Our new monthly Tennessee-themed poetry contest is off to a fantastic start! Congratulations to our winners. Be sure to visit our website, tnmagazine.org, to read more poetry from our runners-up.
Age 8 and younger
First Place
Tennessee Walking Horse Give Me a Ride
Tennessee walking horse
give me a ride.
Tennessee walking horse
take me world wide.
Lily Boulineau, Middle Tennessee EMC
Age 9 – 13
First Place
Autumn and Winter Collide
I see autumn’s robe of gold and red,
I hear its leaves crackle
as they fall to make a bed,
But then things change.
The trees rattle like dry bones.
They look as if they are sad,
But next comes snowflakes
soft as clouds, silent as mice,
and exchanges autumn’s beauty
with winter’s dazzling white.
Spencer Stowe, Duck River EMC
Second Place
A Walk in the Woods
There’s nothing better then a walk in the woods.
To smell the mossy meadows,
To see the different colored flowers,To feel the rolling hills
To hear the birds singing in their language,
and the cows calling to their calves.
Yes a walk in the woods is
like being a bird soaring to its destination and
delighting in the scenery
along the way.
Mitchell Stowe, Duck River EMC
Third Place
Lovers’ Lookout
I’ll sit with you on Lovers’ Lookout
for just one moment longer.
I’ll sit with you on Lovers’ Lookout
together we will ponder.
Together we will ponder and together
we will plan.
The things we’ll do when I am
grown, and you’re a big strong man.
Andrea Stowe, Duck River EMC
Age 14 – 18
First Place
I Saw and Heard
I saw the settlers come in throngs
And leave for western land.
I heard the sad plantation songs
As crops were picked by hand.
I tasted water lit by sun
And smelled the autumn leaves.
I felt the fear of war and guns;
Men fell like golden sheaves.
I saw and heard my homeland rise,
I smelled and tasted, too.
I felt the pain of its demise,
And rejoiced as it held through.
The river runs on ever swift
At moments fast, then slow.
My history shall ever drift
In never-ending flow.
Anna Kurschner, Chickasaw EC
Second Place
Famous People
Do we have famous people?
Yes, we have famous people!
Do we have famous people?
Yes, we have famous people!
Samuel Carter became a hero!
Davy Crockett became a hero!
Alvin York became a hero!
Everyone can be a hero!
Andrew Jackson was President!
James Polk was President!
Andrew Johnson was President!
Do you know that led our nation?
Justin Timberlake entertains us!
Dolly Parton entertains us!
Minnie Peral entertains us!
How many more are there? A lot!?!
Do we have famous people?
Yes, we have famous people!
We have more famous people,
But we are just out of time!
Ben Gibson, Middle Tennessee EMC
Third Place
Driving in Tennessee
I want my license really bad
I feel left out, lonely, sad
It’d be fun and hard at the same time
To drive this year, a car that is mine
I would pass my test; I can drive, so that’s good
I‘m a good driver; I know that I could
Practicing with Jim; he’s nice
The test I can pass; such a small price
I hope I drive soon; maybe a dodge truck
To drive long distances, go mudding, even get stuck
If mom can’t go, I can go for her.
I want her to believe, be proud, be sure
Nathan Mckenzie Prohaska
Middle Tennessee EMC
Age 19-22
First Place
6:37 a.m.
Silent mist creeping like early morning ghosts over the sweet, dewed blades of grass.
It disappears into limestone walls that
envelope the highway as glowing headlights pass.
An amber Southern sun begins to peek up behind the distant rolling hills.
As the heat slowly rises, condensation drips down glass panes upon the windowsills.
Hues of brilliant magenta and tangerine
blend together into a watercolor sky above.
A new Tennessee day has just been born;
in the air there’s a sense of innocence
and tender love.
Rachel Blackwell, Middle Tennessee EMC
Second Place
Home: The Great Tennessee
My love for Tennessee could never dwindle a smuge
We say “reckon” and y’all and have homemade meals in the fridge.
We’re southern and proud and stand up and stand out.
I know where I’m from and love it no doubt.
We bleed orange and white and sing “Rocky Top.”
We push buggies, not carts. We don’t drink soda, it’s pop.
We don’t always have a lot, but we work for what we got.
Our winters are cold and our Summers are hot.
So, where’s the best place, you ask me.
I’ll tell you my home, the Great Tennessee.
Dakota Turner, Powell Valley EC
Third Place
Autumn Approaches
As Autumn approaches
The leaves begin to change
Dropping from the branches
As a new season transforms
What was once green
Now holds the colors of fall
The brightest of the yellows
The deepest of the oranges
And the deep dark of the browns
When combined together
Complete the colors of fall
That mesmerizes us all
But my favorite part of all
Is the crinkling of the leaves
As you walk across them
And the thought that
I never have to go far
To hear and see this beautiful Autumn
In my Tennessee home.
Tasha Parsons, Southwest Tennessee EMC
Age 23-64
First Place
Reelfoot
Clocks were stopped in Boston
And church bells rang at Dover,
But a baptism lay
Down Tennessee way,
When ’Ol Man River turned over.
Some said earth was restless
Or ’twas judgment sure enough,
Before it was staid
Much prayer was made
From Lost Village to McIver’s Bluff.
They say the land rose twenty feet
The river turned dark as soot,
Then the flood spilled o’er
Like cannon roar,
Where the Chickasaw stamped his foot.
But these will a Sunday picnic be
The seers tell us moreover,
When New Madrid yawns
And wakes again,
And ’Ol Man River turns over!
Thomas Gauger, Caney Fork EC
Second Place
Sacred Ground
Our ancestors came to this fertile land,
which seemed to be touched by God’s own hand.
They built their mounds, planted their seed,
and shared their gifts with those in need.
The black crow, the wolf, and the snake, all agree
this is home to the brave and land of the free.
This land we are honored to call TENNESSEE.
Let us circle our fires, look deep within,
and treat one another as though we are akin.
Our future is as bright as the high sun above
as long as we are capable of sharing our love.
David Barkley, Chickasaw EC
Third Place
To the many “Volunteers” who have answered the call…
We have sacrificed greatly for our country
We who have worn the uniform
We have carried the colors to foreign lands
We who have the blood of friends on our hands
We have seen the best in men, the worst in men
We who have known the rage within
We have seen death in its most intimate form
We who have seen the field of battle as the norm
We have returned home to cheers and parades
We who have escorted our brothers to the grave
We have sacrificed greatly for our country
We who have taken our turn as sentry
Joshua Moon, Duck River EMC
Age 65 and older
First Place
Thanksgiving
The cicada’s ratcheting gone
Now is the season of ghosts
Soft whooshings of
Migration, time for us all
to go home
The old cabin still standing
Beside the river.
We walk back there, me
And the kids. I tell them Daddy
Kept his shotgun over the door.
We were all immune from flu
because Momma
Had it in 1918.
Eight of us around the
Table. By that tree Joey kissed me.
Scent of woodsmoke calls us to
Our congregation of SUVs
roosting in the driveway.
We’ll have one more piece of
Sweet potato pie,
Play George Strait songs
going home.
Ann Thornfield-Long
Second Place
Do You Remember?
All day singing and dinner on the ground?
Brush arbor meetings going on all around?
Folks resting on Sundays from a week of toil?
Most making their living working the soil?
When a man’s word was his bond, and most could be trusted.
Because Bibles were read and never needed dusting?
Children milking, churning and bringing in wood,
Folks selling cream, butter and eggs to buy groceries when they could?
Hoeing gardens, plowing fields, going barefooted too,
Picking cotton for school clothes or maybe new shoes?
If you answered yes to any of these,
Tennessee history is sure to please!
David L. Reasons, Cumberland EMC
Third Place
The Fisherman
The boat was old and weathered
the paint, there was none left
The nets were new, strong and true
he weaved them all himself
I watched him in the evening
the fireplace for his light
His old tough hands would twist the twine
to make them strong and tight
The fish were cat and buffalo
He sold them from his truck
From Pickwick Dam and all around
a place called Perkins Bluff
He had fish grease on his mustache
and buttermilk on his chin
but we always loved to have him come
He was our grandpa, “Pappy Jim.”
Millie Ungren
