your vision, your voice
2017-18 Submissions
Depression haunts you like
a shadow, anxiety covers you
like a blanket, your life falls apart
as quickly as a bottle smashes to the
ground.
Your eyes close as emotion floods
your senses like poison.
I sit next to you, stroking your
hair as if it were rabbit’s fur.
As your chest slowly rises
and falls, I silently swear
to never leave your side, and stay,
like a ghost.
Barton Hills Elementary
5
Raquel has left me to go off to college.
Gone away to get some special knowledge.
Marissa been in college for a while, she’s been there before.
But now she has friends and doesn’t call anymore.
It’s as if no one hears my calls.
They grew up so big, I seem so small.
They grew up so fast and I wish I could too.
I’m stuck in the past because they are 19 and 22.
Who are these people you ask.
They are my Family, my Friends.
But most importantly, they are my Sisters.
Chandler Oak Elementary
4
The big, hungry polar bear was looking for something scrumptious to eat.
When he saw an adorable penguin waddling on his two feet.
The penguin was located cross the ice.
So the polar bear knew the only way to get him was to pretend to be nice.
“Penguin, penguin will you come play?”
“I am trapped over here where I must stay!”
Penguin was always looking for a friend, so he glided to polar bear in a flash.
As soon as he reached polar bear the penguin had a big crash!
Polar bear quickly tried to gobble penguin up.
As soon as polar bear knew it, penguin had juked him out!
Ha ha! You tried to trick me! I an not going to fall for a trick from some naughty polar bear.
Now you will be hungry and I don’t even care!
Bryker Woods Elementary
5
This song makes me want to run and tell you all the beautiful things in this world
This song makes me want to wear beautiful rings and dance
This song makes me want to get my hair wet and cry wearing pink tulle
This song makes me want to look into another person’s eyes
This song makes me want to close my eyes and smile in the dark comfort of my room
This song wants to make me spin around and around, and make the world move in slow motion
This song makes me want to live
This song makes me want to write poetry
This song makes me want to walk through the halls of my school while the air conditioner inconveniently blasts just a little too cold
This song makes me want to put on a heavy sweater and sleep on the floor
This song makes me want to laugh outdoors
This song makes me want to have confidence in myself
This song makes me want to smile and call the people I love and care for
This song makes me want to drive in the darkness of night
This song makes me want to stare at homemade paintings
This song makes me want to sing in falsetto
This song makes me want to exhale all the negative
This song makes me want to saunter quietly into a cold pool
This song makes me want to run on the beach
This song makes me want to fly over the sea
This song makes me want to flip my hair and fall in love
This song reminds me of the day you kissed me
This is an accidental list of reasons to live, reasons to love, reasons to stay
Ann Richards School
9
I went to get some ice cream
I took a big bite
I savored the flavor
and felt all-right
I skipped
I was dancing
I felt amazing
My mom was worried when I started prancing!
I scurried to the playground
I went on the slide
I was amused
like I was on a big ride
I hurried to the swings
I started to sing
I was going so fast
my mom lost her wedding ring!
I drooped to the green bars
I started to weep
My sugar rush was over
And I needed to sleep!
Bryker Woods Elementary
5
Some say
I’m beautiful
Crashing against the cold, wet sand
by the smelling of the fresh air
and the salty water
I withhold the keys to the ocean
they’re feeling
the shells
on the beach
that by hearing
the rumbling
of my waves
they’re listening
to the birds
chirp, chirp
that by observing
the sun
rising up
they’re gazing
at the color
in me
that I am and
will always be
the ocean
Untamed
living spirit
of this water
Bryker Woods Elementary
5
All dreams are stolen we had no other choice but we gonna lift the whole damn world
I think of you when I’m evanescent in to the gun smoke going across my face I think of you as my favorite so arduous to let go when bullet went pierce her skin I conjecture my self as Im skating away I think of you and no other I don’t understand why people start hating but you got nothing on you I still think about you behind my black and white mask in the dark corner loading my 38’ being more careful while i’m getting cheese he’s cruising through dark blustery night when we show up in a black SUV no tags to its going down it’s going down keep it quite peace let there be peace in the east side next sunny bright day 6 am feels jubilant after his retribution and heads to the tattoo artist and interpret his outfit on his arm he’s going until he’s finished but misses her every night but he has no worries now.
LBJ Early College High School
10
Hey, there my buddy, friend, pal, friend, chum, pal, dawg, amigo, homeslice, bread slice, Dragonslayer, MLG player, my diddly darn dappy dawg.
I don’t mean to rudely crudely cut across you with this prewritten TED talk but I fail to find any other way to burn across this steaming hot message that you surely must see.
You see I must tell ya that I find that I feel
burning cold, freezing raw and dipped into the super ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE
when sitting next to a fire,
and I can’t stop it. This is mostly because I wanted to be a popular cool person I wanted to be coolio and stylish, fast-talking like the charismatic Youtubers!
My friend said talking to me is more tiring than drinking pure uncut Kool-Aid powdered bricks. People find that they would much rather fall Into bed than keep on “Talking” to me any longer.
Every talk feels more shallow than the last
My act continues to engulf me through each talk I give.
My positivity burns into them as an iron
and so they run.
James Bowie High School
11
Minnesota
Arrived on the 6th.
Our plane landed two hours South
A drive through miles of fields
With a scent so unmistakably green
On my way home:
To the family condo by the lake
Where sunlit days were spent poolside
And a citrus tinge of lemonade lingers
There’s more still,
The neighbors bring us treats,
Kathy and Jim,
Standing amongst the grass
Of the back patio
With their warm smiles and gleaming hospitality.
They say there’s such thing as Southern charm,
But from what I’ve seen it lives here.
Then we venture across the river
To a the state eastward
With a house of stone
Once inhabited by an architect
I’d studied in art history
His home,
designed by him
a mirage of low ceilings and stone
Days later, back to the condo
Again set out
To St. Olaf’s
Where I fell in love
With the stained glass of the cathedral
The ogival arches
And the tall, buildings
Reminiscent of a country across the pond.
Then there were, of course
The days spent on the green river
With the company of my family
Laughter and smiles from all.
My days there,
In a town, a state, of warm feelings.
All of it, a trip I can’t forget
I cannot wait to go back.
James Bowie High School
11
Droplets of rain keep falling, no matter how far I try to run.
The misty air grabs my throat, and I struggle to breathe.
I’m wiping my unseeing eyes,
failing to keep them dry.
But no matter who or what is in front of them,
my sight is no longer clear.
Fog has rolled in day after day,
and my thoughts are begging sight.
Ever since the storm rolled in,
no one bothers to stay.
My eyes are turning into tornadoes,
and it only gets more chaotic each day.
And the more the storm is ignored by others,
the more it will continue rage .
The thunder claps along to the song,
of my pessimistic heartbeat.
And each droplet against my shirt,
has me dancing around thoughts of isolation.
The only way to stop the rain,
is for someone else to hold my umbrella.
But why would someone want brave the storm,
just to provide me shelter?
James Bowie High School
11