By: Jocelyn McCray
An explosion of color
My mind is reeling
Thoughts of the world glaze by
My mind’s eye blazes to life
It reminds me of times past and present
Almost like a world made of time
It creates wondrous places filled with fun and made of joy
All around me life flourishes
I feel the cool breeze
It’s like a loving embrace from my heart directed to my mind
As I happily wander this endless world of mine
I take in the sights and relax
Here in my imagination life is bliss
By: Brent Taylor
He feels so ready
But his palms are so sweaty
Second guessing himself
He looks up on the shelf
He sees a picture of his wife holding his baby
I’ll see her again he thinks
I’ve been thinking of her lately
Thinking of the stuff I should have done
No wonder she said we’re done
I was an awful father
I’d come home and barely know my own daughter
She still loved me she said
But I know her love was fading
Fading like a sunset
He knows he doesn’t have much time
He has to win them back
He has to get this job
It was the only way
He has to build this family up from the ground
Get us out of this RV park
We should be able to sleep when it’s dark
Not have to sleep with one eye open
I’m sitting in the waiting room
His name gets called
It’s his time
He goes in and sells himself
“It’s over,” says the manager
“We don’t need you.”
He screams, “I’ll do anything!”
“No,” the manager says, “I already said it!”
“Please!” he pleads once more
“It’s for my family,
My wife and my daughter
This isn’t for me, it’s for them!”
The manager says, “Minimum wage from nine to five,
And that will be enough to get your life back together
And don’t ever wrong your wife or daughter again
Be thankful for what you’ve got and pray
Everyday and night tell them you love them
Pray that you’ll see the light one day.”
By: Claire Kim
Saturday evening, wearing jean shorts and a blue T-shirt with flip flops
Sun shining on my face, hair sticking to my neck
As I walked through a crowded water fountain in the middle of the park,
I felt humid claiming up from my feet, although it was a cooling sensation
A group of adults laugh and chat “for years on end”
But I hear a loud, youthful melody coming from another crowd farther away
Kids and their parents line up for ice cream cones of different flavors
A man in a neon pink truck sweats in the enclosed space
While he bends down and hands an dripping, chocolate ice cream cone to a little boy
Wry face, an old man sits on a bench stationary like a rock beside the fountain
Getting irritated by kids splashing sparkly, cold water at each other
A tree bends over the bench and casts dark shadows on the ground
Teenagers stand beneath the colossal branch with phones, their best friends
They are wearing blank faces for one minute, giggling afterward
I found my space
An empty space next to a stone horse statue covered by vines
And sat down, unfolding a mat,
Placing red strawberries and apples onto the plaid blanket
I lie down, calmly viewing “the slow dance of clouds and butterflies” under the bright sky
I recall the vision of this diverse neighborhood
And smiled under the shining sun
By: Mohamed Idris
The cold wall behind me,
Is eating away at me.
Just like everything else,
In this wasteland.
The Canned Food they give us,
Might as well be the dirt we build on.
The happy cries above long gone,
Replaced by dreaded screams,
Of those unfit for the regime.
I wish I could have stayed behind,
But that was impossible.
The stench was too much to bear,
The aroma still around me.
At least they were not those things.
Now, the fallout is no more…
In theory.
By: Ashish Sakhuja
Loud tirades given back and forth,
New problems left unsolved,
Argument and grudges held against one another.
It’s chaos, its a rampage, it’s a huge mess, it’s politics,
It’s the cause of uproars within the government,
The government is swatting away our dreams,
The government’s failure will be our demise,
The anger will only continue to spread,
Legislators are boiling mad at each other.
The economy continues to crumble,
More and more problems are piling up,
The whole country is experiencing the problems,
And it’s all because of the government.
New enemies are made every day,
The threat toward our country continues to increase,
The leaders our developing more nuclear weapons instead of helping our citizens.
There has to be some change, a change that will make America great again.
By: Abby Luck
My mind has been awake for a while
The daunting song cried out a sad whimper
As it reverberated around me
I am a puzzle with a missing piece
The brightness of my phone filled the room in an instance
And the clamor of my ringer haunted my brain
But I close my eyes
And finally my brain rests
The call of my relatives wake me
I run upstairs and the news is delivered
A chill ran up my spine
The world around me is light
Happy and Content
But I am dark
But so badly I want to be light
As we leave to visit him
I feel the light consuming me
As I get more excited
When we show up, I run inside
The acidic smell of disinfectant overwhelms me
And the colorless walls surround me
I race up the newly cleaned hospital stairs
The squeak of my shoes against the floor
Fills the building quickly
And I find him
My baby brother
I feel the warmth of family on my skin
And stretch my arms out to hold him
The touch of cuddly flesh on me
My missing piece was found that day
By: Ameera Khan
Summer.
The rays of the sun
Beating violently on my skin,
Merciless and cruel.
I look around,
Taking in my plentiful surroundings
As I continue to burn.
I see rich, forest green trees
Dancing in the cool, but scarce wind.
Smiling ever so slightly, I turn to see birds with abundant, detailed feathers,
Which seemed softer than silk,
Soaring in the baby blue sky dotted with large, white clouds,
Chirping euphonically, singing magnificently,
As if they were in a musical.
I learn that summer comes with hardships as well as boons
As long as you are willing to appreciate them.
Finally, I look up towards the light
That gives life to us
And cheerfully say to myself
“It’s as if it were a sunny side up.”
By: Jayme Matyas
I am observant as I walk the halls.
Seeing the girls and boys I once knew.
Not everyone is the same,
Of course, I know that we change as we grow up.
Becoming wiser as the many years rush away, though some may not.
The social pressures are changing and are, perhaps, getting worse.
The faces and names that I once called friends, now barely recognizable under a whole new person, someone that gave in to the social pressures.
Those people, may or may not be happy with the choice they have made to give in to the pressures, but will keep up the image so they will gain favor by other people.
The pressure is not only coming from teachers and friends at school, but social media, other friends, and even family.
The pressures coming from those sources are as powerful as ever in this world and is waiting to grasp another person and bring them into a hole of darkness and despair.
People who hesitate and question their looks, behavior, or popularity and that is when people will use that against them to change them, and that comes from pictures on social media that lead to people trying to achieve something not realistic.
We need to see and learn about this so we can stop the pressures, that are making so many people miserable and feel bad about themselves.
By: Natalie Beach
We are children
We have no say
We have no truth
Even though we try-
Even though we speak-
We will not be heard
We are just like you
Only young
Yet you can speak
You will be heard
If we must-
We shall scream
Scream our hearts out
In hopes that someone,
anyone, will hear us
Forever I scream
Never to be heard.
“IF ONLY” I scream.
If only…
For children have no say in truth.
Even now,
as these words flow out,
like a raging river,
I will not be heard.
These words will remain
on a blank, ripped page.
They think they know.
They think they care.
But in fact,
they lie.
They do not care-
We are just a number.
We speak-
We scream.
What is the point…
if we will never be heard.
So I remain in silence,
waiting…till the number falls.
By: Sanjana Vandanapu
Why Why Why, questions come across my mind, as I go through this tragedy
A monstrous attitude falls beneath me as I search for hope
The hope of breakthrough from this horrible adventure
Full of irritation, I continue this journey
Tears crawl down my eyes like lava releasing from a volcano
Strained arms,
From the exhaustion of mourning
A recurring feeling that never seemed to end
The clouds were ready to share my sorrow
The path of hope become difficult to obtain
This is the destruction of faith
This is a wildfire spreading through the forests of faith, destroying our aspirations This is sadness