2006 Dumont Arbor Day Poetry Contest Entries

2006 Dumont Arbor Day
Poetry Contest Entries

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K - 3rd Grades
BEST POEM
Alexandra C. Cherevas
Amrita Melkote
Hanna-Grace Rabanes

BEST MULTI-MEDIA w/Poem
Joey Croce
Isabella Echeverry
Danielle Williams
Leah Giannantonio
Sophia Kourian

4th - 5th Grades
BEST POEM
Brianne Barker
Dylan Courtney
Amanda Ravensbergen
Nichole Vaughn
Kimberly Tayeb

Middle School
BEST POEM
Stephanie Simkins

Adult
BEST POEM
Terri Smith-Balkum
Josephine McGrath
Mary Meiners
Karen Ravensbergen

BEST EPIC POEM
Terri Smith-Balkum
Josephine McGrath
Nicholas Tauro, Sr.

-- Alexandra C. Cherevas
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-- Amrita Melkote
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-- Hanna-Grace Rabanes
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-- Joey Croce
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-- Isabella Echeverry
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-- Danielle Williams
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-- Leah Giannantonio
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-- Sophia Kourian
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-- Brianne Barker
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Nature

Feel the Breeze
through my hair
I don't have a care

We need to treat our trees fair
Trees are for animals and humans to share
We shouldn't dare to harm them,

So Care!

-- Dylan Courtney
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Summer Night Music

The grass dances to the wind's song,
with the moon as its spotlight.

All singing you to sleep on a warm summer night.

Bluejays chorus and flowers melody,
with animals mimicking composers,

with leaves softly signing their lullabies.

All singing you to sleep on a warm summer night.

-- Amanda Ravensbergen
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Pink Flower Tree Poem

Pink flower Tree on the ground.
How come you don't make a sound?
Your flowers to pink
It makes me blink
Your leaves so bright
It is the only think I see in sight.
Pink Flower Tree.

-- Nichole Vaughn
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-- Kimberly Tayeb
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-- Stephanie Simkins
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there once was a tree
on which a dog did pee
along its broad base
what a disgrace!
many kids came by
and exclaimed "Oh my!"
they climbed and climbed and climbed
and forgot all about the time
up and up they did to
and waved as passers by below
triumphantly they sat
discussing this and that
cooled off by the shade
that the leaves and branches made
what fun it is to be
stuck up high in a tree

-- Terri Smith-Balkum
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My Attraction

You can see that Dumont is very green
Around every corner is an Artist's dream.
The beauty and posture of the individual tree
Has a hidden admiration deep inside of me.
If trees could talk, what stories they'd tell
A secret they'd keep respectively well.
They're perennial ornaments for us to enjoy
Also, the birds and squirrels live way up high
A brilliant array of color beams off their leaves
As they gently flow in the soft breeze.
Children have fun in the leaves that swirl down
The laughter is priceless from acting the clown.
All trees are reborn as we near Arbor Day
To my fellow trees, "A Happy Birthday!"

-- Josephine McGrath
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WILLOW
DELICATE SPIRIT
GRACEFUL GIANT
DANCING WITH THE WIND
TICKLING THE GROUND
WHY DO YOU WEEP?

-- Mary Meiners
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CYCAD
ANCIENT PALM
UNTOUCHED
BY EVOLUTION
SURVIVALIST
UNCHANGED
LIVING FOSSIL
MESOZOIC PERIOD
GRAND CENTURION

-- Mary Meiners
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OAK TREE STANDING TALL
SQUIRRELS RACING UP AND DOWN
DO THEY TICKLE YOU?

-- Mary Meiners
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SPREADING SKYWARD
DANCING AMONG THE CLOUDS
ACORNS GRAND DREAM.

-- Mary Meiners
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MULTICOLORED GEMS
LEAVES FLOATING EARTHWARD
CRUSHED BY MY STEPS

-- Mary Meiners
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"MOTHER" TREE

Arms outstretched with love,
She protects, defends and nurtures,
Sustaining life with her quiet strength

With gentle whispers and a soft touch
She comforts and brings peace;
"Come to me" ... "Breathe deeply,
I will nourish your body and spirit"

Aging gracefully, more beautiful and wise as years pass
The storms of life have left their mark
Laugh lines suggest the stories she could tell

Laughter and play surround her
She is a source of joy; such pleasure in her company
And then ... cold and lonely she sleeps
Dreaming, "This too shall pass."

Finally, song in the air awakens her grateful, loving, generous spirit.

-- Karen Ravensbergen
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Tree Poem

I stand majestically, strong and textured
with outstretched extensions of myself
intricately entwined with one another
reaching out toward the sky.

delicate flutters in hues of red, orange and yellow
are orchestrated into a dance as soft breeze
appears out of nowhere

I am climbed upon by an adventurous child
who triumphantly smiles as he reaches a daring height

I am a source of shade and comfort as a new mom and dad enjoy their new baby--all out for the very first time as a family
on an unusually hot and sunny day

I am a gathering place for a group of young kids
engaged in a game of hide-and-seek

I am the bearer of a carving from 50 years ago
noting the courtship of a young couple in love

I am a representation of life:
of stabiliity and future generations

I remain untouched by the untoward hand of man
and am not influenced by technological advances

I am one of God's many miracles...

I am a beautiful oak tree
I am a beautiful oak tree

-- Terri Smith-Balkum
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Old Princess
In Schraalenburg she stood with a personality all of her own.
The old North Reform Church extended from a body of stone.
Her distinct steeple handcrafted by mankind,
Topped by the charming spire one of a kind.
She sang a peaceful tune for her children to come celebrate as one.
Here, her Deacons had to be elected because the Borough had to be well run.
During the cold wintry nights she glowed for miles and miles.
She longed to see her sister South Dutch Church respond with a same smile.
In her younger years her congregation arrived on horse and in carriage.
Now she accepts a couple in a car, to be united by marriage.
She witnessed the election of our first mayor Dumont Clark two centuries ago.
And waved good-bye to 1 million soldiers who sailed to France on a boat.
In the shade of some trees, she built an elaborate school.
Where classes were held and the parishioners thought that was cool.
Beside her are our beloved friends and ancestors, too,
May they rest in peace, we can trust she'll watch over you.
Oh! Old North Reform Church, what a dainty character of history you are.
And how you stand so confident and how functional so far.
Now, Dumont has you in the heart of our prosperous town,
So beautifully decorated by Mother Nature, forms a royal crown.

-- Josephine McGrath
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Trees in Dumont -- Deciduous-Ubiquitous

Cold March winds blast my face and slanting sunspots are burning my eyes.
Swaying bare brown branches are praying in early Spring's gusty ires.
Swarthy limbs heaving, stretching, rising, yearning toward blue skies.
A sprightly robin, first of vernal season, alights an arbor twig finely.
Tangled brusque boughs extending green, bursting buds in sunrays blithely.

Elms, birches, oaks, sycamores, maples, dogwoods, poplars and pines.
All drifting two and fro, anticipating the flowering of pregnant lives.
Drink deep of these lofty gifts, O people of Dumont, our Creator bore.
Breathe in heartily the air and moisture stately staples give us more.
No other birthright Mother Earth than leafy trees and shade do we implore.

A paltry pittance of almighty arbors with robins is a dangerous thing.
Embrace ardently every bark, bud, leaf, branch, sap Spring can bring.
Touch tenderly every trunk, beckoning us Dumontites, deciduous or evergreen.
Not ever to be cut down, quartered, oppressed, used and abused.
I, a mere green poet, divining the sprawling gargantuans ne'er refused.

-- Nicholas Tauro, Sr.
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