A note: Please keep your entries to 100 words or fewer. Submissions exceeding the limit will be disqualified. Thank you to everyone who entered their poems for Poet’s Playground, and we encourage you all to keep writing poetry.
Age 8 and younger
Tennessee: Where the Birds are Chirping
The lakes are clear.
And the grass is green.
The sky is oh so blue.
Tennessee is the prettiest yet.
The birds are chirping
And the dogs are barking at the inn —
And I am singing too.
So then we all sing.
The birds tweet tweet tweet
And the water is glimmering —
Like the spotlight of the show of
Tennessee.
I am in the meadows of my home
And this is what I see in Tennessee.
— Francis Brown,
Southwest Tennessee EMC
Age 9-13
Evensongs
Night is approaching,
I can see it in the sky.
The stars begin to twinkle,
While bats go flying by.
The whippoorwill is calling,
His voice echoes still.
I can hear the notes of music,
Resound from hill to hill
Owls join the chorus,
They’re hooting sharp and strong.
It makes the stars grow brighter,
In pure incessant song.
My heart is filled with awe
At the perfect harmony;
Of nature’s busy night,
It wonders even me.
So may I always love
The land of my heart.
It’s Tennessee, Tennessee,
Since my early start!
— Nathaniel Cookson,
Tennessee Valley EC
Age 14-18
Remember
Thinking back to yesterday with Grandpa at my side
Telling of the Mayflower sailing upon the oceans tide
As the first foot in the sand was planted
Soon freedom to the land was granted
176 years after the Pilgrims grounded
My dear Tennessee was founded
228 years later I am here
Filled with sweet peace and no sense of fear
As Grandpa rocked back and forth in his chair
He finished his story in the fresh autumn air
Hand in hand we thanked the Lord for our beautiful Tennessee home
May God bless this land and wherever we may roam
— Ella Hamsley, Cumberland EMC
Age 19-22
Tennessee
Strangers to this land
do not understand
this blessed state
of being
Oh, the glorious people
Who knobbled their knees
Split the skin of their fingers
And wore the soles from their shoes
To make a home
To live here
Is to truly know the wonder
Of God’s most precious pearl
To stand upon the precipice
Overlooking an imitation of Paradise
brightened by little lighting angels
and truly understand
What freedom means
For this place
My home
Only fuels me with love
And life’s greatest
Shield and treasure.
Hope
— Ruby Purgason, Appalachian EC
Age 23-64
Appalachian Solace
In the hustle and bustle, I find solace,
In the quiet hum of ancient whispers,
Where the earth holds stories, deep as roots,
And the wind sings lullabies, soft and true.
These mountains cradle my restless spirit,
In their folds, I am both small and infinite,
The chaos of the world fades to echoes,
As I breathe in the calm of this old place.
Every step up these worn, winding trails,
Is a journey back to who I once was
Among the trees that stand tall, unyielding
I find my strength, my peace, my resolve.
— Daniel James, Volunteer EC
Age 65 and older
The Ancient Road
They say the old folks talked sometimes
About an Ancient Road
That ran down through our neighborhood
Not too far from our home.
Long time ago as we went by
I heard my mother say
“There used to be an old road there.”
She pointed out the way.
Old writings of a neighbor man
Make it seem so clear.
He wrote that in the former times
“The Great Road” ran though here.
O Tennessee, the hope remains
That this story be retold
And in the future we all shall learn
More of the Ancient Road.
— Charlotte Garrett,
Upper Cumberland EMC
