Lake Merced

Marshes stretch around its muddy shores.
A thousand shimmering gleams
stretch across the surface.
Thorny undergrowth.
Dead branches
of trees that once lived on this land.

Soil,
seeds,
grass is their fellow,
Ice plant is their ally.
New plants.

Hawk,
so majestically beautiful
fills the sky with its harmonious
soaring wings.
It soars above trees so effortlessly,
the hawk, the almighty hawk.

Charlotte Benz
5th grade

One Day

One bright day
a child walks
and remembers
how the coyote bush
comes alive at night.

One foggy day
somewhere
in grasslands of Sun and Moon
a child walks
and remembers
how the fog
lifts when happy.

One loud day
somewhere
in rainforests of darkness and light
A child walks
and remembers
bananas are picked
when yellow

One bloody day
somewhere
with men dead and dying
a child walks
and remembers
how to mourn
a lost family.

One cloudy day
somewhere
with buildings standing tall
A child walks
and remembers
the nature
now gone.

One happy day
somewhere
with celebrating people
a child will walk
and will remember
that there will be
nature again.

Zev Brook, 4th grade
(author's note:
This anti-war poem
saves nature and is
dedicated to anti-war
marches.)

My life

My life is full of fun, music, monkeys,
full of sports, basketball, football, stuff,
full of hip-hop, rap, rock. Full of fun
swinging monkeys in the spicy hot sky.
Red, black, blue, white colors of my life.
The special football playing, shrimp eating,
soap smelling, red, black, blue, white, DJ,
monkey. The special crazy things I enjoy
in my life, deep within my life.

Mike Evans, 5th grade

One magical day

The magical day of magic
as the Lake moves softly into my
hands
The coyote bush brushing me
with the wings that touch the
Sky of Magic
The sticks, old and magical,
as a child walks
The lake calm as the palm of
my hand
As the ducks splash of fun
and beauty
The red-tailed hawk flying
with spirit carries love on his back
The yellow belly and brown wings
that touch the sky and wisdom
and love has grey wings
The dirt soft as a pillow
As the flowers bloom the sweet
smell of nature welcomes me to
imagination to love people with
respect
The branches crunching in
the dirt and making sure that
my imagination is powerful the leaves
notice
The trees chatter with noise
as thickets of nature chatter
like the flowers in spring and
how fairies bloom for food and flowers
as love
As a 'possom helps the boy
pick up ice that chatters your
teeth as flowers never
end. How do flowers grow
you ask?
One magical day!

Jackie Deutsch, 4th grade

Reborn

Clouds of fog and fluff and silk to
the pupils of my eyes. Reborn

The milky glory siezed the
moral of the song. Reborn

Soccer balls,
volleyballs,
tennis balls,
basketballs,
not filled with the breeze
of air, but musical notes have
been sucked in the hole of the
tunnel. Reborn

Solid browns, as well as red and
black

drifted away,
to the liquids
of instruments. Reborn
Shades and shadows persuade me
for the raindrops have been re-
born.
I have been reborn.
Music has been reborn.

Caroline Vericat, 5th grade

Life

The circle of life,
the ancestor's tears
fill the lake.
When the birds chirp,
the forefathers sing.

The circle of life,
when the river's waves crash,
the foremothers play music.
The trees are the ancestors' arms.

The circle of life,
the forefathers and mothers watch over
their great, great, great grandchild
in a squirrel's body.

The circle of life,
there is no end to a circle, that is
how life is. Our ancestors aren't dead.
They protect us! There is no better ancestor,

They are all the same,
the birds and foxes, are their watchers.
There is no end to a circle.

Allison Shapiro, 3rd grade

One windy day

One windy day when the hawk
glides from tree to tree, a child
walks from bush to bush.
Midnight stars shining bright.
One sunny day a rabbit hops
from tree to tree, a child runs
from plant to plant. One rainy
day when the fish swim
from coral reef to coral reef,
a child swims from seaweed
to seaweed. One warm day
a butterfly swoops from flower
to flower, a child hops from weed
to weed. One windy day when
the hawk glides from tree to tree,
and adult walks from bush to bush.

Claire Ambruster, 4th grade

Time

Time,
Roaches crawling out of the ground,
Rats scurrying all around the earth,
Red rubies shimmering underground,
Raspberries the sweetest part of life,
Roses red, that they are a symbol of blood,
Earth round, round as all planets,
Stories read long ago now lost and erased in time.
Names echoing all around the trees the wisest of all,
Only they can hear our names, passing it all around,
Eery nights so scary we fright from ghouls and the spirits before,
Time has passed, now ghouls and spirits are just masks,
Trick-or-treating everyone says, round and round the saying goes,
Animals extinct,
They have explored our world,
We shall soon escape from here in time.

Ivy Feng, 5th grade

A Spirit's Love

Wash away the sins of earth
Dry it with your love, grow it with
your lullaby, and cry it with your rain.
Light it with your sunshine, and dance it
in the wind, rock it in the river, and
feed it with your song.

Cover him with seeds of warmth,
her smile sings a lullaby of sun, and
cries of comfort. Each seed, it grows a
chattering friend that feeds him everyday.
Every dancing vine that swirls around her,
that whispers in each tease.

They smile each sunshine and wrap
me in their leaves of love. They wash
away my hate, and sweep me full of
love.

Claudia Revelo-Lee, 5th grade

Ode to Mango

A sweet storm in my mouth while
I eat the Mango Queen. Her smooth
texture inspires me. The mango
sorceress leaps into my mouth and casts
a spell on my tastebuds.
Mango, the diamond of fruits.
The cream of the crop, the top hat
on the fancy-fruit-man. Its skin, radiant
and resplendant. Its meat, orangy and
magnificent, superb, exquisite, divine. I
love it! Mangoes. The sweet storm in
my mouth.

Maille Kennedy, 5th grade

Water, Fire, Earth, and Air, the four
elements of nature…

Water, flowing in the river crushing into the ocean,
swishing and swaying, roaring and crying,
tiny droplets falling back to the ocean, the cycle
is very neat as if it was a block of gold for a
present of joy, the source of life feeding and
drinking you can hear the gulp-gulping around
the world when I hear water I laugh with joy.

Fire, with passion of the sun, you can hear leaves
rustling and dying from the fire, the symbol
of light, who would lead you in darkness? Of course
the fire can, with its bright, bright colors of
red, orange, yellow and sometimes blue, but
beware that when the fire gets angry
it can become a great disaster.

Earth, hear the leaves rustle in the air don't you hear
the rustle-rustling? Trees flowing and swaying,
growing crops in the ground, growing plants
in the ground, you can also hear grass whistles
through the world, always remember about the
fury of the earth when it gets angry there would be
consequences for angering the Earth.

Air, hear the singing of the wind, come sleep
in the comforting soft, squishy cloud, but watch out
for tornadoes in the air look-look you can see
the breeze in the air whispering in joy of laughter,
see the blue, the bright blue sky, the wind
the cold, cold wind swaying down to the ground.

Jonathon Yoon, 5th grade

My World

My world is full of black and red,
filled with silence in the air,
the lake is filled with darkness and the caves
are filled with bats.
The land is covered with fog one way or
another, day and night,
mysterious whistling fills the night, but
other than that,
silence.
But, some part of my world is filled
with joy,
the smell of fruit growing,
the trail of chow-mein leading to hunger,
sports await in a pile in the green soothing
grass.
One world, two parts,
two very different parts,
one full of silence and darkness,
the other filled with sunshine.

Jenelle Lee, 5th grade

Live with ancestors

The trees are the ancestors Breathing
and making footprints. I touch
the ancestors with my hands. I miss you.
The River Rushing Down. And the tall
tall tall Ancestors with green leaves.
And the little waterfalls and the leaves
hanging over the little waterfalls
and rocks all over the place. All of
those leaves, there are like 900,000,000
of them.

Joshua Wells, 3rd grade

Snake

always, solving,
knight of darkness,
Secrecy in life,
negotiation never needed,
fright controls us,
again and again eating our hope.
Sneaking away and back
quick as a flash,
everything silent,
everything dark,
snake still knows all,
dodging kicks with great
agility,
Snake
Knight of Darkness.

Jackson Yant, 5th grade

Lake Merced

One sunny day blotched
with clouds somewhere
branches
a child
walks with joy
seeing many
life falling
into blue.
Water
shimmering with
silence many will
fall and some
live
but always pinecones
drop
Red concourse all
spotted
with life
will watch you forever
Forever is long but it
never spots only ears
will hear.
One sunny day with
no clouds
to
be
seen a child
watches never to
be
known. Trapped
by bushes. The
child will watch
you
forever.

Eli Smoot
4th grade

Ode to Olive

Your rich tasty juices flow with
excitement as I bite into
your soft skin. You are so divine,
so delicious and royal. You look
like you could be a jewel on a
crown. You have the power of taste.
Your colors are so beautiful
you can be a shiny green like
the color of emerald. You can be
a bright shiny black. You may be
stuffed with garlic, Yum!
or just be plain and fresh
with nothing inside you.
You are a burst of magnificent
flavor in my mouth
You fill me with a flavor of
pure goodness.
You are the charm of
taste!

Sean Fitzhoward, 5th grade

One Day

One warm day
a child sees a red-
tailed hawk and remembers
a time when the
world was wild.

One cold day
a child walks somewhere
and sees plants
growing and remembers
the curse of the
rattlesnake.

One foggy day
somewhere a child
walks and sees a bundle
of sticks and remembers
when the continents were
together.

Tyler Livy, 4th grade

Earth's Beauty

Does the wind ever howl?
Do we ever touch the clouds?
Can we?

Do the flowers bloom together?
Do the worms just sleep?
Do they do anything?

The fire burns forever.
The orange-red color flickers and dances.
It all ends together.

Do the fish ever jump?
Do they sleep or do they stand so still?
They swim down the river that never ends.

Verna Chan, 5th grade

Silence

Silence is the pure glow
of a silver moon.
Silence is the radiance
of the blue sky.
Energy is always looking
for silence
swimming after it with her
fins.

Silence will not feel
the Rain. But will only
hear it like invisible drops.

Energy goes on hunting
for silence. He will succeed
and will not. Even if he
succeeds, he will never have
silence.

Hannah Li, 4th grade

Silence

Silence is the color of a crystal clear lake.
She is like an arctic wolf howling at the moon.
Silence lives anywhere quiet.
You must be silent if wanting silence to visit.
She now is looking for prey.
She feasts on the sky in mornings.
But lunch is sky at dawn then dinner is
sweetest of all, the night sky.
As she jumps to catch her prey,
she hides….Shhh. The stars trap the midnight
sky! Silence catches it and sleeps…
Silence loves her house. Because she lives
anywhere so it is like a palace neverending.

Ashley Chong, 4th grade