Category: 2019-20 Submissions

Laughing

Something silly comes up
Your brain hears it
Sorts it
It falls under the placement of
Giggle
You feel it
First in your stomach
Then your muscles tense
Your throat tightens
Your ears and cheeks burn
A small squeak is heard
A smile spreads
Your dimples deepen
A breath escapes
Then comes the sound
First quiet
Then louder
And louder
Until the tears come
Your stomach burns
You start to sound like a barnyard animal
When it ends
You’re breathless and sore
Wondering what it was all for
And you forgot what it was all for

Rain

Rain brings forth all 5 senses at once
Makes them more acute
It makes you see the still, cloudy, grey sky
Treetops swaying in the tender wind
It makes you hear the babbling blue birds
Telling each other to bunker down
To protect their offspring
It makes you smell new and old life,
Beautiful bluebonnets blooming
Dead leaves from fall being washed away
It makes you feel the smothering muggy air
The tiny raindrops on your skin
Too small to be seen
Too big not to be felt
It makes you taste the new fresh air being blown gently your direction
Rain brings forth all 5 senses at once
Makes them more acute

Over the Edge

When I look over the edge…. I think
about loss and regret
When I look over the edge…I wonder
what’s down the road for me
When I look over the edge…I see
darkness and rocks
When I look over the edge…I think
what’s down there
So I stand there for a while…
When I look over the edge…
I take a breath, then jump.

Rubik’s Cube

Ripping open my present
Surprised
It’s a Rubik’s cube!
As perfect as six colors and squares.
Full of happiness and smiles
Until my little brother mix it up
Aaaaaaaaaa!!

Softly, Touching a cube,
Kindly, Talking to white squares,
Patiently, Turning yellow squares,
Mannerly, Begging to orange squares,
Finally, Fighting against blue squares

White, Yellow, Red, Orange, Blue, AND
Just Green
Pounding my head
Firing my cheek
Sweating my neck

Racking my brains
Surprised
It’s a rookie’s cube!
As perfect as it was
Until my little brother mess it up
Aaaaaaaaaa!!

Hedwig’s Letter

Once upon a time,
A dark, shadowy night,
Is daylight for an owl’s sight,
An echo started it to flight.

The night-bird
Lands softly on a branch,
Its eyes the same color
From the darkness behind it.

The night-bird flies where
A child with a scar
Hands the night-flyer a letter.
The owl flies off in the path of a star.

The tree the owl landed on,
Was started from one branch,
To two, three branches,
And so on, echoing the previous limbs.

The owl sends the letter
To the owner’s friend,
The night-bird goes to descend.

An Angel and Devil

I’ve always wondered,
Can someone be both
An Angel and Devil?
I know someone who’s an angel,
He certainly doesn’t look like one,
He’s a kin
Who teaches me a violin,
He helps me at least a dozen times a day
And even taught me to solve a Rubix Cube.

I know someone who’s a devil,
He really does look like one sometimes to me,
He gets on my nerves,
Annoys me until I get angry,
Gives me the nastiest stink eye.
He even kicked me out of a Google Doc.

I know someone who’s both an angel and devil.
He changes all the time.
Sometimes he’s in a good mood
And makes us both laugh.
Sometimes he’s just a devil
With a dreadful personality
Who is rude and abusive.

When he’s a devil,
He raises his voice,
He glares at me,
Makes himself the wolf
And creates me into a deer.

When he’s an angel,
He shares things with me,
We build things together,
And makes me think,
I have the best brother.

Ice Cream

My family started eating,
My mom came back from reading.
She says she doesn’t want to eat
And just takes her seat.

My mom goes to the refrigerator,
Asks What’s greater
Than Ice Cream?

I don’t know, I respond.
But what if it’s made of a pond?
Wish you can have it,
At least a bit.

I watch her take the first bite,
Ignoring the bright light.
I don’t want it,
Not even a bit.

Ice Cream.
A gas string of cold steam.
Ice Cream.
Sometimes a person’s dream.

Ice Cream,
Ice cream.
Just one simple
Ice cream.

Ice Cream.
There’s no theme,
No purpose,
I won’t eat it.

Ice Cream.
All right, I’ll eat it.
Just a little,
I think it’ll
Be fine.