California Coastal Commission

Right Column

2004 Coastal Art & Poetry Contest Winners


Mighty Blue, art by Lindsay Walatka, Grade 11

Mighty Blue
Lindsay Walatka
Grade 11
 

Queen of the Water

Screams crawling through splashing waves
Conquering rocks with dirty shoes
Purple pink starfish suctioning themselves
Upside down in puddles of clear water
Small wet seaweed trees building forests
By the ocean mussels covered in
Barnacles form blankets over boulders
Which I climb like a spider
Sand grinding itself into my skin
Roots of dead plants braided into
Halos making me queen of the water

Jasmine Moser
10th Grade

 

Under the Sea, art by Mathew Carter, Grade 9


 

Under the Sea
Matthew Carter
Grade 9




 


 



Sitting still, peacefully silent
Awakened abruptly, harsh and violent
Ripples sinking, until as before,
The water is still, moving no more.

The movement is gone before your eyes,
A mirage you think a mask, a guise
How could something so explosive and wild
Turn back into something so tranquil and mild?

Ever transforming, ever deceiving
One minute calm, next minute heaving
Quiet like cats, loud like thunder
Full of life, beauty and wonder


By Caroline Nattinger
8th Grade
 




Image of the Sea, art by Rieko Michelle Whitfield, Grade 6

Image of the Sea
Rieko Michelle Whitfield
Grade 6

 

Ocean Dreams

I go to the ocean when I need to cry
I know it won't tell
I spill my worries to the sand crab
though he scuttles away
I think he listens

like a stone, I lie in the sun
so I can be bleached white with time
share wisdom from the center of the earth
find a molten core made of chocolate

I long to discover secret caves
never before stained with human feeling or thoughts
meet mermaids and sea lions
the clean, kind beings who don't care if I'm crazy

I want to leave my clothes on the shore
swim with the dolphins and whales
I want to laugh
run and scream
with the wind
as I create my list of secret ocean dreams

--Melody Lester, 6th Grade


 

What I See in the Sea, art by Talia Van Wingerden, Grade 2
 

What I See in the Sea
Talia Van Wingerden
Grade 2




 

 

On the sand

I was laying on the sand
I looked up at the moon
smiled
I saw sand
blowing forcefully in the wind
I picked up a handful
it slowly drifted away

Corwin Zelazny, 2nd Grade
 

Take a look also at the art and poetry which received honorable mentions!