Category: 11th

Autumn auspice daunting from the ash
Remained cradling teacup so quakes couldn’t take it
Two of them now, tearing through the trees
‘Is it a bad omen?’ I asked
When morning was eclipsed by the flock
But the bird in confinement had been pensive
His warm sable feathers seemed inviting
Slipping my fingers through the slits of the cage,
He kissed them and sighed
‘When the time comes, you have nothing to fear
In the eye of the storm or the beholder
Focus fixed on you is a blessing, not a curse’

---

Austin High

11

I have a love/hate relationship with the shower
Get in
Strip off my slowly thickening layers of skin
One for regular people
One for friends
One for best friends
One for family
Only skeleton bones remain
I examine each layer and ask myself
“Do you like it? Do you like you?”
I respond no and ponder over why
Too shy
Too fake
Trying too hard
Too mean
Until I get to me
Me myself and I
Only i am allowed to see this part of me
This is the part of me that counts, the part of me that really matters. I can change all my layers using this part
Do I like me
Once I strip down, peel away all the layers of who I’d like to be
Do I like myself
Weighing the pros and cons of my soul, seeing which bones I can break & which one can be broken in the right place & which ones cannot be broken, the ones that can never be touched
Truly look at who you are
Do I like it?
Do I like myself?

No

{look in the mirror and ask your soul if you’re alright}

---

Gonzalo Garza High School

11th Grade

the lightest galaxy known to man
rippled waves of blue green and grey
dark along the end
true and trusting blue, a reef on the ocean floor
knowing where to swim avoiding sharpened edges
the care of the green penciled in swirls
seaweed of the souls, watching over the creatures
beautiful and compassionate grey, fading the colours in a light pastel of the water
tinting the view of the picture with beauty and grace
the dark black of the deep sea curls
embodies love, telling the stories of the past
past their time, full of knowledge
the center of all

---

Gonzalo Garza High School

11th Grade

the lightest galaxy known to man
rippled waves of blue green and grey
dark along the end
true and trusting blue, a reef on the ocean floor
knowing where to swim avoiding sharpened edges
the care of the green penciled in swirls
seaweed of the souls, watching over the creatures
beautiful and compassionate grey, fading the colours in a light pastel of the water
tinting the view of the picture with beauty and grace
the dark black of the deep sea curls
embodies love, telling the stories of the past
past their time, full of knowledge
the center of all

---

Gonzalo Garza High School

11

(inspired by poet Terrance Hayes)

Hey, I am learning what it means to ride condemned.
Tossed amongst the eager waves dodging,

sharks teeth and glaring glass eyes.
A stain on your neighbor’s apron.

Under heavy covers waiting, for the sun to rise and stomp
dreams out to the curb with Monday’s trash.

Somewhere a child sits criss-cross, Awaiting answers only
Your instruction could provide.

But you ignore, and ignorance prevails,
The cavities triumphing, shining in silver.

Plato’s cave is home. With sunflowers in the yard
And bars over the windows.

The books punctuating the walls are all diaries
Locked, like the empty seats reserved for ghosts.

Hey, I am still learning what I’ve known my entire life.
That you take steps on the moon and I walk on broken glass.

---

James Bowie High school

11th grade

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 sings
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 receivec

---

Bowie

11

She stood on the edge of her world
with invisible wings, tattered and torn
slowly patching themselves
deciding right then
that she would renew her own scars
lashes strung with dewdrops of freedom
she soaked in the power of exisiting
as life danced under her skin
color collided with curiosity in her irises
eager hands stretched
toward her own future
that teasingly strut in front of her
free from the capture of another, she was her again
she glowed with multi-faceted truths
she found herself in the gentle lift of her heels from the ground
fo the breath filling her lungs
like the filling of a pool with crystal clear water
and in the sure, steady beat
of her own repaired heart.

---

Bowie

11

We come from salty waters and the buzzing of bees
We come from sandy hands and scraped knees
Fresh fruit that melts on your tongue
Climbing the trees where it once had hung
Earth underneath our fingernails
Hair blowing beneath mighty sails

I was blossomed from the beauty of the tides
I can see it in the reflection of my father’s eyes
Warm as the sun and blue as the sea
I can see the home where my ancestors used to be
And when he speaks of the ocean I find myself falling in love
Warm waves, thick air, sun shining from above

Palermo gently calls my name
I know my father feels the same

Yet when I ask why my family left, I watch his eyes go dim
I suppose the American Dream has died along with a little part of him

---

L.C Anderson High School

11th

When I could roam the city, the tracks would take me
Down to the stash house
With the rusted tin hinged on its edging
The radiation warded my rougery
So I always found another way around
Only till a party would flank me could I muster my strength
We dressed in the grounds’ gray mud,
Slipped soundlessly beneath the stakes,
And left no monument undocumented
Seconds and minutes passed
The spores ignited our hearts and our brains
I forged a blunt weapon in the fire of my blitz
Bashing the chamber, more and more!
Anything inside could be mine, would be
Erupted by the clash of cold metal colliding with my molten arm
And just like that, we split
Panicked scratch of a hurried drag out the compound
My divided party stood against the keeper of this place
Waned, I exhaled its sick air

---

Austin High

11

My family are stereotypical Americans.
Big, fat, loud Americans,
like overfed chickens in a slaughter house.

With their gluttonous bodies,
full of ignorance and
distasteful opinions.
Their squawking echos through
the first class train cabin.

The cabin full of
patriotic sods and a lonely,
fear ridden little, old,
innocent Czech man.

Their loud cries of pain
leaving the beaks
of my meaty family,
pierce through metal.

First class was meant to have A/C.
Americans love A/C.
I didn’t know I signed up for a sauna.

Chickens now hate saunas.

---

James Bowie High School

11