PEACE POETRY CHALLENGE 2020
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIVISION

Peace poem
By McKenzie

How great it would be, to live in harmony
To believe, to love, with no jealousy

No arguing, no fighting, just a lot of smiling
With big opened hearts, trying, and trying

Together and making friends
Peace should never end
Walking hand in hand

Yes we can!

Stop tearing each other down
Opened arms and no frowns
Support and teach each other
No matter the color

Peace starts with me
Peace starts with you
Making a better world
And enjoying the view

Peace poem

Peace is the light that guides the way.
From dark skies to bright shiny days.
If everyone got along one day.

This would be a much better place.

This world would be a much better place.
There would be no hate.

People would no longer separate.

Kindness would fill their hearts.
If everyone just did their part.
Pay it forward, just be kind.

Set a good example every time.
Peace, calm, happy and free.

Are all the things important to me.

Andrew

PEACE POETRY CHALLENGE 2020
MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION

What Does Peace Mean to Me?
by Olivia

Peace is not something you can hold, or something you can see,

it is rather something that can be shared, and told, between people like you and me.

Friendship, kindness, and love are all forms of peace,

and the amount of it that’s on the Earth should only seem to increase.

Peace is the love that is shared among us all,
and whether the love is big or small,

it is still important and helps us up when we fall.

Peace is the calm energy that lives within and throughout everyone around,
and it creates a harmony to the world; such a beautiful sound.

There are so many ways to describe peace, and how to be,
but this is what the word peace means to me!

How Peace was Forgotten

By Julia

Peace, what a wonderful word.

Like the call of a pure-hearted bird.

When you are at peace You shall not be in grief.

Oh, how peace is unheard.

Though peace should be throughout

This imperfect nation, no doubt,

Peace is misused

it is sometimes abused.

Sometimes we forget what peace is about.

Peace is Key
By Aarav

Peace, it has many meanings,
But to me it means,

That everyone lives in harmony
No more wars, no more fights

And no more cries echoing through the night,
Peace, peace, we must see your light

We can’t limit ourselves, to what is in our sight,
Throughout history we’ve fought over land

And yet in the end, everyone is buried deep in the sand,
So smile, don’t shout, remember to be kind

And everyone’s mood will improve, you will find,
Keep emotion under control, expand your thinking
And soon you’ll realize, everyone is listening,

All we have to do is remember peace
So peace, what do you mean to me?
Well, to me you mean,

That the world makes sure that happiness is seen.

Poem for contest called A DIFFERENT REALITY
By Norah

I look to my left

I look to my right

There are two men beside me
One is black, one is white

The black man is dead, because he ran with Skittles,
unarmed

He didn't want to cause any harm
The white man

However

Is alive. He did the same thing; enjoyed Skittles
There is something wrong with this picture

Imagine a different reality

I look both ways beside me

A black man and a white man

One enjoying Skittles and the other playing with a child. The child is laughing.
They are sharing their candy.

It is sweet on their tongues
They soon smile and part ways

I look to my left

I look to my right
Three kind women

Getting assaulted at night
They cry to their lawyer
They cry to the judge

But who is found guilty?

The women, who are the victims.
They are beyond distraught as their
Assaulters stroll by

Guilty forever

But they pretend they don't know why

Imagine a different reality

I look to my left

I look to my right

Six people laughing all day and night
A lawyer and a judge

Walk slowly down the road
Smiling to themselves as they

Hear the loud cackles and chuckles
Coming out of pure joy from six kind folks

I take a breath

I open my eyes

Is this what the world has
Turned out to be?

Apparently so.

Peace should be now

This is what it means to me
Everyone happy with gleaming eyes
Nothing to worry, like

Victims silent cries
Nothing is wrong
What a surprise

PEACE POETRY CHALLENGE 2020
High SCHOOL DIVISION

Tiffany
Peace Poetry

Peace, peace is love, peace is silence.

Her hatred towards the world and at herself slowly starts to fade away.
Hate, hate is not what one desires, The hate in this world is inevitable.
The human beings of this world fight, argue, struggle.

In one’s true feelings, they can feel horrible.

But peace is the one thing that brings her and the world together.

Peace, peace is love, peace is silence. The
world’s level of hatred has been inclining, As
people’s love is peeling away.

But peace, peace is an innermost feeling
That she begins to experience upon herself.

Peace, peace is love, peace is silence. She sees her value.

She sees her worth.
She sees her potential.

She is now at peace with herself,

She sees the true beauty of herself and of the world, Despite
all of the hate.

Peace, peace is love, peace is silence. She
stays silent with all of this obstruction As the
world is falling apart.

She doesn't know her place in the world.
The true feeling of love is what helps her.
It is like a grain of sand,

Piece by piece, she understands what she must do.
Love is it’s own brand.

Peace, peace is love, peace is silence. She
starts to bring all of the world together,
Through the power of love and peace.

She shares her ideas on unity,
Though people can pity

The things she has gone through.
Some people don’t care,

Though the love she has shown is quite fair.

She tries her hardest to push hate out of the way.

Peace, peace is love, peace is silence.

The world is in the process of being at peace.

The people’s hatred towards the world and at themselves slowly starts to fade away.
Hate, hate is able to be lessened.

The love in this world is inedible.
Eventually, the human beings of this world

Are able to love, care, and share peace with one another.
In one’s innermost feelings, they can feel happy As the
previous hate made them feel sappy.

Peace, peace is love, peace is silence.
She sees her value in this world.

She brings peace.

Peace is the one thing in the world Where
people can feel calm.

Past grievances can last forever, But
when feeling peace with oneself, They
can relax and see it’s appliances.

The world can relax with peace.

Peace, peace is love, peace is silence.
There will always be hate,

But peace is a gate of opportunity.

It allows one to explore themselves, explore the world.

It brings together with all of its love, even though it doesn’t feel like fate. It
cuts the world’s hate, where one can be silent.

Origami

by Kayla

Peace

Is made like origami
Folded over and over
Tried time and again
Crumpled

Redone

Thrown over your shoulder
Only in vain

Even once Peace stands
It takes effort

To make it stay

And though it may be
Tough

Hope guides you
Toward more paper
And you start All
over again.

It takes a special
Kind of day

Full of special
Kind of people

To sit down together

And make Peace carefully
So that it doesn't come With
force

But washes over gently
Sitting among them
Your fingers

Glide over Peace
Dexterous and precise
Until you're satisfied
With your creases
Folds that are crisp
Worked over

Painstakingly fine-tuned
And pricelessly decent
You treasure it together
In all of its grandeur
Then you stack atop
One another

Climbing and climbing
Reaching higher than ever
So lying untouchable

Peace stays up high
Like an eagle

Proud and secluded
On a tall ledge

Its sacred idea Its
only protection.

It takes another special
Kind of day

To watch the world
Fall to its feet

Walking until you stumble Bump
into the ledge

And pick yourself up again
But behind

Everything comes crashing down
As unbeknownst to you

Peace rocks over
Its formidable edge

Swirling through the air
In graceful little spirals
Floating down slowly
Stiff in its perfection
Landing

On its fragile side
In a way that takes
One's breath away
Waiting patiently

For its glorious restoration
Yet when it's passed by
You trample all over it
Peace crushed

Beneath harried feet
Carried by the rush
Of stress

That life feeds
Forcefully in mouthfuls
So immersed

In daily frustrations

You overlook what is precious
Too taken

By a world that revolves
Turning and spinning
All around y ou.

There's a different
Kind of special

To a day where

You've done hard work
Where you go back home
Knowing safety and comfort
Are waiting for you

You're tired and done

Shoulders hunched from fatigue
Dark rings

Like thunderous clouds '
Neath your weary eyes
You swing open the door
And freeze

Lying on the floor
Mangled Destroyed

And torn

In ragged little shreds
Is the still corpse of
Peace

Disturbing and unsettling
You go pale with horror
And the world

Feels like it's falling
Right from underneath
But once the shock
Has settled

Once gravity has
Come to its senses
An anger bubbles

This fiery magma below
Threatening to combust
Explode from your top
Like a tumultuous volcano
Spewing furious fireworks
Into the troubled sky

A meeting is called
Fists at your side

You stomp to your desk
Ripping out a new page
That's clean

Unmarred

Pristine and divine:

War

Is made like origami
And sometimes

It happens on accident

On poorly made judgements
On pointed fingers

And hasty assumptions
And sometimes

It's made

In split-second decisions
In desperate times

And in one single action

With origami you can create
Hand-crafted bullets
Molded with vengeance
Piercing into armor

Like vicious paper cuts
Words that slay

Through freedom and rights
Like a sharply folded knife
People

In the palm
Of your hand
Crumpled

Thrown over your shoulder
And easily forgotten
Because all that's seen

Is the fire

That blinds you
That holds you
In its impulses
Chains you

To its inescapable appeals
And though you know
How to craft
Peace

Remember each and every fold
You find it simpler

To be taken and
Swallowed by

Offensive relentless hatred—
The War that plagues

The refugees on TV screens
Households every day

The victims crying silently
In our crowded streets
And y ou

Watching the devastation
Righteously

Wondering what happened to
Peace.

What does peace mean to me?

By: Jessica

Please please

Let  me  speak  my peace

I can hear the cries and the screams

And all of the hurt and the pain  begging  to  be  released
Only way to find peace is to give up the lies and  deceit 
When it is only the truth that we speak

We cannot  keep  cheating  the  system
In  order  for  a  few  to  come  out  on top

The violence and the abuse needs to stop
Where are the higher ups’ priorities?

Thousands losing jobs

Children hungry but some’s prosperous, greedy hands refuse to share their
bountiful crops

So much  ignorance
But they say it’s bliss

So many innocent hearts being cruel fully dismissed  
So  much hate

But  why  not  negate it?

Why not compare our relations?

Trust  can  be created

I know it will take some time
But we first need to mediate

If all of us could open our eyes and see
There is much more that we could be

We could feel acceptance of each other, flaws and all   
We could feel free, be free

Real peace can be guaranteed

Let us all come to the concepts of love, acceptance, forgiveness but not
forgetfulness

Pick each other up when we see someone falling to pieces 
From then on we can really learn what peace is

Peace is
Family
Peace is
Friendship
Peace is

Living safely and happily
No more profanity

No  more insanity

It’s not just a  fantasy
We can make it a reality

If we could all just stop, breathe and think rationally
Finally become a true nation, being as one

It can be done Peace

Your peace
His peace
Her peace
Their peace
Our peace

My  peace  has  been spoken

in which peace is a playground

by Adanma

I used to know all the answers
You did, too.

Back in the days of rubber and glue.

I wanna take you  back
to the wooden sandbox.
To your kicked-o shoe.

Every rugrat a di erent hue,
Back then, we  all  knew that our minds were
boundless,     and we basked
in the glory                But now, it’s
a di erent story.

You asked me a question-

A simple 5 letter word, but allow me to mention
That I don’t know the answer.

And you, do you even know the question?

In our quest for perfection, we’ve neglected heart for smarts.
Feeling for formula-

I guess we’ve forgotten the language of the trees.

The way it feels to let the breeze
brush past our hair,

To watch our fears
Float away        like
magic umbrellas.

I don’t know much about peace

Only that it’s something everyone claims they want to keep, 
So why do I keep losing sleep,

Watching headlines about drive-bys,
Children slain,

Wondering,  after they’re gone, will we even remember their name? 
  
I go back to the sandbox, to cherry tree lane