Age 8 and younger
First Place
Beautiful Tennessee
Jacob Babel, Middle Tennessee EMC
Tennessee’s lovely mountains cover the sky with snowy peaks
hikers scour the mountains.
Bears, bobcats, raccoons too
all there waiting just for you
pretty woods and daffodils
like the children dancing sweet.
Second Place
Wild Life
Eliot Sparacio, Sequachee Valley EC
As I walk through the darkened night, I
see a crow up in flight. Then I see a bee.
What is that I see there? IT’ A BEARRR!!!
At Noon I see a raccoon.
Hey, it’s in to stay, and
that’s TENNESSEE.
Age 9-13
First Place
Bugs
Samantha Rosencrants, Cumberland EMC
Some say icky, some
say gross, others
cool, others insane!
Bugs, are my favorite.
Long-winged mayflies,
for they take flight
in the eerie,
but starry night.
Bugs, are my favorite.
Tiny snails, crossing
the dirt at such a slow
pace, can make my
heart skip a pace.
But the best of them
all are the ants
that line the wall.
One by one, in
a line straight, as
if an army
was in a race.
Some say icky, some
say gross, others
cool, others insane!
But bugs are bugs,
they help us every day.
Second Place
The Great State
Drew Estes, Middle Tennessee EMC
Waking up
to a mockingbird’s chirps
pouring milk
in your coffee cup
standing and admiring the bumblebee
then shouting
I am Tennessee
staring at the purple and yellow iris
or going fishing and catching channel catfish
finding ladybugs
look, under the rug
looking at that river pearl shine
trying to catch a zebra swallowtail butterfly
watching the Tennessee walking horse trot
where many others before us have walked
the cave is full of animals
look, you can even see an eastern box turtle
at night the fireflies look so great
happy to be in the volunteer state
Third Place
Tennessee Down the Left
Emma Laymon, Middle Tennessee EMC
The towering mountains
Envelop the state
New changing colors form with the
Newborn seasons
Every leaf falls with a purpose
Small crevices form in the elevation
Splashing water whirls down the cliffs
Every drip gleams with sunlight
Each quality a wonderful sight
Age 14-18
First Place
Country Canvas
Anna Kurschner, Chickasaw EC
Sunlight falls in slants;
I pause,
Step back,
Compare my painting with
The twilight sky.
Pink, orange, purple, red,
Mixed in a Master’s palette
Painted with unseen strokes,
Clouds dabbed.
I add a last touch —
My earthly canvas holds
Sky, colors,
Clouds,
A flock of birds
Flying.
I linger long on the last one
Until it fades past the horizon.
Then I’m done.
But I’ve only captured
A tiny frame of time
Reduced in glory
A blurred memory.
I clean my brushes and
Go home with my memory
As it melts past vision
And the shadows are long.
Second Place
Tender Tennessee Hills
Gorsha Jolly, Middle Tennessee EMC
His lost eyes
search the stars of the night sky
and he hopes she truly realized
how much he loved her so
The sunrise
scatters the stars from the hillside
and with the fading of the moonlight
he slowly turns toward home
Fresh dew
soaks the souls of his old shoes
as he recalls how they used to
walk this road alone
And the flowers
he had picked for her, within hours
have wilted and now shower
the ground like falling snow
He walks away
knowing now she’ll always be safe
nestled in the warm embrace
of the tender Tennessee hills
Third Place
Marching Against the Color of My Skin
Naomi Igbinovia, Middle Tennessee EMC
I know that this story is recent
It’s hard to believe that this story has just been found,
We’ve strayed to look at Birmingham and Atlanta too
And it happened near my hometown.
If you don’t know I’m talking about the Clinton 12
12 students who had dreams that were about to begin
Who couldn’t step through doors of some school
All for the color of their skin.
With screaming and pointing there at them
With all the signs saying they don’t feel same,
“We can’t go to school with blacks!”
Yet it put no one to shame.
Age 19-22
First Place
Southern/Minded II: River-Lake
Hunter Keough, Pickwick EC
Copperhead rocks glint in the sun-dark
as a fisherman’s son drinks in the waterfall
of beer and leftover BBQ. The water’s tail
finishes its pendulum contortion, flashes
jack salmon in a brush upon the waves.
A snag on the line, the water brimming
with tiny flitting mouths with dragonflies
above. The trurkle of the stream
taking a stroll in the tree breeze
on shore, filtering the creaking waves
napping at the bow. Stern
face muscles relax in a sweat
as the humid rocks and anchors.
The quiet of the night. The biggest fish
now caught.
Second Place
Night Swimming
Jordan Overshire, Pickwick EC
Falls crash around us,
power in liquid form,
torrents dumping,
thundering, deafening.
Spray drenches us,
covers us,
leaves us
smiling, longing for more.
Like bats,
we rely on voices
to guide each other
to the edge.
We stand blind for a moment,
then
we
jump.
Adrenaline flies
as we do
and creates a
profound silence.
The surface breaks
and we go deeper.
The current fights
The current fights
to hold on—but it can’t.
We surface,
exhilarated,
and make our way
to shore.
Noise awakens.
Katydids call.
We’re all laughing.
Water falls.
Third Place
On Wet Socks and Regret
Tessa Klingensmith
I stood on the pavement, soaking up the rain in my new pair of never-been-worn-socks.
She pulled up to the stop sign and I jumped out of the car. I just wanted to explore. To have an adventure. I
skipped down the sidewalk in my socks–next thing I knew you jumped out and followed me….
“…you left this.”
“Thanks….You have a habit of running outside in your socks…”
“I know…”
We walked back together that night. It seemed simple and natural but it somehow still didn’t feel right.
My leg throbbed where the bruise was from the night before
reminding me of regret and missed opportunities.
But I just stood and watched you drive away.
The rain fell as I continued to stand there.
I’ve always enjoyed the rain.
Age 23-64
First Place
Hummers
Mary Hodges
Ruby-throated hummingbird,
Most common breed.
Your nest is spider silk and lichens;
Lined with dandelions, cattails, thistledown.
It stretches to hold the nest.
Pea-sized eggs become babies,
Mother fed for only ten days before
Learning to strive for life.
Many colors look like dinner,
But flowers and feeders are more satisfying.
Smallest warrior so brave, inquisitive.
Hummer wars rage through summer,
Where even offspring become rivals
For food. They are serious battles.
Your tiny, strong wings must cross
The Gulf of Mexico
To winter in Southern climes.
Beautiful Hummingbird
Come back to us with spring.
Second Place
Sing Me A Song of Tennessee
Jean Hill, Duck River Electric Cooperative
Sing me a song of Tennessee
When the sun sinks low on the hills.
Trees holding captive the red glowing orb,
As mist in the hollow fills.
The flowing of creek, swirling in mist.
Frogs singing Gregorian chorus.
A Hoot-owl’s hollow call from a tree
At edge of darkening forest.
Tennessee love song rising with moon
In close of the hollow, deep.
Stars so vast, like a high canopy
Above hills where the grand horses sleep.
Lightening-bugs sparkle, drifting on air.
An enchanted, fairyland place.
The Tennessee night time, gentle and sweet
Swelling with magic and grace.
Third Place
These Mountains
Keith Sikora
These mountains
Are as ancient as time itself.
Flowing south to north
These mountains
Are an ocean backbone
Of forested rolling waves
That seem to stretch into forever.
Veins and arteries
Of crystalline waterfalls and streams
Running through the great Smokey heart
Of this mythical land.
These mountains
Are a living spirit
Filled with the magic of dreams.
From the golden bright of sunrise
To the rainbow display of twilight
And the universe
Of endless cerulean sky in between.
These mountains
Are a mystical vision
Seen through seasonal eyes
Touched by the hand of God
Age 65 and older
First Place
Up There
Patricia Hope
My grandma flew once in my uncle’s two-seat Piper
Soaring above the Tennessee farms of flattened fields
Cotton needing pickers and summer gardens
Wilting from too little rain.
They looped over the River,
barges along its middle
Making it a highway from the sky.
She said it looked like the River Jordan,
Felt like God was all around them,
Painting the sky with whipped cream clouds
And the earth rolling off the tip of God’s paint brush,
knowing no bounds.
“Down here,” she said. “We are weighted down
By trouble and sin, but up there, it all floats away.”
Second Place
My Tennessee Home
Karon Durrance, Gibson EMC
SPRING:
Yellow daffodils on wind swept hills
wild, free.
Jonquils, then blue flags rise
bed fellows
throwing off their winter coats
nodding under the grandfather oaks.
SUMMER:
Long lazy, sunny days
washes all cares away.
FALL:
Hoot owl’s call
Days of color reds, golds
paints the undersides
of azure skies
cotton picking frost.
WINTER:
Coming, cold breezes blowing
snow creeps on silent feet.
Coming the night
turning white
hoary ground, so deep.
Mother earth’s winter gown
Heaven’s icy crown
God’s blessings, nature sleeps
When at last they lay me down
On sainted ground
To sleep forever sleep
eternity in Tennessee
Third Place
And All Of A Sudden
Clay Derryberry, Duck River EMC
And, all of a sudden
It’s spring!
When the robins ramble
And the blue jays jabber
And the mockingbirds mock;
Where the wind leads
Buttercups in a frantic dance
And tulips tip and twirl
And forsythia froths yellow.
Far out in the pasture
The colt canters,
The calf cavorts
And the coney nibbles on a blade of grass.
And, I can feel the soaring sun
Who has surprised the earth
And its air so much
That its face blushed green.
