Hey guys! I’ve got something a little bit different for you today. A few weeks back, I was asked to speak to a group of middle school students down at Kent Denver School. As a byproduct of our conversations that day, the class began a competition: each student {or group of students} was tasked with writing a blog post on anything to do with the outdoors. Then, everyone voted and the best post got to be published on my site.
Today is that day! The winner is Lindsi Reyes. Lindsi is a seventh grade student and Colorado native. Growing up in Aurora as the oldest of two brothers, Lindsi is proud of being bilingual, Hispanic, and passionate about being outdoors. Her earliest memories of getting out of the city meant long road trips with her parents, but that all changed last year when she challenged herself to a twelve mile hike on her sixth grade outdoor education overnight. Lindsi described the experience as “hard, but so satisfying.” Since then, Lindsi has been blazing trails across Colorado, taking every opportunity she can to experience the outdoors and, in her words, “feeling so lucky to be alive and appreciate the world around me.
Here is Lindsi’s poem. Enjoy!
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This is me forever
Backpacking, trail-running, hiking: anything that takes place outside where nothing is artificial is where my natural self comes out. The time capsule below is me opening up to my home. This isn’t just one instance; this represents two-thirds of my life. When I am outside, I feel alive, centered, wild. I wrote this because I know that even though I am going through the process of finding out who I am, this is a solid part of me that I will never question. I like that. I will never let go of this concrete passion. Since the moment I was exposed to these real things–to the many adventures that await me–this is me forever.
Day floats into night
The sunset colors fade into the deep starred night
When the soil beneath my feet becomes part of me
Who you are?
Who we are?
Who am I?
Because the laughing witnessed by the trees of that picnic
Becomes everything I want for love and belonging
When the drops turn into showers and the whole sky starts to cry
The footprints left by the trail-runners disappear
I know this is the missing part of my puzzle
The fresh breeze kisses my cheeks,
I know
I know this is where I belong
I know this is what I want to be
part of
The sun’s rays hug me
The lullaby of wind passing through the the leaves wiggles my ears
This is my place, this is where I’m from
This is so much more than me
This place extendeds my happiness
This place is me
The grass belongs to my feet
The trees are my legs
The mountain is my body
My arms embraces the sky
The sun circles my head
And that gleam around darkness fills my eyes
Here I am
And here I will stay.
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16 Comments
That poem makes ya wanna get out into nature. Thanks for the post, Lindsi!
Great poem, Lindsi!
Great job, Lindsi! Keep it up!
Lindsi, I am so excited to see your thoughts published online! You translated your passion for the outdoors into such powerful writing. Heather, thanks for giving our crew of Kent Denver kids such an awesome opportunity. Way to inspire the next generation of outdoor adventurers!
Nice post Lindsi! not surprised that a lot of people voted for this one
Linsi – I am SO proud of you and so proud to have been one of your teachers. Beautiful post!!
Darn spelling – sorry LINDSI!!!!
Wow! What a wonderful description of our connection with nature. Great work to Lindsi!
Beautiful poem! Love it!
Fantastic job Lindsi!
Let the Outdoors continue to be a part of you, and you will always be a part of Nature.
Season’s Greetings to all!
cheers
Beautiful poem, Lindsi! Love the imagery.
Impressive and beautiful Lindsi!!! I believe you have a future in writing …
This poem is so beautiful and authentic. Thank you for sharing such a personal piece and inspiring other outdoor lovers like myself! I haven’t written poetry in a long time, I use to do it quite often when I was in college. This makes me want to stow away and start writing!
Absolutely love the poem, Lindsi!!!
I hope you and yours had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and are looking forward to a very HAPPY NEW YEAR. May we display your header on our new site directory? As it is now, the site title (linked back to its home page) is listed, and we think displaying the header will attract more attention. In any event, we hope you will come by and see what is going on at SiteHoundSniffs.com.
Terrific poem, Lindsi!