Right Column
2012 Coastal Art & Poetry Contest Winners
GRADES K-1
My Beautiful Sea Horses
Claire Silva
1st grade, Sunnyvale
Humpback
Baleen whale
Breathing through blowhole
Fast fluke frightening fish
Splash
Shannon Burks
Kindergarten, Los Altos
Baleen whale
Breathing through blowhole
Fast fluke frightening fish
Splash
Shannon Burks
Kindergarten, Los Altos
GRADES 2-3
Whale
Bogdan Florescu
2nd Grade, Sacramento
At the Beach
Sitting on the grainy, beige sand
Looking at the boundless, blue water
Closing my eyes
I feel the soft wind blowing by.
I hear seagulls squawking
As they fly over my head.
I smell the salty air that can only be ocean air.
Opening my eyes
I see the roaring waves
Burst as they hit the hard, wet sand.
The foamy water running back
Waiting to touch the shore again.
Gabriel Ramirez
3rd grade, Simi Valley
Sitting on the grainy, beige sand
Looking at the boundless, blue water
Closing my eyes
I feel the soft wind blowing by.
I hear seagulls squawking
As they fly over my head.
I smell the salty air that can only be ocean air.
Opening my eyes
I see the roaring waves
Burst as they hit the hard, wet sand.
The foamy water running back
Waiting to touch the shore again.
Gabriel Ramirez
3rd grade, Simi Valley
GRADES 4-6
The California Bay in My Eyes
Yu Han Wang
5th grade, San Francisco
Oh Sea
Oh sea, you are so big
I can let my troubles go
my sadness my sorrow my anger
and let it go into you
and the waves
take them away far far away
You are the biggest thing in the world
so it doesn't hurt you
Oh sea
Jay Lopez-Cho
4th grade, Pacific Grove
Oh sea, you are so big
I can let my troubles go
my sadness my sorrow my anger
and let it go into you
and the waves
take them away far far away
You are the biggest thing in the world
so it doesn't hurt you
Oh sea
Jay Lopez-Cho
4th grade, Pacific Grove
GRADES 7-9
Under the Sea
Yoonhye Kim
7th grade, La Crescenta
Breaking Wave
It was an ebb and flow of eternity
a solitary moment isolated stretched out so thin
breaking and crashing and wildly suggesting
what could have should have been
it was a sound of crashing and foaming
a symphony of timelessness of notes strung together
and written in the sands
it was a color
flashy glimpses
and deepness so dark it couldn't be seen
it was a caught shadow on a hot day
and a rhythm and reminder
of lines woven together into a chaos of liberty
it was a little bit of nothingness
something not said
a terrible conclusion coming to a clashing halt
and dissolving into sparkles and glimmers simply remnants long forgotten
an irritation of otherwise undisturbed ocean
Olivia Rudd
8th grade, Mill Valley
It was an ebb and flow of eternity
a solitary moment isolated stretched out so thin
breaking and crashing and wildly suggesting
what could have should have been
it was a sound of crashing and foaming
a symphony of timelessness of notes strung together
and written in the sands
it was a color
flashy glimpses
and deepness so dark it couldn't be seen
it was a caught shadow on a hot day
and a rhythm and reminder
of lines woven together into a chaos of liberty
it was a little bit of nothingness
something not said
a terrible conclusion coming to a clashing halt
and dissolving into sparkles and glimmers simply remnants long forgotten
an irritation of otherwise undisturbed ocean
Olivia Rudd
8th grade, Mill Valley
GRADES 10-12
American Avocets
Shuyang Ye
11th grade
Mendocino Morning
The sea the heart of the ocean beating
Beating against rocks spray shining as it flies
Lifting on currents of chilled coastal air
Floating towards a town
This town
Nestled on the cliffs basking in the early morning light
Lighting windows and rooms
the town awakes and moves
A whale spouts
Progress stops
the town sits
breath held
eyes focused
searching for that glitter of white
each crest bringing false hope
another spout and a breach
the town exhales
The migration has started the whales are returning
Haley Lacey
12th grade, Comptche
The sea the heart of the ocean beating
Beating against rocks spray shining as it flies
Lifting on currents of chilled coastal air
Floating towards a town
This town
Nestled on the cliffs basking in the early morning light
Lighting windows and rooms
the town awakes and moves
A whale spouts
Progress stops
the town sits
breath held
eyes focused
searching for that glitter of white
each crest bringing false hope
another spout and a breach
the town exhales
The migration has started the whales are returning
Haley Lacey
12th grade, Comptche