Category: 09th

Do you ever wonder
Why am I here?
What’s my reason for living?
Most of us come to the conclusion that
We as a person
Will most likely
Be forgotten
Poof
Gone.
Our physical selves.
Our minds.
Our memories.
And eventually
We’re forgotten.

So where do we go from there?
To irrational thoughts?
To suicide?
To…
Help?
What’s our cause?
Our reason?
Who
Or what,
Do we live for?

People.
I chose people.
The ones who made you,
The ones who care for you,
The ones who surround you.
To be yourself
For them.
To make them
Laugh,
Smile,
Love themselves because you’re there.

We all turn to suicide occasionally.
But,
If you live for people
Won’t suicide,
Hurt them?

---

Rouse HS

9

I feel it seeping out
Of some,
And soaking in
To others.

Those who hate
People who are different,

And those who abhor
Others like themselves
Who reek of hatred,
Never self reflecting.

There is no way to rid humankind of hate
With hate.
You can’t hate anyone enough
And make them hate less.

The only way
to cure us all
is love
for one
another.

As the wisdom
Of greeting cards
And old proverbs
Say,
We must give to our enemies,
Sacrifice for our foes.
Then maybe,
Just maybe,
They will see that hate
Is not the only way.

---

McNeil High School

9

I let her change me,
To who she wanted
Me to be.
Her clothes,
Mid-drift
And fashionably done hair.

I didn’t say no
(I was head over heels,
I couldn’t have.)
I was weak,
I was passive
I let my guard slip,
And suddenly I was not myself.

I cussed,
I flirted,
I yelled,
I did an array
Of non-me things
That cause guilt
And regret
Today.

We don’t speak anymore
(that girl and I)
I shut her out,
Realized she was poison,
And tried to rid her of my conscience.
But she still shows up,
In my infrequent
Self-detrimental comments,
The bits and bobbles
Of caring what I look like,
The year full of
Memories
Tainted by her presence,
And my caring.

---

McNeil High School

9

I feel it.

The pulse of desire
Pushing the blood in my veins
To each crevice of my being
And pulling it back
To my heart.

The crash of my feelings
Pulling my diaphragm
in,
and out,
Forcing my lungs into regular breath.

The steady cycle of my emotions
Driving me forward,
Inch by inch,
Minute by minute,
Step by step.

That glorious, terrible lump in my core,
Where my feelings find lodging,
Propping my eyes open for yet another

Day.

---

McNeil High School

9

Why is everyone
So afraid
Of death?

Is it the unknown?
Or is it the known?
We don’t know where we go
Upon our departure,
But we do know that which we must leave.
We know everything that we are leaving behind,
At least temporarily.
Friends,
Family,
Belongings,
Memories.

But where do we go?
That we do not know.
So why be afraid?
We know death is certain,
Why not be
Excited?
We will be leaving many things,
But what we find could be better.
Who knows?
I don’t know,
But,
Personally,
I am excited
To find out.

---

McNeil High School

9

One little lie,
How small.
Each time,
You tell one
The tower of deceit
Grows a bit more tall,
“It wasn’t me”
You continue to fabricate
Each little secret.

You do not look back,
For fear of what you’d see.
You’ve tangled yourself
In a web of deceit,
That you don’t want to
Believe
Is there.

Too deep.
You are stuck
To its sticky filaments,
There is no
Untangling this.
But you try
Nonetheless.
Your fingers fumble,
Too knotted,
Too far gone.

The only escape
Is truth.
You must cut each string,
Each fraudulence,
With the scissors
Of honesty.
You must trace your steps backwards,
Sacrifice what you have,
For losing upon overdue truth
Is better
Than losing upon lies.

---

McNeil High School

9

My memories are photographic
Never worded
Always seen
Containing glimpses of the past
coated in stardust and sunbeams

The cold and empty vessel still haunts me
not the belief that it scared me
but that I can still see it
Sunshine through the trees
on the baby beaches
Provide me with a photo of happiness
times never forgotten.

The photos I keep within are
who
I
Am

Sandy beaches
Hope
Stardust
Moonbeams
Fairy tales
Love
Family

They all stand vivid in my mind
never to share with anyone
except
you

I fill the air with colors
They smile wild and free
The world seems to shudder
At the thought of losing me

I am the rock to hold the ship to sea
A force too complex and ready
To color the world with melody
And keep the beat so steady

I am the way you say goodnight
Or how you wave hello
I am your mothers smile
Or a daisy doused in yellow

I can be forgotten
Tossed away and left
Or I can grow
And be kept and kept

I can speak the wind
Without a single sound
Yet I stretch all the world high
And back down into the ground

I surround the moon and stars
And love and laughter too
But the way I share myself
Is up to you

So, you, young boy or girl
Woman or man
Come roll around in the world so bright
And never truly understand

For when you realize who you are
Only then can you walk in your land

From coves of deep blue to blinding true light
This beach is now falling asleep
For the small girl will appear here tonight
And return to her cove, her home to keep
The sun will shine and the sky will be blue
Her heart will take flight and soar on the high
Salty winds that take her closer to you
When night falls she drifts off to a sweet land
Closes her eyes and smiles bright; for she knows
She will soon be on the beach with your hand
Holding hers and skipping, her face a rose
But now she sleeps under mother’s sweet face
And dreams and dreams and dreams of her true place.

---

The Liberal Arts and Science Academy

9

You were new at our school, yet you weren’t shy
A flurry of colors beat in your heart.
You always warned and wanted to know why
Hearts and minds are at war and should stay apart.
Friendship flowered into watercolors:
Delicate petal pinks, soft baby blues,
And with the brightest of yellow wonders
Icy-pale winters turned into light’s muse.
But watercolors are temporary,
Running like rivers and fading away.
Now I never stay, I’m always wary;
Maybe your goal was only to betray.
You were wrong, both my heart and mind agree:
You’re on the other side of the world to me.

---

L.C. Anderson High School

9th