Congratulations to our February Poetry Challenge winners:

A poem about water by: Carlisle (Antigua, Guatemala)

“Water is Life”
Carlisle (Antigua, Guatemala)

This is our Earth
What are we doing?
Trash in the water
So much pollution
Waters that were as clear as can be
Now black as the night
And dead like debris
Sea levels rising
And icebergs are melting
Coral reefs are dying
And no one is helping
Don’t you realize they keep the ocean alive?
And this started back in 1985
Nets, snares, hooks and straws
Trapping the turtles
And killing them all
Plastic is growing
Oil is spilling
Factories smoking
And sewage is filling
Dead animals are everywhere,
Habitat loss
And smoke in the air
No clean water
No more fish
And if you’re hearing this in 2046
I don’t even think we will exist
I’m really sorry.
This is it.

“upstate new york”
by Alyssa (Kansas, USA)

eleven fingers brushed through
hills and valleys of northern soil
millennia ago. cold as ice,
they left impressions in their absence,
some deeper and longer than others …
these wounds forever changed the land.

the heavens cried for the earth,
and her tears began to heal her,
filling deep scars with fresh, blue flesh
from which new life grew:

Flora and fish thrived,
fauna flocked to its tributaries,
and eventually civilizations,
nestled around these handprints,
drawn to nature’s gift.

Write a poem (any length!) with water as the theme! Share your publications with us to be one of two winners this month!