Category: 2019-20 Submissions

Midnight
Everyone else is tucked in tight
Silence fills the air
Suffocating in its stillness
Pacing, pacing, pacing
My thoughts racing
My heart going a mile a minute
There’s my bed…
I should be in it…
But I can’t sit still

Midnight
Everyone else is tucked in tight
Not a soul in sight
I roam the house
It’s the same in every room
Stale, silent air
I want to scream
Fill the void
The black hole that is my house
Devoid of any signs of life
But it’s midnight
And everybody enjoys their dreams
Except me
I’m drowning in my silent screams

McKinney by Larkin L

I drive for 4 hours
We pull up in a long stone driveway
I step out of the tall car
My hands full of luggage
I smell the crisp fall air
It always smells the same here
“Larkin, I’ve missed you,” I hear
“I’ve missed you too Sadie,” I say back
“Come inside
Make sure not to let the cat out” she says
Yum
I smell chocolate chip cookies
I run straight to the kitchen
A whole plate of fresh cookies
I take a bite, as the chocolate melts in my mouth
The sweet cookie makes a mess
I run upstairs to my room
What a surprise
She remodeled it again
Full of her beautiful paintings
Made by her old hands
I run to her closet
Full of designer purses and jewelry
I want it to be mine one day
Another stop
The backyard
I run through the garden to the wooden swing
I swing high but careful
I jump off and head to the corner of the big backyard
I run between a small secret place
Between where two stone walls should meet
But they don’t
I go through them
I run towards the huge green pieces of land
The golf course
I run around in circles tons of times
Until I fall on the ground dizzy
I rush back to the house
“Suppers ready,” I hear
And then I know for sure
I’m at my grandmas house
I’m in McKinney

7 billion people on Earth
But you’re the one.
You’re so much to me.
My world,
Lit up
Burning with desire.
My breath,
taken away.

Heart fluttering,
Skipping beats
My stomach,
filled with butterflies.
All because of
You.

Everything about you.
Your perfect smile,
Illuminating my world.
Your laugh,
Filling my heart.
Your everything,
Making me drown.
Drown in a sea of desire.

Desire to be with you,
All the time.
Holding you hand.
Making you smile.
Forever.
Love me,
The way I love you.
Please say you will.

Do we all come to be
whole and raw,
Perfectly packaged
with definite fatal flaws?
Or are we never truly ourselves
but constantly evolving
until the very end
undefined and ever changing?

Flew half way ’round the world
to find scenic views pretty and fair,
and ended up finding my forever family
with infinite memories and love to share
Plane tickets come
with hopes, dreams, and new places,
but who knew they turned strangers
into loving and familiar faces?

Tumbling through the heavens
consumed with wanderlust
Leaving behind
pretty trails of star dust
Wild, unique, and free
like a rare comet
Wherever she goes
she melts hearts like a sunset
Her celestial glow resembles the moon’s
She spreads warmth like the sun
The universe could never compare to her
She is a cosmic paradox, all in one.

Received with disdain
in this abominable world,
through poetry’s solace
my tempestuous spirit unfurled.
With an ink tipped sword in my hand
and a swirl of petrifying emotions in the corner of my heart
I slayed them all, word by word
till my soul laid bare in poetic art

Flowers can still grow from dry mounds
Stars shine and twinkle even on the ground
Icy hearts can melt into warmth unbound
And in the most unexpected places, love shall be found.

The cardinal struts proudly with dashing scarlet feathers,
Refusing to fly south despite the inevitable weather.
For if anyone could ward off this ancient time of snow,
Why, the cardinal could- or didn’t you know?
Mocking the mockingbirds for their wise retreat,
Desiring to join the passel of fools he saw as elite.
None of his peers found the geese to be as silly as this goose,
Squawking clever insults while he fumbled for an excuse.
The cardinal, with his head hung low, flew south the next spring,
For while some traditions are obsolete, others are worth following.