Amani Festival 2000
Poetry Winners

Grades 1st-3rd

First Place

Second Place

Peace On Earth

Peace on earth
Is the sign of the dove
This is the kind of world
We really love.

By Brooke Staryer

untitled

We could have a happier life
If we all just tried.
Doesn't matter what your skin is
Life or what's on the outside.
If we get along together
We'd make a better world.

By Elaina Spahr

Grades 4th-5th

First Place--

Second Place--

What If

What if everyone's skin was the same color,
Would people then get along with each other?

By Ashley Kauffman

The Great American Tale

What a great story with a wonderful plot
How each nationality has a role in the great
melting pot.

We are all human, we were created equal
That is the way we are seen in the
American sequel.

No matter our race, no matter our creed
We came to America so we could be freed.

From Ellis Island to the Indian Reservation
We are proud to live in this great nation.

By Constance Rae Reidenbach

Grades  6 - 8

First Place

HARMONY; MUSIC OF THE WORLD

We are are the world.
Each of us is a pearl.
We are instruments:
              drums, bagpipes, cympals, mouth flutes, bells, saxophones,
               trumpets, maracas, guitars, chimes,  and gongs.
We play well together, brand new or old with dents.

We are the children:
               Native American, Black, Latin, Asian, African,
               Aborigine, East Indian, White, and Cuban.
Together our histories and melodies blend.

We open our concert with the dum, dum, dum, dum, dums,
Of the African and Native American drums.
They set the beat and keep the time,
So the european woodwinds and brass won't fall behind.

We slow the tempo with our Asian chimes, cymbals, and triangle.
The notes and sounds gently mingle.
Each instrument is perfect in this band and no one is wrong.
Not even the deep ringing sound of the gonnnnnnnnnng.

Different in so many ways as the instruments we play,
It is music we speak, something our souls have yet to say.

by Nathan Dial                

Second Place

Why???

Every time a petal drops, a bit of peace is gained.
And every time you say hello a new friend is made.
But every time a punch is thrown, a friend is hurt,
And every time a name is called a soul is crushed.

So why, why go through it just to have it happen to you!  Why separate the white and black.  It's like saying
the alphabet but with no letters.  We needed them through out the civil war, but they wouldn't have been
there if we hadn't brought them.  So why separate the short and tall.  Without Lincoln there'd be no Scotty
Pippins to play basketball.  So why separate people.  In gods message all people are created equal, without
any exceptions.  So why do we separate short from tall, black from white, race
from race.  Whomever calls someone a freak jus because they're different or have spiked hair better take a
step back and look at themselves because we are all different in our own way and that can sometimes make
someone very cool.

So help the poor, it just might make someone's future brighter.
Be part of the solution and not the problem.
So when you realize this then weall
Realize the true meaning of peace.

by Jess Tarver

Grades 9 - 12

First Place

A GAP IN PEACE

A woven basket of colors holds the earth in place,
its threads are a million hues strung together.
Every fiber has a special place in the pattern,
without each other the whole would unravel.

Each variation is different,
they all bend different ways.
Sometimes they entangle themselves,
Only to find each other frayed.

Even the smallest hole could let the earth slip through,
Even the tinies tear can grow and magnify.
That's why the strings work together,
To make the basket strong.

A peace, a balance, and a tolerance,
Are what we need to form our pattern.
Some are short, misshapen, and downright strange,
But they all come together to express a unique texture.

But strings have no thoughts or control of their  actions,
Do we deserve more credit then the threads?
Our ignorance makes the gaps widen,
Intolerance scares away the promise of peace.

by Ashley Curtis

Second Place

Why haven't we gotten over this?
How come all of the good times we had to miss?
Do you want to change everything now?
Or is it that you don't know how?

We changed the constitution.
Certain battles we have won.
Why can't we over come this one?
Why can't we live happily under this sun?

Why can't we say that we are equal?
Why can't we say that we are the same people?
Why can't we be the same?
Why can't we all stop playing this race game?]

There is not one specific race that is the best.
We are all the same as the rest.
You are the same as me.
Equal is how things should be!