Fixing America By Aryan Deorah

When I was little,
I was told that this country was perfect,
I was taught that this is the greatest nation,
I had read everyone was free, everyone had the same rights,
But was this all true?
I went to school and they said my religion was stupid,
I got on the bus, and they called my friends terrorists,
I turned on the news, and there was another police killing,
I saw videos, they showed people spitting on children because of their origin,
I talked to my friends, and all they mentioned was a man who supports all of these things.
Is this country really as great as I was told,
It is up to our generation to fix these problems,
to heal the wounds,
to accept others,

and to cement this nation as the greatest that has ever existed.

The Voices

The Voices
By: Hannah Bowman


The voices.
They taunt me,
With their continuous laughter.


The voices.
They tell me,
Things that aren’t true.


The voices.
They help me,
Suppress feelings with a smile.


The voices.
They lead me,
To have bad intentions.


The voices.
They protect me,
From shedding a tear.


The voices.
They soothe me,
Singing words of hope.


The voices.
They keep me,

From letting it all out.

Where Are You? – Shareen Shaik

Where Are You? 
We called you downstairs for Momma’s Sunday dinner,
Mashed Potatoes and Fried Chicken,
Your favorite,
But, where are you?
The window was open and the curtains danced swiftly to the tempo of the wind,
Calling your name,
But, where are you?
Michael jumped on his bike and left
Momma is crying unbearably
Daddy’s mind wanders off
Where are you?
We are supposed to be each other’s strengths,
But we are instead weaknesses
What have you done to us?
Where are you?
The police are outside interrogating the neighbors,
The twins are peeking through the windows watching curiously
Our home doesn’t feel like a home anymore
Where are you?
I’m suddenly the new spotlight in school,
Teachers reassured me 
Your friends walked me to my classes,
The prinicpal said I could stay home,
But that would only remind me of you.
Each of us held a candle,
Not budging even though the rain pelted us,
“God guide us through our hard times,
And bring back our Mia to us!”
“AMEN!”
Our kitchen is filled with stacks of food,
Pies, cakes, casseroles, and who could forget Mrs. Smith’s turkey,
But we haven’t ate a proper morsel since you had left,
Where are you?
It’s been 5 days Mia!
Momma’s throwing up nonstop,
Daddy isn’t home anymore,
Michael doesn’t stop drinking
And I…
I sit on the roof because of the fresh air
And knowing you are elsewhere beyond!
We were emotionally and physically shattered,
We stopped believing,
Our thoughts questioned us
But one unexpected phone call ended it all.
They found you
“Hold on Mia girl we are coming!” 

Smile?


Smile?

Tick Tock, Tick Tock
Time is passing by,
Don’t know how to feel anymore.
Don’t know what to do.
Can’t take this much longer,
This pain this hurting can’t take it.
Done, tired, torn,
Soon she’ll explode.
Tired of putting on fake smiles.
They think she’s happy,
But don’t know that inside-she’s fighting a battle,
Doesn’t feel “good enough.”
Tries to handle things but can’t,
Tries to keep emotions in check.
She tries to hide all her scars, all her pain,
No one understands so,
She’ll just have to put on a façade and go on.

My Dog Didn’t Eat It

My Dog Didn’t Eat It
I was given so much time
to finish up these rhymes,
but I waited till the night before,
and now I am screwed for sure.
But it’s not really my defect
that I didn’t finish this project.
My red and abandoned fish, Fred, died
when my brother threw him outside.
My clothes got wet,
so I got an idea set.
I caused a fire to go by
when I threw them in the microwave to dry.
My hair was a flowing, shiny river streaming
down my shoulders, before I began thunderingly screaming
when it instantly mutated into a massive frizz ball
in the stickiest, most humid morning of all!
In a rainy afternoon, I went out to the patio
to munch on some crispy, green pistachios.
On a spur of a moment, I was blinded when lightening struck!
I would be paralyzed in a coma, if I had not ducked.
Every time I started to work,
I felt my phone staring at me like a jerk.
You ought to believe me!
This project is bad luck…please agree.
I’m working on it at this minute.
Something will surely happen to it.
Wait a second! What is this?
A poem of my excuses to end my crisis!

Control

There is an essence in each object.

This essence,
consisting of different elements,
represents different factors of life.


Taking advantage of the essence can create beautiful things.
Farming can be done faster.
Landscaping is easier than imagined.
Natural resources are at our fingertips.


Taking advantage of this life force can put man in control of nature.
Or so he thinks….


Nature has a mind of its own.
There is a delicate balance of power between man and the environment.
And if man is taking too much control of the environment,
Nature will fight back in order to restore equilibrium.


Nature will bring about a vile wave of famine,
disaster,
plague,
and mutant creatures beyond anyone’s imagination.


Today, we are at the brink of thriving or dying.
We can bring back a world of hope,
Use the essence for the positive.
Or we can continue to move forward,
abuse the essence,
and let nature take over the human population.

The choice is yours.

Brisk Moments

From that moment on,
I learned to change,
Change myself.                   
The things I do,
The way I do them,
Why I do them,
I have learned from my mistakes.
Countless nights,
Countless mistakes.
But sometimes it’s not what I do,
Sometimes it’s the people,
The people aren’t who they seem.
They are nice one day and then different the next.
They always say “People change”
People don’t change,
They just take their masks off.