Wonderful Entries: Poetry on the Move Contestants!

During National Poetry Month, I will be posting all of the Poetry on the Move contestants’ terrific entries. You will agree with me that there is much talent on the move in the county.

Enjoy! And if you care to leave a comment, I know the poets would love hearing from you.

Poetry on the Move is a project of the Santa Clara County Poet Laureate. All poems remain the property of the authors.

Sally Ashton
Santa Clara County Poet Laureate

Blue Tooth

Intersection of Moorpark and Winchester:
Twelve contented seagulls line up
on the obsolete telephone wire
looking down on the traffic
vehicles full of people
jabbering away
into thin air.

by Mimi Ahern
San Jose

* * *

Silicon Perspective

A giant bay laurel grows in the park,
A sapling when Ohlones gathered nuts
Full-trunked when apricots ruled
Caught whispers from high-tech wizards
Dug deep to hold its ground.
Micro-chips, iPods, internet
Create nothing to rival me yet
Invent away, my silicon peers
I’ve lived for two hundred years.

by Beverly Ainscow
Sunnyvale

* * *

On the Move

Oh travel back to the Valley of Hearts Delight. Do we
remember the fields of yellow mustards, growing with wild
abandon? If you look hard and quickly you will see some out the
window, in the fast  disappearing soil of our towns.

by Lucy Amico
Los Gatos

* * *

A Lightbulb Moment

Inventions, Inventions, a spark in your mind
You run to the garage to see what you can find
You have been tinkering for about 3 hours
Inside you, this feeling of power
You test one last time, fix a missing part,
It works, it’s done, Your work of Art!!

Zahra Attarwala, 11 years old
Saratoga

(Note: Brava, Zahra!~ You jumped right in with your own “work of art.” Keep writing! Sally Ashton, Santa Clara County Poet Laureate)

* * *

Invention

Necessity gets all the credit
As mothers sometimes do,
But what of curiosity, tenacity, and dreams?
Those fathers surely sowed their seed
In this most fertile valley
Where the art of engineering
And the job of making beauty
Share a fine ambitious romance,
Dance a complicated tango,
Ever-changing,
Still evolving.

by Sheila Banning
Sunnyvale

* * *

In My Garage

In my Garage I shape the future,
Pour, knead and mold.
In my mind’s eye I nurture,
a seed of change to grow.

Into reality I can see it spring,
Vibrant and alive.
All of humanity waits in wonder,
As a new frontier it brings.

by Charles Barber

* * *

The Frustration Process

In frustration I
threw down the big
new pen

What was meant to be
Was just not streaming

Buffering and loading
Pausing
Stopping altogether

A dysfunctional download
Paper disconnected from brain
As data from screen

Inventor discouraged
Inventee disappointed

An App review…
Appreciation?

by Maya Bhatta
Cupertino

* * *

Fable

Orchards once bloomed wild and strong
Scattering fragrance all day long
The tide of time swept over the land
The soil is tilled by strange new hands
The sun is gathered on silicon shades
The grass grows greener in plastic blades
Songs of sparrows reappear
In glassy fruit we press to our ears.

by Sandip Bhattacharya
San Jose

* * *

Invention Heritage

She gathers soap root in the
Dazzling light of June
Transforming the hairy bulb
Into a small brush
Using ancient technology
She watches swallows
Pack rich mud securing their nests and
Beavers constructing a dam with precision
She climbs the stairway
To an office where Peregrine falcons
Soar past windows

by Marianne Bickett
Campbell

* * *

Silicon Valley

Conceived thru innovation; born from a silicon womb.
Raised on an unstable earth; inspired to challenge status-quo.

Re-inventing itself; new ideas always taking shape.
The imagined now the norm; the unimagined tomorrow’s break-thru.

Diversity fueling social connectedness; igniting collaborative success.
Imagination taking flight; endless possibilities.

by Diane Blum
San Jose

A big round of applause for all ten contestants! Stay tuned for more installations. Subscribe to receive alerts.