Mac Olsen
Express Staff
Students at Georges P. Vanier have submitted their posters and poems to the Royal Canadian Legion for judging in a contest.
The Royal Canadian Legion holds a poster and literary contest each year for Remembrance Day. The contest is open to all grades. They can submit coloured or black-and-white posters, as well as essays and poems.
“It’s their interpretation of why we need to remember those who sacrificed,” says Michelle Pitre, the teacher who organized the GPV contest.
With this story are two posters (the coloured poster is on Page 15) and three poems submitted to the Royal Canadian Legion in McLennan. Look for other submissions in next week’s Express.
What are Poppies?
by Christian Mencke
Grade 7
What are poppies?
I don’t know
They say poppies remind them
Of the loved ones lost long ago
But what about this red flower
Is just the best?
My Mom says it reminds us
Of the ones that lie and rest
WH does everyone love
This flower so dear?
My Dad says it reminds us
Of the veterans lost and still here
How does this poppy
Make silence so precise?
My cousin Sam says it reminds us
Of every soldier’s sacrifice
Now I’m starting to see it
So crystal clear
Memories are starting to unfold
With a shredding tear
Everyone is crying now
Even with the tokens in place
I now see why poppies are hear
It’s to help us embrace
Bombs
by Chance Johnson
Grade 7
A giant piece of metal,
Flying down faster than any jet plane.
A fierce harbinger of death,
The fear of the innocent,
The reckoning of the wicked and damned,
The end to many lives,
People watch in dreaded horror,
Children watch in wonder of the unknown,
For they do not understand,
The bloody destruction of nations,
The never ending wars waiting to come,
The unholy deaths of many,
Only god can tell now,
How it will come to close,
How many people will die,
The screaming sirens have risen,
But with one giant flaming mushroom cloud,
Everyone here ceases to exist,
The war flag has risen,
The fighting and death start once again,
The bombs have started falling …
Poppies Blow
by Chantale Bouvier
Grade 8
The lightning snaps
And the clouds boom in despair
Soldier after soldier collapse
Lungs exhausted of air
The bombs bash
And the gunshots snap
The ground grey with ash
The soldiers stuck in a trap
The battlefield never again the same
For the soldiers who fought strong
Forced to take aim,
Even if believed their actions wrong
The green grass stained red,
The pretty songbird now a ghastly crow
As many soldiers lay in their death bed
While the calming red poppies blow