Two talented Framingham students recently won a statewide Youth Poetry Contest sponsored by the National Garden Club. Rising sixth grader Maureen O’Connell and rising third grader Stella Cote were among hundreds of young poets from across Massachusetts to enter “Adventures in the Garden” themed poems. Both are avid writers. The two winning poems, “Spring Returns” by Ms. O’Connell and “My Garden” by Ms. Cote, have been submitted to the regional competition. Each student was presented with a Garden Club Federal of Massachusetts certificate and a journal. The certificates were awarded on zoom with teachers and family members present.

My Garden By Stella Cote

This little garden

I saw last night

See it grow

With all it’s might

Tomorrow it will bloom

A surprise delights!

Spring Returns
By Maureen O’Connell

I dug my feet into the soft soil
It was cool beneath my feet on this hot day
I smelled the breeze and wished I could eat it
I sat down by the flowers
I leaned against the great oak behind me
It felt good
I felt good
I liked it.

I looked up
The clouds covered half of the sun
I stared up at the clouds
They looked like marshmallows
The huge trees looked down at me
I felt small
But small isn’t always a bad thing.

I looked back down at my flowers
Pansies, Roses, Bluebells, and marigolds looked back
Hydrangeas seeped with blue and pink
While Buttercups reached for the sun
Iris’s produced their best colors for me
And Sweet alyssum faced down
They didn’t need sun

Moonflower so big, white and beautiful
I guess that’s why it’s called a moonflower
I wish I could bring it with me wherever I went
The poppies shone bright red in the afternoon sun
The flowers all them smelled so good
Like chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven,
Freshly mowed lawn,
And butter browning all at the same time

I loved my garden and everything in it
Those spring and summer days were better with my garden there
But then the wind came
The bitter cold snow made everything white
And it killed my flowers
The garden
I raised from seeds
Was gone
Only brown scraps were left
All that work
All that time
All those beautiful flowers
Wasted

Then spring comes around again those flowers that died
They left something behind
Seeds

And new plants sprout

 

Maureen O’Connell’s poem Spring Returns was selected as the winner the New England Regional Poetry Competition in her age group. Her poem was one of 50 youth poets to be published in the National Garden Club’s annual publication  Down the Garden Path. Maureen will be honored in May for her accomplishments.