2 Students Named Livermore Poet Laureate

LIVERMORE, CA — Two Livermore students have been named as Livermore Poet Laureate Trimester 1 Teen Poetry winners. Sanjana Munagapati, a 7th grader at Christensen Middle School, won for her poem “The Cry of Nature.” Hazel Bonner, a 9th grader at Livermore High School, won for her poem “Fate.” The two poems will be displayed in the teen section of the Livermore Civic Center Library.

“The Cry of Nature”
By Sanjana Munagapati

The world once stood in harmony,
In nature’s sweet embrace,
But now, a sinister shadow looms above,
A threat we can’t erase.
Global warming, a haunting curse,
Unleashing its wrath abroad.
The Earth, once pristine and pure,
Now gasps for a single breath of unalloyed air
Ice caps melt, oceans rise,
A symphony of despair.
Species vanish, forests burn,
As we remain unaware.
Landscapes scarred, their beauty marred,
By human greed and haste.
Mountains crumble, rivers run dry,
As protests are ignored.
Creatures suffer, innocent souls,
Victims of our demise.
Their homes destroyed, their voices silenced,
Underneath our polluted skies.
Oh, how we long for change, for hope.
To mend what we have done.
To heal the wounds, repair the Earth,
Before it is all gone.
But time, it slips away so fast,
And still, we fail to see,
The horrific effects of global warming,
A tragedy yet to be.
Let’s mend the damage, right the wrongs,
With love and strength, we'll fight.
For the horrible effects of global warming,
Must not be our lasting plight.

“Fate”
By Hazel Bonner

The wind twirls through the trees
Graceful as a ballet dancer sending
Flocks of brilliantly hued birds
S o a r i n g
Notes spi l l
From their mouths like a bountiful harvest of tropical fruit
Filling the air with a vivacious ballad
Years flash by, quick as a wink, the tranquility
sHaTterEd like the shards of a fragmented mirror
Trees hurtle to the ground, flames trailing
Creating an eerie whistling no creature should
Ever hear, landing with a crackle
Smoke from the inferno billows towards the heavens
Blanketing the stars with a smothering hug
The birds know of their inevitable fate as their melody is
Chocked
Struggling to flap their wings, they
P l u m m e t
Into a downward spiral towards…

Nothing.
Crashing into a heap, the birds snap and jolt as they
Struggle to free themselves
But
There’s nowhere to go.
Darkness thickens the air, so tangible
They can almost taste it -
Coughing, the birds gingerly open their beaks but
Not a peep escapes
Almost ironically the shadows circle the birds
Mimicking the very move they have
Perfected over their years of flight
They are surrounded, like the
Prey they’ve become
Trapped, with no escape
Their home is gone and will never return
The desperation sinks
DEEP
Like a knife through each tiny heart, they
Bleed in unison, hope
S l i p p i n g
Out
Of each miniscule chest,
Pooling onto the floor
Glistening like tears

The World mounts for these birds as we watch
Horrorstruck as they leave this earth
One by one in a
Flurry of pain
Leaving us to wonder
Are we…
next?