Winners Page
Make sure to join the Little Rabbit Trails Group on Facebook so you don't miss the ADVENTURE themed 2022 Poetry Contest.
Check out the poetry of past published poets below.
A short message from one of our past poetry Judges
Kathy Mellor
While it is an honor to judge the poetry submitted, it is also tremendously difficult to look at all the work and heart that went into each one and deem one better than another. I commend all the participants for their excellence, it is no small thing to bare your soul on paper. My hope is that whether or not you won, you continue putting pen to paper and develop your gift for sharing thoughts and feelings through poetry.
2021 Contest Winners
Grand Prize Winner
Jake
10 years old
Utah
As I Wander
As I wander through the pine trees,
I reflect on those who lived here long ago.
Native Americans blessed this region;
I hear their tales in the wind as it blows.
Flying eagles, colored rocks, wild flowers, untamed horses,
Winding rivers, arrowheads, smokey fires, and buffalo grass.
The indigenous American spirit,
Is freedom and hope in the trails that I pass.
Grateful to live in this country,
Which today we all call “Land of the Free!”
American Indians heritage lives on,
Amongst you and me.
2nd
Ella
12 years old
Utah
The Rose of Freedom
The rose petals soft,
Smells of sweet dew.
The flower petals velvet,
And red like the sunset.
The flower chosen,
For our nation.
For the Soldiers,
who gave us freedom.
For the flag of rights,
That waves of privilege.
The rose is special to our hearts.
We honor the dead with the rose.
Chosen for honor and devotion,
Chosen for love, life, and liberty.
1st
Anika
15 years old
Utah
The Picnic Battle
The people gather on this eventful day,
Gray against blue,
Father against son.
The citizens and reporters and watchers.
They come with sandwiches and nice suits and dresses.
They hold up their glasses
To watch the skirmish,
To see the side that they are sure will win.
“Oh I’ll wipe up all the blood that is to be spilled today
With my pocket handkerchief.”
And they did not find what they expected.
They did not anticipate
The grief or sadness,
The regret that comes with any fight.
The battle much bloodier than expected,
The dawning realization:
War, this war, all war, is no picnic.
They started to move, to get up, to run.
To get away from the war that was no picnic.
The panic to see the other side winning,
The horror to see the lives that were lost.
Gray against blue.
Brother against brother.
Father against son.
Never again see any dispute as a reason to party.
Never again see any conflict as a joke.
War is no picnic.
3rd
Lucy Becker
Adult
Kentucky
Choice
Ignorance is bliss,
Because there's only you
What do you know to seek?
There's no burn to be better
It's survival of the fittest, might makes right
Responsibility isn't acknowledged, isn't owned
Because there isn't knowledge
Because there isn't knowledge.
Responsibility isn't acknowledged, isn't owned
It's survival of the fittest, might makes right
There's no burn to be better
What do you know to seek?
Because there's only you
Ignorance is bliss
CHOICE
Knowledge is power
Because you have learned
What is the good and the beautiful
It ignites a quest, a desire
To start another's fire, because
With great power comes great responsibility
Because there is knowledge.
Because there is knowledge
With great power comes great responsibility
To start another's fire, because
Ignited is a quest, a desire:
What is the good and the beautiful?
Because you have learned
Knowledge is power
Published Poets
Adult
Lucy Becker
Kentucky
Choice
Juliette Hiller
Washington
The Land of the Free
Nellie Boyer
Virginia
Glimpses
Middle School
Ella - 12 years old
Utah
The Rose of Freedom
Mary - 13 years old
Georgia
Reign of our Voice
Isabel - 13 years old
Kentucky
Going to America
Teen
Anicka - 15 years old
Utah
The Picnic Battle
Elijah- 16 years old
Maryland
Heavy is the Crown
Thomasin - 15 years old
Washington
Revolution
Elementary
Jake - 10 years old
Utah
As I Wander (Grand Prize Winner)
Annabel - 10 years old
North Carolina
Unsung
Pawpaw
Lily Hall - 10 years old
Texas
Love of my Homeland
Authors Pick
These poems will also
be published
Brock - 8 years old
Utah
Freedom
Louise Dyson - Adult
England
Dual
Melissa Crowther - Adult
Utah
Meadowlark
Amelie - 6 years old
Malawi
Country of Malawi
Mason - 10 years old
Missouri
D-DAY
Maddox - 12 years old
Japan
Freedom Fighters
Alisa - 11 years old
South Carolina
The Music, The Song, The Faith
Joshua - 11 years old
New Jersey
We Are America
2020 Contest Winners
Grand Prize Winner
Reagan Dregge
Adult
Minnesota
Nessie
The Loch Ness Monster's
shape was born
In shadow-shrouded chasms
Long thought to haunt the
misty deeps
Of cold and lightless fathoms
Some say she is a
fairy beast
A figment spun from tales
While others claim a
dinosaur
Or remnant kin of whales
Myths multiply and
theories mount
But just the other day
I watched her swallow
up the sun
Then wink and float away!
2nd
Elena
14 years old
Utah
A Plea to the King
How could the earth be a boring abyss
With all the people such as this:
The soldiers who never say a word?
Or the dancer whose music is always heard?
What of the storyteller whose shows are worthwhile,
Bringing to the children smile upon smile?
Or the workers who seem not to have names
Yet always have time for the children’s games?
Or the little toddlers with two left feet
Who follow their parents like little lost sheep?
They might seem like stepping stones in the ground.
But with them here the earth is crowned.
Not with the metal that you may believe
But with all of the things that they can achieve.
So, I ask of thee- right here, right now,
If thou wilt hear my pleaded vow;
To see the world as it really should be
Not things in the way of thy decree.
And while they need not show their worth-
(As that has been useless since their birth),
I ask of thee, O’ King O’ Mine,
If thou wilt see this as a sign-
To have error is human and that's all we can be,
To change is divine so that's what I ask of thee.
1st
Elaena
13 years old
Virginia
The Still River
The river is still,
as still as a painting,
yet just as a painting,
it is full of motion.
Upon the still river,
the round orb like shape of the Moon,
leading the stars
like a shepherd leads his sheep.
Then once a month,
when the shepherd goes to sleep,
the stars twinkle
and dance across the night sky.
Then, when the night turns to day,
the sun appears, a fiery maiden,
her golden hair rippling behind her.
Her dress and shoes made of gold,
riding in a orange chariot
pulled by fiery birds,
leading her army of clouds
against the armies of rain.
Just as they start to win the battle,
her own forces betray, and banish her.
All this reflected on the still river.
3rd
Kathryn
9 years old
Arkansas
He is Coming
When the sky is dark,
And the thunder claps.
He is coming.
When the trees tremble,
And the earth quakes.
He is coming.
When the wind whirls,
And the rain falls.
He is coming.
When the rain stops falling,
And the earth stops quaking.
He has come.
Published Poets
Adult
Reagan Dregge
Minnesota
Nessie (Grand Prize Winner)
Faith
Melissa Crowther
Utah
Sanctuary
Winter's Wait
Juliette Hiller
Oh, Smiling Moon
Middle School
Elena - 13 years old
Virginia
A Still River
Grace - 13 years old
Nevada
Opportunity
Caden - 12 years old
South Korea
My Sweet Little Sister
Teen
Elena
14 years old
Utah
A Plea to the King
Lily
17 years old
Louisiana
Quarantine
Adison
14 years old
Utah
When Imagination Takes Role
Elementary
Kathryn - 9 years old
Arkansas
He is Coming
Cayden - 10 years old
Indiana
A Seed I Sow
Jordan - 9 years old
Winter
Authors Pick
Kylie - 10 years old
Texas
Deadly Dreams
Isla - 11 years old
ZAMBIA
The Killamanine
Cambry - 12 years old
Virginia
Seaside ABC's
Max - 5 years old
AUSTRALIA
Best of the Best
These poems will also
be published