2012 Poetry Gallery
2012
- The Guards by Blakely Berryhill (Category I Grand Prize)
- The Changing River by Xavier Mendoza (Category II Grand Prize)
- Before My Ancestors by Pi'ikea Lopes (Category III Grand Prize)
- No Moon, No Place, Never by Cathy Guo (Category IV Grand Prize)
- Pine Cones by Mitchell Oberfoell (Monkey's Raincoat Prize)
- A Bird's Eye View by Julian Dixon (Anacostia Watershed Prize)
- 2 Cityscapes by Stefan Jones
- A Peaceful? Day in the Woods by Max Schindel
- A Waterfall Before the Storm by Margaret Shultz
- An Elk's Home by Hayden Williams
- Apparition Bliss by Benjamin Steinberg
- Barney by Jolene Akasaki
- Beach by Cathy Guo
- Colored Sestina by Mia Farinelli
- Communion by Margaret Shultz
- Creek by Alicia Buchter
- Damaged Autumn by Cathy Guo
- Desert Water by Eli Chavez
- Detached by Kristy Carpenter
- Driving to the End of the World by Cameron Manor
- Dusk, Summer by Jacob Oet
- Earth, Heat, and Cold by Jimmy Lujan
- Fall Fishing by Jonathan Long
- Flowing River by Whitney Short
- For a Second by Kamala Rose
- Frogs by John Culver
- Gash by Andrew Bauer
- Home by Eileen Liu
- How? by Trevor Anderson
- Hurricane, A Disease by Cathy Guo
- In the Middle by Patricia Fong
- Inhaling the Scent of the Wind by Sydney Pardo
- Looking up to the Airplanes by Elizabeth Mittmann
- Moon by Sam Long
- My Coat of Many Colors by Matthew Brailsford
- Nepal by Dhan Neupaney
- Nest by Cathy Guo
- Omitted by Kate Sundberg
- On a Saturday Afternoon by Ioana Grosu
- Pan, Deconstructed by Katy Li
- Parcels by Jacob Oet
- Parched by Gabriella Eck
- Pickleweed Grows and Ducklings Fly by Jessica Feinberg
- Pomegranate by Skylar Sang
- Quiet Summons by Elizabeth Emond-Stevenson
- Ring Around my Homeland by Maria Ramirez
- River Be by Jill Mitchell
- Soldiers by Ioana Grosu
- Spirit of the Bird by Karissa Wong
- The Cloud by Kaden Kloppe
- The Corn Maze by Maya Freking
- The Different Chords of a Melody: "Crush" by Cathy Guo
- The Icicle by Catherine Ritchhart
- The Kite by Erin Zeka
- The Long March by Annie Merrill
- The Mountain Stream by Alaina LaPanse
- The Sunflower Blooms by Antonia Langenegger
- The Waters by Matthew Yamamoto
- they did not speak in grayscale, the spoke quietly by Cathy Guo
- Tribal Gods Passing on the Wind by Katy Li
- Untitled by Ember Brightwood
- Untitled by Ethan Berning
- Untitled by Gabriela Gonzalez Koo
- Untitled by Margaret Shultz
- Untitled by Stephen Walker
- Winterdance by Emma Finch
On Writing
This year we’ve added a new section to our collection of winning poems, called “On Writing,” that features poems that are not directly related to the theme of our contest, “watersheds,” which admittedly, we have always interpreted rather broadly. In selecting “watersheds” as our theme in 1995, we sought a meaningful, scalable lens through which children and their teachers could observe the natural world. Our goal was (and is) to get kids’ imaginations working, to get them exploring the places they live, and to give them tools, practice and recognition for effectively expressing what they discover.
Because our poetry and anthologies are used extensively in classrooms—and by students on their own—as guides for how to write good poetry, over time we began receiving poems that reflected on the process of writing itself, often in ways we thought would be an inspiration to young writers. So, we started including a few of these poems on the craft of writing in our annual collections, to the delight of teachers and students. To make it clear, however, that our contest theme is still “watersheds,” we’ve decided from now on to give these wonderful offerings—“A poem isn’t a lion but rather the lion’s roar,” “Words march like soldiers in armor.”—a separate showcase. Enjoy!
- A Poem by Emmalee Wong
- Middle Light by Sarah Brodnax
- Poems Hide by Sarah Baldino
- Poetry Landscape by Sophia Limacher
- Smith by Max Turetsky
- Speech by Haley Knight
- Stream of Consciousness by Katie Rose Dionne
- The Deepest Well by Reed Morgan
- Write the Words by Abdul Tawil
- Writer's Frenzy by Sophia Varady