Bald Eagle Poetry Contest Winners
 June 07, 2001 - From over 100 schools who participated in Signals of Spring our first full year, we CONGRATULATE this year's Winners!
Overall Grand Prize is a stained-glass window piece of a Bald Eagle created by Linda Knight and a $75 U.S. Savings Bond.
1st and 2nd Prize winners for Grades 5-8 and High School will receive a $50 U.S. Savings Bond.
Grand Prize Overall:
Judge comments:
The Shadow is the most original use of metaphor and sustains that metaphor throughout
the poem. It is very interesting to look at an eagle using the shadow on the ground. |
The Shadow
by Lareesha W.
Bayside High School
Queens, NY
Shadow on the ground
From miles up,on the earth
Is cast by a majestic creature
That seemingly floats in the sky
In perfect control
Slices the air
With massive wings
Of the ironically lightest thing
And a head always resting high
With eyes ever vigilant
Respected, Feared
Disregarded by some
It glides on
Not conscious of anything
Except it's instinctive mission
Unaware of danger
Unaware of being helped
by it's own wrongdoers...
trying to correct mistakes to late...
of it's admirers...
of being a small fractional example
of creation....
It glides on casting it's shadow
On the earth below
Judge comments:
Eagle In My Eye represents a sustained use of traditional poetic form in terms of rhymed
couplets. Also the poem has an interesting twist in the last stanza, in that
the eagle is described as becoming an eagle in the poet's eye. |
1st Place:
Eagle In My Eye
by Kendra M.
Welch Middle School
Houston, TX
You are feared yet loved
As you glide on the clouds above.
You are wanted yet despised;
Wisdom is written in your eyes.
You are not fearful, you are bold;
You have claws of steel, or so I've been told.
You're a symbol of peace yet a symbol of war.
You're wise forever more.
You are welcome yet rejected,
Humble and respected.
And as you glide in the sky,
You become the Eagle in my eye.
Judge comments:
The Soaring Eagle is a well done social commentary poem. |
2nd Place:
The Soaring Eagle
Andrea A.
Katy Junior High
Katy, TX
What is that thing up in the sky
Soaring overhead
It flies and flies so very high
I can tell that it has fled
From problems that are growing
And getting worse today
Problems that effect our flowing
Each and everyday
Things like pollution in the air
Are scaring these creatures away
But why don't we see improvement
In any form or way
Why can't we take a little bit of time
To discuss this and not delay
For if we delay we put it off
More and more each day
Until one day they all have disappeared
Until we notice that the soaring eagle has gone away.
Poetry Judge:
Kalamu ya Salaam
New Orleans writer Kalamu ya Salaam is founder of Nommo Literary Society, a Black writers workshop; co-founder of Runagate Multimedia; leader of the WordBand, a poetry performance ensemble; and moderator of e-Drum, a listserv of over 1000 Black writers and ethnically diverse supporters of literature. His latest book is 360° -- A Revolution of Black Poets edited with Kwame Alexander. Salaam's latest spoken word cd is My Story, My Song. He is a 1999 senior literature fellow of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. The Magic of Juju -- An Appreciation of the Black Arts Movement is forthcoming from Third World Press.
*All poems were judged without any information of the author
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