Age 8 and younger
First Place
Magical Music
Kingston Walters, Caney Fork Electric Cooperative
I like Music
It feels like Magic
I love Country Music that comes from Tennessee
It gives me Energy
I feel it in my Heart, It makes me want to Start
My Day!!!
Second Place
Tennessee Football
Ellison Knox, Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation
Tennessee Football is a well common game,
And also good players can get into fame,
And some people even know people by name,
For Tennessee Football is a well common game.
Age 9-13
First Place
What the Iris said to me
Nora Harrell, Middle Tennessee Electric
I was walking when I heard a voice,
As sweet as moist,
It talked to me,
So very quietly.
I looked down and saw an iris,
It was very stylish,
It said, “You know the place that I love?”
“What?” I said as I looked up above.
“It’s a place that has pearls,
It said as I reached down to touch its curls,
“It ends with an e.”
It said, so very quietly,
Suddenly I knew the place it liked so much,
It had pearls and such,
It was Tannassie,
AKA Tennessee.
Second Place
The Climb to Tranquility
Tallen Haag, Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation
Water rushing past my feet
Looking up, intimidated
The Winding Staircase is hard to beat
Standing here, elated
Adrenaline gushing, start my climb
This challenging staircase
Water, sweat, mossy grime
Now, far from the base
Beauty at the summit
Pool of water, fed by fall
Moss covered facade, sunlit
Feeling tranquility’s call
Beholder’s eye reflecting beauty
Emotions settle, calm within
To return as a hopeful attendee
This place, herein
Third Place
Summer Mornings
Reagan Ray, Upper Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation
I love to wake up,
On summer mornings,
When it’s eighty degrees,
With a gentle warm breeze,
Whispering secrets through the trees.
On summer mornings,
I love to be in this place,
Where sunlight kisses my freckled face.
With dancing wind chimes softly tinkling,
My ears serenaded by the birds singing.
Everything is perfect in summer daylight,
Jewels of flowers shining so bright.
Dew drops glisten in the light,
I feel blessed to see such sights.
Tennessee has those special days
Moments that I wish could stay.
I am happiest always,
On summer mornings,
Summer mornings.
Age 14-18
First Place
My Tennessee
Imagen Ogden, Middle Tennessee Electric
A battle of flames and forest arise
but not here.
Secrets that turn into lies
but not here.
Everyone on their own, quiet, alone
but not here.
I’ll tell you about here.
Crimson cardinals sing in the trees.
Out bloom the flowers, then come the bees.
Loud and proud we shout our song.
Each one different, depending on the path we are on.
Our starred flag is raised tall and high to show
that we are free.
My home, my city, my Tennessee.
Second Place
Fishing Below Center Hill Dam
Hazel Watson, Caney Fork Electric Cooperative
Sometimes in the morning,
as the sun stretches
and reaches thru the rising mist
to touch the mountain tops.
Sometimes at noontime,
when lazy clouds
Sail thru blue sky.
And sometimes in the evening
As twilight glides down
between the mountains.
It is an osprey’s nest,
the heron’s croak
as he flaps downstream,
a kingfisher’s chatter.
It is tiny waves
breaking on the shore,
and washing over my toes.
It is snagging trees,
siblings, the river bottom.
It is moonlight
dancing on the waves.
It is a song on my lips,
a prayer in my heart
“Thank you, God”
Third Place
Born to Farm
Charleston Berger, Appalachian Electric Cooperative
“Tennessee wasn’t built in a day”
At least that’s what my Grandfather said.
He worked hard every day under the fiery sun
To my Grandfather being a farmer was calling
He treated the animals like good, ole friends
And picked the crops delicately as if they were crystal glasses
My Grandfather said he only farmed because he enjoyed it.
But I chuckled when he said that
I knew there was something inside; calling him to farm
He had the same calling generations had before him
You could tell it in his smokey blue eyes
He was born to farm
Age 19-22
First Place
Tri-Star
Destiny Wanamaker, Caney Fork Electric Cooperative
It’s more than three stars in a blue circle.
It’s respect,
“Yes ma’am,” “Yes sir,”
“Let me get that door for you.”
It’s volunteering,
Donating, clean up crews,
providing care for those who came before us.
It’s hard workers,
Business men and women, educators,
Home to the nursery capital of the world.
Each star,
a characteristic to describe who we are.
The circle,
Representing unity within ourselves.
Standing up,
Hand on heart,
“One nation under God.”
Second Place
What does agriculture mean to you?
Maron Williams, Middle Tennessee Electric
More than the animals
we grow, more than the seeds
we sow. More than cotton
fields, more than cows
grazing on hills. More than
tractors and balers,
seeders and sprayers.
It’s the lung-chilling air
as we watch the farm
awaken, the dew
rising first like twinkling stars
among a lush green sky.
It’s the ache after delivering
the stillborn calf, our hearts splintering
like axe-cut wood as we mourn and
walk hoof-in-hand toward healing.
It’s the kitchen table talks and
fence checking walks that makes
us grow; it’s our life, this we know.
Third Place
My Secure Hometown
Savannah Wagner, Volunteer Energy Cooperative
There is perfect bliss in knowing that my hometown will always bring me comfort and security.
There will always be a time capsule of memories in every corner of Tennessee.
A hometown where I know God is protecting me.
A place where winters are unusually warm and summers are extremely dry.
My hometown, while too small for some, is the perfect size for me.
There is the perfect view of the mountains.
There are moments where you can capture the right sunset.
These are the moments where you forget that you ever wanted to live in the big city.
The moments where I feel most content.
This is when Tennessee makes me feel happily isolated from the rest of the chaos of the world.
My hometown, while not as adventurous as most cities, is where I feel safe and guarded.
Age 23-64
First Place
A Tennessee Lineman
Wilma Vernich, Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation
Started out our “little man,”
loving monster trucks.
Asking “why” and “how,”
sometimes I said, “Not now!”
We watched him grow —
where he went, what he did.
“Little man” left our yard —
six years in the Army National Guard.
He became big and brave,
moved out —
paid his own rent;
then an idea heaven sent.
Lineman school in McEwen —
climbing poles, hauling wire,
working for “hot hours.”
“Is that ‘little man’ really ours?”
Snuggle under — go back to bed.
“Little man” is already up.
Tornado, lightning, snow or ice;
Tennessee linemen are extra nice!
Second Place
Song of Tennessee
Linda Sahli, Volunteer Energy Cooperative
Toward the Smoky Mountains
I saunter, bluey misty,
Enchanted with the meditating cows
grazing on the meads.
Notes of their mooing
sail across the vale, Narration of life
down my trail.
Eulogy of Eunomia
on the bars of the ranch fence,
Saddle tramp amid flowers and berries,
the pleasures of sense.
Sweet smooth streams murmur
and whisper to my ears.
Elf land of squirrels, foxes
and deers.
Et Dorado of musical laughter and colorful dreams
Third Place
A Firefly Far From Home
Olivia Hale, Middle Tennessee Electric
I found myself too far from home
The misty mountains of my birth.
‘Til one warm day I sat to watch
The sun slip down behind the earth.
But twinkles in the nearby wood
Compelled my curiosity.
“Come home, come home!” The fireflies said.
“To hidden coves of Tennessee.
Where smokey fog rolls o’er the hills
Through laurel blooms you loved before.”
“It’s been too long,” I did protest.
“And they won’t know me anymore.”
“Not true, not true!” the fireflies said.
“On this you always must depend.
The mountain meadows miss your step
And fireflies don’t forget a friend.”
Age 65 and older
First 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.
Beneath Heaven’s eye.
Come, Night.
Ebbing embers
Bring dreams of youth
Awaiting morning’s glow.
There comes for each of us
Both dawn and dusk …
Still the Sentries remain.
They wait.
They watch.
Second Place
Weather Journal
Judith Duvall, Appalachian Electric Cooperative
The first months of the new
year behaved much like
impish little women –
loyal to tradition, bored
with expectations,
prone to act on impulse.
January remained true
to convention – frequent snow,
heavy wool, but February
was a schoolgirl – laughing,
squealing, scared crazy
on a roller coaster ride.
March noting the quirks of
February, worried she’d be
plagued by mean-spirited,
icy winds slashing
delicate blossoms
in her care.
April settled into a smug
mood, her showers welcomed
by wise gardeners
who remember a snowy Easter
when winter coats hid their pretty
Sunday dresses.
Third Place
Flying Horses
Bruce Klockars, Volunteer Energy Cooperative
They say horses cannot fly
But I’m beginning to wonder why
They say such things when look above
And see them floating like a dove
So lie supine upon the ground
Then open your eyes and look around
To see equines that come to life.
With heads and manes and tails in flight
They’re gray and white and big and small
Some fast, some slow, but most of all
They’re up there at our beck and call.
Look left, look right, look side to side
You’ll see them everywhere. They cannot hide.
Some still claim that horses cannot fly
But I know that’s just a little white lie
Because I’ve seen them in the big blue sky
Trotting, prancing and flying by.
