Month: February 2018

The hot air balloon gets blurrier
with each slide until It becomes
clear again; with a brilliant resolve
that leads to brown circular frames,
No matter how much you
wipe away the anxious
fog that creeps like a vine
with the edge of a cotton shirt,
The bright green
hills are still visible
but the truth is not.
Because the answer
to the universe
is not merely 42,
and betrayal cannot be foreseen
even through clear lenses
Or from the vantage of a hot air balloon.

All that matters
is the plastic barriers
between the road
and whatever lies
on the other side.

Six feet tall
and covered in ridges
the way some people
are covered in freckles.

Graffiti whizzes by,
a flurry of colors,
shapes

Some looping like ropes
curled up on one another.
Some chiseled cartoon chins.

Bridges and barriers embrace
the colorful art
but the forests through which
the pavement cuts hideous streaks
break the pattern.

The trees sprout over the asphalt
like gothic arches.

The woods ask,
What adventure will you find?

The graffiti asks,
What will be your mark?

---

James Bowie High School

12

Plush grass, silky and soft
underneath my bare feet
The blades shiver
listening

to the hush of suburbia
that hovers over the garden
Only chatter over coffee and waffles

The last of the summer warmth
a blanket not quite long enough
cold feet left uncovered

The chatter fades
a reluctant decrescendo
into one sullen word

---

James Bowie High School

12

She is dark and big.

Always there for the family;

Oh, how I love her.

---

Austin High School

10

O’ Taco Bell O’ Taco Bell, your food goes through me like a bomb shell.
And your bathrooms smell like ozone, I can even Smell it when ordering through the Phone.
O’ Taco Bell, O’ Taco Bell, I wonder how your food can even sell.
With the fake lettuce, cheese, and tomato, and oh so poisonous Baked Potato ( if you can call it that). The dollar menu is something to discuss, even if the things are as hard as a discus. O’ Taco Bell, O’ Taco Bell, I ate your food For show and tell.

---

Gorzycki middle school

7

What is Kerrville?
To me, it’s a sacred ground
Where songs are the prayers
and I get lost in the one place I feel found
There the language is music
And fingers dance with care
As they swim across guitar strings
Fluttering through the air
It’s a place where you’re not judged
And your voice is always heard
A place where you wake up
And the first sound you hear is a songbird
Politics and religion don’t divide us
We are all one
And we believe we are all connected
We are apart of the sun

When you see welcome home
With beautifully painted white letters
In front I see him place the stones
And red, green and yellow plastic
feathers
Its mix master with red shirts worn
Seeing storp written on a stop sign
seeing this world untorn
knowing everything is going to be fine

walking Around the big green meadow
Searching for my dear old friends
A year since we’ve said hello
These friendships that don’t have ends
kerrparents John and Mary
giving hugs with a smile on their face
It’s John finding watermelon unnecessary
And them giving me a sweet from a peach place
seeing Ken play at camp stupid
And eating burgers late at Camp Buyou Love
being surrounded by folk music
And bugs I don’t know the name of

It’s going to the Music Camp for Teens
lying about my age at 10
the wonderful John and Francine
thanking a stick bug for Austin my friend
It’s the staff giving an opportunity
For me to get up on stage
It’s about making a little community
So that I don’t have to be afraid
It’s about going on a canoe trip
With bill Oliver and Noodles
It’s hoping that the boat won’t flip
And I won’t get bit by anything unusual

Mr.pancake singing silly songs
Jena and Mathew writing poetry
Susan Roads taking pictures all day long
The best music of the century
Loose helping me play the bass
Annie keeping beat with her body
Looking at a smile on everyone’s face
Remember the things that everybody told me

working backstage for performers
keeping the green room clean
seeing Dallis being a supporter
She’s the heart of this magnificent machine
She’s standing at her desk smiling
with Dove Dark Chocolate in her hand
listening to performers inspiring
Making it feel like a dreamland
seeing Rossi, Doc, Fish, and Dave
Smile as I go by
black shirts buzzing bees swarming sound waves
I’m Fascinated by how they fly

But most of all it would have to be
Singing heal in the wisdom at night
another goodbye still hard for me
We all hold each other so tight
each note we sing with love in our hearts
Crying with our fellow man
We all sing in harmony parts
“One day together we’ll heal in the wisdom and we’ll understand”

Kerrville means everything to me
I wouldn’t be the same without it
And though this poem is not complete
I still felt the need to say it
You may be three hours away
But there are wonders that you have shown
Someday I want to be onstage and play
But forever I will call you HOME

---

Austin High School

Sophomore

As I sit outside the smell
of rain finds me. I go to

Jump in puddles, soon I
feel water splashing up
my legs.

I laugh with joy.
I open my mouth and stick
out my tongue to taste the
rain.

I run and slide my fingers
on the wet benches. Then
I hear the booming thunder

---

Cunningham

5

I was beautiful, no one cared about my height, or how I looked liked
But by the high standards of beauty that no one can reach Except models, by those standards and my height was a laugh
I was accepted at once in my family for my sexual orientation, they didn’t think less of me
My family still thinks I’m confused my mom thinks it’s disgusting to like two genders that’s great
In my dream, I could do anything, Play the piano perfectly, sing with a great voice
But in reality I can’t do any of that
I’ d live in this world if I could
I wish I could live in my dreams
All I want are for my dreams to become…
A reality

---

Ann Richards School

9th