your vision, your voice
Like a bullet in the sky,
Faster than airplanes passing by.
As fast as a cheetah, as quick as a wink
Don’t miss the asteroid so don’t blink.
The asteroid is crashing down
aiming for the big wide ground.
Down with a crash!
Burning to ash!
A crater has been placed
in the empty space.
Fern Bluff Elementary School
3
Insects are the best.
When I look at one I feel adventurous.
I wonder why they fly, I wonder why they crawl, why they run and why they spy.
I love the buzz of a bee, I love the buzz of a fly.
I wonder how a small creature can fly so high.
I love to learn about insects because it gives me knowledge and joy.
Mott Elementary
1
My life has ups and downs,
With swings and turns that go all around.
If you ask me what violence has done to me,
I will tell you it makes me feel a lot less FREE.
To me, violence just ain’t right,
If it is causing everyone to FIGHT.
My life has ups and downs,
With swings and turns that go all around.
I am blessed to have the option to choose my own path,
I get to choose when to be sad and when to laugh.
OTHERS sometimes aren’t so lucky;
They think that they don’t have a choice,
So never consider using their voice.
They don’t understand their actions until the deed has been done,
And then they realize their actions weren’t nice or fun.
But by this time they’re simply in too DEEP,
And inklings of violence begin to seep.
I am blessed to have the option to choose my own path,
I get to choose when to be sad and when to laugh.
My life has ups and downs,
With swings and turns that go all around.
I can help make a difference in other people’s lives.
I will help them rise,
Up from their downs and i’ll straighten out the bend
Imagine the message WE could send
WE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Our lives have ups and downs,
With swings and turns that go all around.
Gorzycki Middle School
7
Falling asleep, you see images
dreams stirring in your head
dreams will fade away, turning them new
Some dreams are good, bad, or sad
the good dreams can be very inspirational
dreams can me memories of your past
dreams can be the best part of your day
dreams can be videos, playing in your head
Dreams are delightful
dream on.
Gorzycki Middle school
7
The last night of November
The frost crept through the door.
It seeped through my fingertips
And turned my blood to snow.
World still dark
Warm and milky, your breath tickled my cheek.
Your gentle scent and mild heat
Nestled against my arm and neck
And began to thaw
The ice from my lungs.
Together in near silence,
Two slow breaths formed as one
With your weight upon my chest.
I am comfortable in your presence.
The shivers in the air dissipated against your frame.
The dawn chased the dreams, faded, from my mind
And drew the sleep from my eyes.
I see you, my wordless companion;
Has it already been eight years?
Sophie, my precious pup, life is better when you’re near.
LC Anderson High School
11
Missing words and captive thoughts
Under fire
Never enough
The lights stay off and eyes go blind
I only want to see tonight.
Lonely spaces are
Left unspoken and undone.
Shadows creep from all the corners.
Eyes can’t see as hearts grow numb.
I hold this dirt, this little dust.
It is my world and my country,
The ground below and the sky above,
Hold my everlasting loyalty.
But this starved land can’t save a soul
And it won’t protect my family.
I’ve forgotten how to ask for the things I need
Because, here, even hope has lost its meaning.
I don’t know about hope, but I know there is hunger
For a brighter night and for a tomorrow
Filled with food and family
Threatening to break free.
Growing pains bringing change;
I’ll feed my hopes on this.
For while my world has closed its eyes
I won’t sleep tonight.
LC Anderson High School
11
I am left unanchored and alone
Just a small thing made of dust.
No better than birds or sun-bleached bones
Worm trails and river stones.
I am made of winds and grass,
Cicadas, mouse-holes, roots of plants.
Rivers, dewdrops, wells, and webs
Small things held in little hands.
Happy, angry, missing faces
Sad eyes and forbidden places.
“There’s no place I want to go but home
Where I am safe and well-fed.”
Well-said.
LC Anderson High School
11
Dirt underneath my fingernails
Is better than the dirt on my body
Made by filthy hands
And all of their defiling.
I want to wash it clean.
It’ll never be enough
To scrub away the stain.
No innocence left untouched.
I want to make the world run red
Or even muted black and blue,
But even then I cannot run
Fast enough away from you.
LC Anderson High School
11
In the dimness you whispered
Your young life away
Begging, “please don’t leave me here”
But how can I stay and still remain human?
I see and so I feel
Is it hubris to think like this?
I call it truth; truth you do not know
Whose absence you feel
But cannot understand.]
The silence was your voice
Drifting, drifting, not all there
Drifting, drifting, disappeared.
LC Anderson High School
11
Murmuring flow of a stream
Lively roar of perfection
In the moon, a certain gleam
Crying in the reflection
Sweet, coiling tendrils of mist
Leading a path through the night
A blushing bloom will persist
Its only wish to glow bright
Twinkle against the dull sky
Brilliant splash of daydream
A quiet, whispered “Goodbye”
Murmuring flow of the stream
Ann Richards
9