One Winter Day

Jimmy Aranda |

12/22/2007 - 12/23/07

Second Place, Children’s Poetry
Like a good baseball game, Jimmy Aranda’s poem hits home runs at surprising moments. Imagining what snowmen do at night, Aranda conjures up great moments of personification and poetic imagination, such as, “They meet at the park/when it’s really dark./Waiting for the others,/drinking cold Coke from their mothers.”

One winter day

I made a snowman

Short and round.



The next day when I saw him,

I couldn't believe what I found!



He wasn't the same at all.



He was tall and fat,

He didn't have a hat.



His arms were twigs,

He wore a wig.



He gave me a terrible fright!

Now it made me wonder,

What do snowmen do at night?



They meet at the park

When it's really dark.



Waiting for the others,

Drinking cold Coke from their mothers.



Now they line up to race one another.

After they've had a chance to race once or twice

They head to the lake to do tricks on ice.



Now the pitcher takes his aim

When they start a baseball game.



Oh, no!

It starts to snow,

So it's time to go.

Jimmy Aranda, 11, is in the sixth grade at Nava Elementary School.
He lives in Santa Fe.