Category: 11th

No matter how it ends,
Know that I loved you
With all my being
With all that I am

If it ends in tragedy,
Know there was a time
When all I could think of
Was the beauty of your eyes

If it ends in sin
Know that i will always
Remember the way
You pulled me in

If it ends in tears
Know that I will always
Keep the memories
Of when you were with me

If it ends in death
Know that I will always
Remember the way
You smiled at me

If it ends in loneliness
Know that I will always
Have you on my mind
When i fall asleep at night

But if it ends in love
Know that I will always
Remember the way
We were in the beginning

And if it ends in happiness
Know that I will always
Remember all of
Our first times

And above all, if it ends in
You and me
I will always, always
Love you.

---

Rouse High School

11

you may have wondered
what do i mean
when i say
my heart beats too fast
and i wish i could give you a quick explanation
a softly spoken sentence
a fast funny story
but i am afraid
i have a lot to tell you
i think i’ve always had too much to say
that was confusing for a young girl
with a loud head but a shy silent mouth
a girl who was filled with pride
then soon replaced with flooding self doubt
these thoughts were born with me
out of the womb they and i came
lingering in my palms when i crawled across the grass
sparkling in my hair when i went to my first dance class
the first thing i found out that i wasn’t very good at
they trickled down my cheeks when we put up the signs
for my kitten we lost the very first night
they whispered in my ear when i made new friends
some stayed forever and some came to a thirteen year old’s feared twisted tear-filled end
these thoughts flooded my eyes when i fell into love
didn’t know how to float in this ocean of bright red emotion
sent from somewhere up above
these thoughts swam down the drain
when i decided to listen
to the fingers of boys who pointed to dark hair on my arms
these thoughts glowed in the dark
when my best friend and i played pretend
loved who we wanted
lived where we wished
swore to ourselves that this place we dreamed of would exist
i’m sixteen now and i still visit that world in my head
they followed me into the big foreign doors
they poked my shoulders when i finally started to pay attention
they stole my smile and convinced myself i was headed in the wrong direction
they stepped on my sanity and flipped my insides out
made me feel like i was freezing
perception of love turned upside down
i would look down and see my heart shaking
it’s like i physically saw and felt it breaking
it produced too many of these thoughts to take
it was like it it went overboard at a certain age
while my heart was busy making a mess out of my mind
i tried to distract her then scare her away
begged her to slow down
take it day by day
i began to sleep with music on
i can’t sleep with music on
but i’d rather lay there half awake
than to be stuck here
alone with these thoughts
all they want to do is burn me
how did i not catch
the day they decided to turn on me
it took too many nights to count
too many meltdowns we call too hard to explain
too many ups
too many downs
too many times i thought i was there
to be pushed right back around
but there came a night
like i prayed there would
and i learned how to speak to my heart
pulled her right out of the dark
we made an agreement that we would turn our battles into art
so i braided my thoughts
all through the night
tied them beautifully with a purple ribbon
i knew we would be alright
my heart promised we’d work it out
of course the road would never be smooth but i’m blessed to say
i’ve learned how to make a beat from the bumps
to dance in the dark
until i’m laughing at myself in the light
i knew we would be alright
i thought it was a curse
just to confuse me so i’d crash
but now i’ve learned
maybe it’s a blessing
that my heart beats too fast

---

Austin High School

11

Acuario soy yo navegando en el aire
Observando mi alrededor para encontrar aventuras
Pero todo lo que miro es un triste mundo
que se está desmoronando

Acuario soy yo, tímida y callada
Embotellando emociones
Y expresándolas cuando no hay nadie

Acuario soy yo, con la cabeza en las nubes
Bloqueando todo a mi alrededor
Pensando acerca de la vida que tenemos

Acuario soy yo, incomprendida por el mundo
Me siento como un marciano
Tratando de ser entendida por el mundo

Acuario soy yo, amable con todos
Viendo todo lo bueno y lo malo en todos
Dándo segundas oportunidades a todos

Acuario soy yo, viendo cómo la vida pasa
Jugando el juego que es la vida con los demás
Tratando de acabar el juego para estar en paz

---

James Bowie High School

11

I want nothing more than to be home
And when I am home I want nothing more but to leave.

What is home?
Is it my coffin, or the walls or the feeling I get when I’m inside my walls,
I want it to be none of these things
I wish it to be the pace of breathe I take when I am as close to satisfaction as anyone ever gets
And I do not enjoy it when it goes on for too long
When I leave home,
I wish the pace of my breaths to change
I wish for everything to go according to plan
But my plan is flawed and predictable
like the way the sun never forgets to set.
I do not want to exist sometimes,
And I wish not to do and only to die
Why must i even try?

But how will any pace of breath matter to anyone?
And why must it ?
Because someone said it does?
And someone said we need to leave a mark on the world so
I drew a twelve inch line with chalk on the pavement of my neighbors house,
Revolutionary!
I am those you are to read about in voluminous 3000 page novels,
And you the same.

I do not know why all the world’s a stage and I do not know why we are all to play a different part,
I want to play all the parts and I want to play none

I want to be the curtains that drag and unveil
I want to be the stage that supports all the footsteps

What is truth?
Is it always good ?
And sweet like soft ice-cream

I hate to scramble such a pretty ideology
But most truths I have heard
Are like glass on a metal board.

I wished the world to tell me it’s secrets at this slumber party
How unfortunate she did not appear,
“She had to go to the dentist, dear”
If she had come this day, she would share her truths,
How unfortunate she could not appear.

I do not know anything,
except I will go home tomorrow although I do not know what it even is.

---

Stony Point High School

11

Unknowing in the time of Eden born,
Were the hearts of men in starlight blazing,
As fused on the fourth day first, solar born,
Bursted lights of God ever creating.

Effigy of He who formed the cosmos,
Burns flaming now in midst of night so dark,
Spinning stories to provoke the Telos,
Steadfast aim to ignite their own bright spark.

In whose image is created virtue?
If bright gleaming is the thing created,
When His silent love still doesn’t urge you,
To form new morality belated,

In homily, I call to reader thee!
Rest not while by God’s light you may still see.

---

Austin High School

11

Mountains groaned beneath her fists
Rock split open, but still in vain
She cried in pain

They sat on top, amused
To a will that’s abused

Rise
Rise above
Herself
Still, she wished she could love
Herself

Her life ran between
A mountain turned ravine

What flowed into it
Proved to be impertinent

There to reel
Especially to Steal

So she swore
To be taken advantage of no more

Her palms, hard and calloused
Held a need for self-assurance
Her armour granted endurance

Weaponized
And ready to fight the lies

That you must never leave
Alone is too worse to conceive

That you’ll regret your decision
Your future, consisting of only divisions

So scream and shout
To those who may doubt

What you never needed
Was a soul not nurturing and conceited

Herself, welded with confidence
And plenty of competence

Palms pressed two halves together
Made a noise that was confused for bad weather

The Mountain was glued
She never needed to be two

And proudly she told
That she was already whole

---

Cedar Ridge High School

11

Your mind is an abyss
Sinking, cherishing
every bliss
You can get

Devoid of color
Constantly switching
From one shade to another

Once dark, once light
There’s no in between
I wish you could see
How much the lies
Won’t leave you be

You lock yourself in
The ones who’ve stayed
Always willing to listen to your sins
And be the ones you won’t let get away

Waves rise around your fragile feet
We hear the silent scream
Yet you do nothing but let it take you
To a world with no dreams

You’ve said it before
A black and white door
Waiting to be opened
Your decision poor

You’ve been caught in a trap
Imagination closed with a cap
Been made to believe
Safety is impossible to receive

---

Bowie

11

Static before the hurricane hits

Wrist shaking

Movement rushes through the container

The buzz of the aluminum,

a soft vibrato builds into a violent tremor

Rattling,

Shards of light refract off the metal

Ricocheting in every direction

With each rapid flick

pressure builds

Forcing it’s release

Expanding,

carbonating,

dominating

With frantic urgency

It must escape

Pushing against the aluminum

Everything feels too tight for air

The inability to breathe

Uncontrollable,

uncontainable

Resistance

Metal on metal

A crisp crack when, against it’s instinct,
it gives

Erupting

Exhaling

The tension in my lungs remains

Reaching out

A grasp for air it can’t contain

Everything stuck in slow motion

No concept of time

A free fall with no clearing in sight

Until it all fizzles out

After what feels like an eternity

---

Bowie

11

to be woman
and white
is to have the middle of your sentence become the beginning of his

to be woman
and brown
is to have your skin only be considered after
his
after hers
it is to have a poem about you begin with a story that isn’t even yours

your body

subject of my sentences
let my feminism shine brighter
intersectional
representational

your name in my mouth
chew on it long enough to stain my teeth
brush it off when I decide it is no longer useful

and what could be whiter than that

---

Anderson

11

I want to be alone but heard
I want to be loved but hated
I am never good with words
I can’t keep a relationship
I’m not enough for people but sometimes I’m too much

As of now I love myself
I love my smile
As of today I hate myself
I hate my ache
As of now I am a dictionary
I am impeccable
And as of today my strongest relationship is with myself

I’m not perfect but I’m not imperfect
I am in between
I am the fog, the center of the ground and sky
I am pollen above all flowers but never the trees
I am me, in between

---

Anderson High School

11