Right Column
2014 Coastal Art & Poetry Contest Winners
GRADES K-1
Surfing the Waves
Tanisha Sandeep Pidshetti
1st grade, Cypress
Sea and Sand
Sand in my pocket,
Sand on my hair,
Sand is everywhere.
The sea is blue,
The sea is warm,
And it makes me smile like a teddy bear.
Sania Nadkarni
Kindergarten, Cupertino
Sand in my pocket,
Sand on my hair,
Sand is everywhere.
The sea is blue,
The sea is warm,
And it makes me smile like a teddy bear.
Sania Nadkarni
Kindergarten, Cupertino
GRADES 2-3
Family in the Deep Sea
Ashley Yu Ji
3rd Grade, San Diego
I wonder...
I wonder what goes on
inside the ocean
when we are not there.
Do the fish dance?
Do the whales sing?
I'd love to roam
the oceans deep
to see the magic
far below.
Lily Robinson
3rd grade, Santa Monica
I wonder what goes on
inside the ocean
when we are not there.
Do the fish dance?
Do the whales sing?
I'd love to roam
the oceans deep
to see the magic
far below.
Lily Robinson
3rd grade, Santa Monica
GRADES 4-6
Spanish Shawl Nudibranch
Avi Jagdish
4th grade, Lakewood
Kelp Forest
Towering trees of the sea
So strong
So resilient
Dancing to the rhythm of the waves
You are the home of many
Sheltering them in your strength
Your holdfast grips the rock
On which you make your home
You are buffeted by the mighty ocean
But this keeps you from wafting away
Your stipe attaches your other vital components
Clutching them
So they can't drift
Into the depths of the vast ocean
Your frond holds on to your blade
Grasping it with your pale green hands
With the frond the blade is restrained
And compelled to dance with the rest of the kelp
Your blade reaches for the sun
Craving its warm glow
Stretching and stretching
For its light and glory
As the tide flows and ebbs
You stand your ground
And remain
A noble dwelling for scuttling crabs
Prickly sea urchins
Darting fish
And playful otters
You are the home of many
Sheltering them in your strength
Allison Zhuang
6th grade, Palo Alto
Towering trees of the sea
So strong
So resilient
Dancing to the rhythm of the waves
You are the home of many
Sheltering them in your strength
Your holdfast grips the rock
On which you make your home
You are buffeted by the mighty ocean
But this keeps you from wafting away
Your stipe attaches your other vital components
Clutching them
So they can't drift
Into the depths of the vast ocean
Your frond holds on to your blade
Grasping it with your pale green hands
With the frond the blade is restrained
And compelled to dance with the rest of the kelp
Your blade reaches for the sun
Craving its warm glow
Stretching and stretching
For its light and glory
As the tide flows and ebbs
You stand your ground
And remain
A noble dwelling for scuttling crabs
Prickly sea urchins
Darting fish
And playful otters
You are the home of many
Sheltering them in your strength
Allison Zhuang
6th grade, Palo Alto
GRADES 7-9
Bird on the Beach
Zachary Yuan
8th grade, Orange
The Shipyard
All is silent, fixed, and immobile.
A deceased paddle wheel, inept and corroded
rests on a moldy sheet of wood,
burnt stories echo in its spokes.
Disintegrating lumber, pleading soundlessly
for a chance to move.
Skeletons of boats draped with white cloth
flittering without wind,
shadows of the future resounding throughout the beams.
Worn logs posing in mustard mud,
staring hopelessly at the fog,
suggesting the power of salt water.
Rusted chains struggling free of the mire
piercing the pungent saline air
with yearning
At the water, a skin of algae coats
intertwined ropes
laying idly and ignorant between posts
lost keys reflect through the murky water
desperate to lead, but to where?
Flannery Virginia Strain
7th grade, Mill Valley
All is silent, fixed, and immobile.
A deceased paddle wheel, inept and corroded
rests on a moldy sheet of wood,
burnt stories echo in its spokes.
Disintegrating lumber, pleading soundlessly
for a chance to move.
Skeletons of boats draped with white cloth
flittering without wind,
shadows of the future resounding throughout the beams.
Worn logs posing in mustard mud,
staring hopelessly at the fog,
suggesting the power of salt water.
Rusted chains struggling free of the mire
piercing the pungent saline air
with yearning
At the water, a skin of algae coats
intertwined ropes
laying idly and ignorant between posts
lost keys reflect through the murky water
desperate to lead, but to where?
Flannery Virginia Strain
7th grade, Mill Valley
GRADES 10-12
Emily Li
11th grade
Haikus of the Bay
Melodic deep tones
Fantastical overtures
Call to the beyond
Drive up the mountain
Peer out at the endless bay
Halved by a red gate
Here, come in closer
White, brown, grey, blue flit atop
Skimming the surface
Further now, enter
See the glitter and sparkle
As they fly submerged
More now, part of you
One with the push and the pull
A part of the whole
And to think it was only the foghorn that had woken me
Sarah Kissinger
12th grade, Mill Valley
Melodic deep tones
Fantastical overtures
Call to the beyond
Drive up the mountain
Peer out at the endless bay
Halved by a red gate
Here, come in closer
White, brown, grey, blue flit atop
Skimming the surface
Further now, enter
See the glitter and sparkle
As they fly submerged
More now, part of you
One with the push and the pull
A part of the whole
And to think it was only the foghorn that had woken me
Sarah Kissinger
12th grade, Mill Valley