CAMPBELL LIBRARY |
CUPERTINO LIBRARY |
GILROY LIBRARYHigh School Winner
|
LOS ALTOS LIBRARY |
MILPITAS LIBRARY |
MORGAN HILL LIBRARY |
SARATOGA LIBRARY |
CAMPBELL LIBRARY
High School Winner
perennial spring
the sky is frozen at dawn,
masked by gray smokescreens
drifting down the neighbors’
sloped rooftops and hovering
between the tips of budding lemon
trees. a ghost’s breath emerges
from my set of parched lips, that i
imagine as the hydrangea’s sweet
blush rising from my neck,
when i reach my fingers towards
the fading moonlight. memories of
a quiet summertime brings the smell
of lavender caressing my cheeks
and blackberry juice kissing my fingers;
the sickly soft breeze flows through
my hair and brushes it back until
i can only feel the mist settle onto my
eyelashes — but
it’s the hum of distant honeybees that
carries me back from the moment
that is not mine
to keep.
CAMPBELL LIBRARY
Middle School Winner
Morning
Oh,
That beautiful chirping
Of fledglings
Trying their way
through the trees
Oh,
The wonderful air
Swaying across the Earth
Giving us a taste of
morning breeze
Oh,
Children’s laughters
Rippling in the air
Waking up the adults,
Human and bee
Oh,
Dogs’ barkings
Jolting up owners
Ceaselessly demanding
their morning walks
Oh,
Count your blessing
Of witnessing
Such a blissful,
Beaming morning
CUPERTINO LIBRARY
High School Winner
"it felt like forever"
the ocean spread out from the shore, mirroring the rippling blue of the sky/
with the fields at our backs and the wind on our skin/
your hand on my shoulder, mine tangled in your hair/
it felt like forever/
even though hands pressed to hands only lasts so long and touches fade when the sun goes
down/
i thought we could have forever/
if we went for swims at midnight in the swirling, crystal sea/
for rides on dirt paths, on the back roads that suddenly felt new, though i had traveled them a
hundred thousand times/
it felt like forever/
when we sat through breakfasts and lunches and afternoons by the poolside/
with my fingers on the strings of a guitar and the tips of yours dyed inky from the pages that you
turned/
when we rode into town and spent our hours in bookshops that i’ll never return to/
it felt like forever/
when i showed you my spot in the trees and the grass and my whole world was tainted by you/
i begged for it to be tainted by you/
cobblestones flew under our feet and stars spun while we did/
drunkenly/
sweet, spiraling smoke that flew to the moon/
intimate moments that are lost in the crooked streets of summer afternoons that i can’t bear to
look back on, but i do/
when the train left, it felt like losing forever/
and then the call came and the world stopped and hollow happinesses left my lips/
to shatter on the dusty floors of the room i can’t stand anymore/
and the flames flickered before my eyes, dancing, swaying together like a mirage/
reminding me of the forever that had slipped out of my grasp/
through grassy fields and wide open oceans/
over bicycle wheels and peach-painted sunsets/
across poolsides and over silver-chained necklaces/
the way ink-stained fingers had slipped from mine/
once, twice, then gone forever.
CUPERTINO LIBRARY
Middle School Winner
GILROY LIBRARY
High School Winner
Silence
You only call me beautiful when the sun sets,
Despite the countless amounts of times I have wailed
Begging you for an ounce of happiness.
“For that ship has sailed darling,
And I have found a harsher reality.”
I wait next to my phone
Pondering,
The silence fills my head
Clawing at my insides,
Until my voice empties out an unspoken tune.
For this tune I have said
Countless times
Again,
And again,
“It will all be fine,
And he will be by my side.”
GILROY LIBRARY
Middle School Winner
from love and the smell of a candle burning in the kitchen,
I am from the warmness I feel when I get a hug from my mother,
love that's always genuine,
I am from the limes we grow every year.
the tree that has been in the front yard for long as I can remember whose long gone limbs I
remember as if they were my own,
I'm from decorating to early and celebrating too soon.
from wondering how we even got this far
I'm from always believing I'm right and listening to Christmas music in the middle of October.
and from running around the kitchen with my dogs,
and from feeding them half of my food at dinner,
who always begs for more,
I'm from barging into my kitchen to help make dinner.
from preschool diplomas hung up on the wall,
I’m from my parents hugging me so much that I choke to death
I’m from love,
I'm from home.
LOS ALTOS LIBRARY
High School Winner
Am I Something to be Feared?
Do I scare you?
Do my slighted eyes offend you,
because you constantly defend,
Defend those models who stretch out their bodies,
contour their faces to have eyes like mine.
Does our fine cuisine not make your top 13.
Last time I checked you were up in line for some chow mien.
Talking about Bruce Lee, and how he does karate.
Do his high kicks,
quick punches not seem that mean
You fantasize about our green dragon machines.
How they soar and breathe great lanes of blazing flames.
Does the way my yellow skin reflect in the wind seem like a sin
Or how long it's been
since we counted.
counted the victims of Asian hate.
I number way to high
but just to clarify
we do nothing to justify
we simply turn a blind eye
LOS ALTOS LIBRARY
Middle School Winner
Achilles
He must live,
Because his life
The final dam before Achilles blood will flow
Please
It falls, a spill of bright silver
No
Hands flurry like startled birds, trying to halt relentless movement
But I give way,
Unspooling in ribbons of red
My breath stops,
My head drops
And the last image I see is
Achilles
MILPITAS LIBRARY
High School Winner
stars and embers
i am entranced with the prospect of a burning world
an otherworldly glow of smouldering ardor, untamed, intense, yet calm
the spirit of each flame unique and unparalleled
i watch the cinders pulse with vermillion and midnight smoke unfurl into the sky-
-blocking out the light of those that dreamily gleam above
No
NO
i must feel their chilling rays on my skin each night. it means i must be above the smoke, unable
to breathe but risking it for a simple glance of the stars, even at the expense of my body
for then i will fall, fall, fall, and where and how and when i will land won’t matter because by
then, i would already be gone.
the last thing that i see is a cold expanse of midnight blue, adorned with flecks of flickering
white
then i blink and a vortex of bright embers explodes into being, surrounding me, heated and
stinging on contact
i have burned away too much of me, for a single glimpse of what shines in the sky
i reach a hand up, and, at last, i notice
my vision blurs, eyes closing, as my final thought drifts in,
a flake of ash carried in on the breeze
“these embers,
don’t they look like stars?”
Sruthi Munaga
Milpitas High School
Grade: 9
(top)
MILPITAS LIBRARY
Middle School Winner
You Forgot
Why didn’t you listen to my pleas?
now my every sob chokes you
my tears drizzle down to the earth as acid
and when I finally burst, torrential rains sink you
In my fury, I wreak havoc
my arms sway, and craft winds of might
toppling towers, sculpting spinners
I stomp in anger
unleashing waves of terror
I roar until the ground shakes
I am so mad that everything boils
Boils and boils until its over,
animals vanish, insects dwindle
brown and gray, replace green and vibrant
families suffer, necessities decline
You made me this way
every time you threw waste on me
every time you made me breathe smoke and nasty grit
every time you took advantage of life ; killed, cut, burnt
I was watching
Every little crooked way you hurt me,
it hurt you back
As my temper builds, I hope you realize
that the only way you can fix me and your future
is by responding to my cries
MORGAN HILL LIBRARY
High School Winner
Me
i wake up every day
and i go to the Mirror
apprehensive and afraid
what has the night done to my Figure
or is it i
forget the Scale
everytime i go Online
my perceived achievements pale
in comparison to the Lies
Hunger Pains
Harsh, Crass Words
Broken Scale glass
the “Treatment” Burns
Stretch and Scratch
Wrinkles and Scars
Binge, then Purge
pick apart my Flaws
But one day
i heard my Mother say
you don’t have to be afraid
it doesn’t have to be this way
through the eyes with which I see
You aren’t a Nobody
Why conform to Society?
I realized, Finally
I don’t have to be
what Everyone Else wants to see
I am a Somebody
I just want to be Me
MORGAN HILL LIBRARY
Middle School Winner
Frozen Statues
I
It's like you've fallen into a lake
in the middle of winter
Your body is on fire
eventually turned numb
You let out short gasps for air
as you frantically search for land
Your eyes start to burn
II
You now sit at the edge of the water
Gazing into your distorted reflection
rubbing, stretching, itching at your flesh
Just to feel something
or perhaps it may be better not to feel
III
It's too cold out here
You're reminded of the pleasant fire
awaiting you.
IV
But now
You are a frozen statue
Whose cracks go unnoticed
by those who marvel in your beauty
SARATOGA LIBRARY
High School Winner
I learned Hindi before English.
Once, I asked for paani at daycare and
my teacher asked for a meeting with my parents.
“It’s a developmental thing,” she said.
“It’s a language thing,” they replied.
A week later, I asked for water when I was thirsty and
my teacher asked me, “Which cup, red or blue?”
When my mother’s tongue spoke mother-tongue to me,
I understood, yet
Hindi had spilled from my own mouth
like water from the two-hand grasp of a too-full glass.
I caught it on the tip of my tongue but
the words had already dried up,
jolted hesitations
flooding the gaps
between the syllables
with streams
of pebbled commas.
I learned to speak English slowly,
so my grandparents could understand,
so I didn't have to attempt to recall gestures
my lips had forgotten years ago.
I learned to pretend Indian was a language,
to pretend I knew it to pretend I didn't.
I learned, too late, the magnitude of this loss,
this dried riverbed I can’t mourn anymore—
so I learned to write poems about India in English and
pray for monsoon.
SARATOGA LIBRARY
Middle School Winner
half
asian / american
korean / indian
mother / father
i am half
half korean / half indian
half my mother / and half my father
half the love / and half the anger
i am half
half an asian / half an american
half a girl.
when we were fresh
and the smell of the salt sea
lingered in our air
they took us in
they said we were perfect
they said we belonged just the way we were
they said we were american
now the sea is gone
and the only salt that we smell / is from our tears
tears of our sadness / tears of our anger
tears of change.
why am i asian-american?
this is my home / my birthplace
isn’t that american
enough?
i am done / with being half
i am american / i am asian
i am my mother / i am my father
i am both
i am whole.
