POTSDAM – Three young female poets took the stage during a recent Orchestra of Northern New York concert to read poems they wrote about the United States.

The poetry contest was conducted by ONNY with the St. Lawrence County Arts Council, which organized it for middle and high school students in celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The winners were Katherine Doyle, 11, who attends A.A. Kingston Middle School in Potsdam; Adahlia Noreau, 11, who is homeschooled through Anchor Christian Homeschool; and Natalie Vaverchak, 14, who attends Potsdam High School.

The novice poets read their pieces at the end of intermission during ONNY’s October performance of “American Lit. 101” at SUNY Potsdam’s Hosmer Hall. Each received a certificate, a bouquet of flowers and an ONNY T-shirt.

America, by Katherine Doyle

I sing to you, America, a land of true diversity
I see a colorful array of all our beautiful citizens
I smell maple candy, salty ocean breezes, fresh cut hay and meadow sweet wildflowers
I taste the flavors of a hundred countries, each one telling its own special story
I touch your icy snow, luscious green grass and the silky golden sands of your beaches

I say to you, America, a land of contradictions
I see your hungry and your homeless and your five-star restaurants and luxury hotels
I smell your fresh mountain air and your forests burning
I feel the joy and comfort of your families and the pain of children lost and abandoned and torn away
I touch your warm and loving heart and your cold hands

I wish for you, America
To see the dream
To smell the freedom
To feel the truth
To touch all people’s hearts 

I Love America So, by Adahlia Noreau

Sunshine gleaming,
Birds are singing,
I love America so,

Birds sit in trees,
Branches blow in the breeze,
I love America so,

Through the wind the flag blows,
In their hearts America knows,
I love America so,

Americans love their country so free,
But that's not always how it used to be,
I love America so,

Soldiers fought hard to make it this way,
The British certainly made them pay,
I love America so,

Through the wars many lives were lost,
Because they would defend their country at any cost,
I love America so,

We now live in a country, free,
I hope this is the way it will always be,
I love America so.

The Americas, by Natalie Vaverchak

The America I know
Is not the America I knew 
Is not the America I need
Is not the one that once shaped me

The America I knew
Was fireworks and sparklers 
Was freedom and home
Was a mirage of the mind

The America I need
Knows acceptance
Knows how to fix mistakes
Knows the importance of sanity

The America that once shaped me
Was never really America
Was not the reality I lived
Was instead me forming America

The America I know
Is blood red
Is sickly white
Is black and blue

Where people cry
Where eagles scream
Where villains thrive
Gaining power by the minute

I may be just a child
But I am wiser than most 
And I endure the country’s pain
Feeling it all at once

And if you don’t agree then know
That if I am a child
Knowing all that I do 
Then something must be wrong 

For a list of all upcoming ONNY concerts and to purchase tickets, visit onny.org/event.