer is the lowing
Of cattle to be fed,
And- Hark!- the cockle-doo
Of a rooster that’s red.
Some sounds full of pleasantness,
Some others full of fear.
When you’re up in the mountains,
There’s no telling what you might hear.
Age 19–22
First Place
Where I’m From
Michayla Smith, Cumberland EMC
I am from worn pages
ink spills covering up words
I am from countless adventures
from a ship made of a flatbed trailer
I am from chickens
and the cows
for whom each had a name
I am from water
(peaceful, cold
the feeling of home)
I am from bamboo forests
taking over and expanding beyond
I am from my garden
where all my hard work bloomed
I am from the stars above
that guide me through the night
I am from my imagination
which moves like a river
supplying endless possibilities
Second Place
Farm Life
Mary Smith, Fayetteville Public Utilities
Fresh air in the hazy morning seeps into my lungs then back out into the empty space most would call a field.
I call it land.
The land my heritage gave me.
The land I’ll always call my home.
The land I’ll take my last breath on.
Nothing compares to a silent morning, just the big Tennessee sky and I.
Birds fly ’round in a distance.
Oh, how I wish I had wings like that.
A soft animal noise can be heard from far away.
I smile as I resume my work.
Nay, it is not work, it is my life.
My land is my passion.
Tennessee is my home.
Age 23–64
First Place
If Tennessee Were a Song
Cindy Jackson, Cumberland EMC
If Tennessee were a song
What would the melody be
Sunrises and sunsets
Or beautiful scenery
If Tennessee were a song
What would the lyrics be
Unconditional volunteer spirit
Caring community
If Tennessee were a song
What would the chorus be
Cheering for Tennessee Vols
Or Nashville Predators hockey
If Tennessee were a song
Who would the singer be
Dolly Parton, Billy Ray Cyrus
Or Elvis Presley
If Tennessee were a song
Where would the laughter be
In old reruns of Minnie Pearl
On the Grand Ole Opry
Second Place
Luna
Lisa Riley, Chickasaw EC
The moon sighed
Luminous and gold
Her gaze, centuries old
Wistful yet weary
History of tales untold
Would humans be kind
While they sleep tonight
Or ravage the land
Foreshadowing earth’s demise
She is tired of watching
Wars and countless sorrows
Plastic seeping from the oceans
As birds and animals disappear
From a broken landscape
Powerless except to fate
Craters of dust mark the passage of time
While the world sleeps
Her eyes weep moonbeams
Yet she hopes for change
Third Place
See Rock City
Chris Wood, Volunteer EC
Red roof fading against pale blue.
Oak leaves fanning overhead,
beneath a silvered moon.
Rye grass and cornfields swallow
the black planks, words in white,
See Seven States, Lookout Mtn.
Hallowed rafters smell of tobacco and hay.
Dirt floor packed hard. A sickle
stands in the corner next to a hand plow.
Rusted barbed wire
between weed-covered posts,
some fallen, dangling, still hanging
onto the past.
Age 65 and older
First Place
Birthing a Tennessee Beauty
Deborah Thomas, Caney Fork EC
January’s cold hands caressed February
B ringing forth the creation
of Fluorescent Snow
News of the birth streamed on televisions
Lovers posted
Sunshine smiled revealing
veneered white
Moonlit streams grinned with silver braces
Frozen doves sat beneath hooded porches
Observing…
Furry critters crossed their paws in wonder
Wishing for an upcoming Spring
Preparing hidden dens
Dreaming for creations of their own
Fluorescent Snow changed quickly
Young always do
Sprouting into her predestined formation
Spreading forth yellow hair
Eyes of green with specs of white
Evident she was maturing
Becoming herself
Soon to be known as March.
Second Place
THEY WATCH
J. E. Robinson, Middle Tennessee Electric
They stand guard by night
Bark-armored Sentries
At attention along the shale-layered banks
Of the Duck River.
By day uniformed in glory
Undulating canopy
A great green flag unfurling
As soldier crow cry
Their tuneless trumpets.
Time fleets away…day dims to twilight.
Militant titans muted to gray
Silhouettes looming in the growing gloom
Stoic. Strong.
Still as shadow
Silent as stars
Guards at the Gate.
Creatures crawl on forest floor
Beneath Eyes of God.
Come, Night.
Ebbing embers
Bring dreams of youth
Awaiting morning’s glow.
There comes for each of us
A dawn and dusk…
And still the Sentries will remain.
They wait.
They watch.
Third Place
A Critter Magnet
Vicki Moss, Middle Tennessee Electric
I once heard tell of Nashville’s French Lick
My mind rambled on, are people plain sick?
who bonjours around lickin’ over hard dirt?
What was I missing? Was it better than chert?
I discovered animals once roamed around
licking the salt seeping up from the ground.
And Jean du Charleville was the first to catch on
He could build him a warehouse storing salt on his own.
Then sell to settlers who’d need salt to cook
deer venison over fire using big hooks
French Lick is gone now, no longer found
Bicentennial Mall now stands near its
once
revered
ground.
