Category: 2018-19 Submissions

A portal from home
to a land of green and orange
Grass bows down as my feet come over it
The leaves fall as the wind blows
Ruby clears the squirrels from the pile of leaves
The leash drops the squirrels run

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Cactus Ranch Elementary

4

The soft fur brushes my skin
Like the grass in summertime
It’s dark eyes are shiny
Like opals
Its smooth fur is the color of the desert at night,
Of tree bark,
Of dirt,
Of stone.

Its paws scrape against my skin
Leaving small pink marks.
She is calm.
Quiet as a ladybug
Body shaking
As kids pet her with two fingers

Wishing she were home.

---

Barton Hills Elementary School

5

Es desafiada con altas expectativas y con mucho gusto, toma el desafío.

Pero a veces…
Es insuficiente.

Pero el sagitario nunca quiere abandonar su búsqueda del éxito.

“No es que no quiero, es que no puedo,” le dice el sagitario a sus padres.

En un mundo lleno de gran desafíos,
lleno de corrupción,
lleno de personas sin moral,
Hay desafíos que encuentra
La más feliz de todos los signos zodiacales.

La depresión le consume su querer de viajar,
de platicar,
de aprender,
de lograr las metas,
de enfrentar obstáculos.

El sagitario pone una cara enmascarada,
una cara feliz.
Pero con un alma deprimida.

Quiere lograr, quiere aprender, quiere viajar, quiere enfrentar los obstáculos.

Quiere ser feliz y sonreir.

No se quiere derrotar por las expectativas.

Pero a veces…
Es insuficiente.

//

She is challenged with high expectations and with great pleasure, she takes the challenge head on.

But sometimes…
She just falls short.

But the Sagittarius never wants to abandon her search for success.

¨It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I can’t,” says the Sagittarius to her parents.

In a world full of challenges,
full of corruption,
full of people without morals,
There are challenges that find their way to
The happiest of all the zodiacs.

Depression consumes her desire to travel,
to socialize,
to learn,
to achieve her goals,
to confront obstacles.

The Sagittarius puts on a mask,
a happy face.
But has a depressed soul.

She wants to succeed, she wants to learn, she wants to travel, she wants to confront obstacles.

She wants to be happy and smile.

She doesn’t want to fall short of everyone’s expectations.

But sometimes…
She just falls short.

---

James Bowie High School

12

Wildflowers sprout from my skeleton,
wrapping around my bones and creating makeshift ligaments.
With each blooming flower my courage grows stronger,
my feet becoming velvety roots,
stubborn in their soil,
sure of themselves for once.
As my ribcage overgrows with tiger lilies
And birds of paradise and sunflowers,
My jaws unhinge in a cascade of
Carnations and blue bonnets and hibiscus stems.
I wear a flower crown of daisies upon my skull
To remind me that I am noble
And brave
And daring
And I rule this organic mess I call mine.

---

LC Anderson High School

12

Roses are red
My life is like a berry
It’s very short
And very scary
I go through different stages
I also travel a lot
Some people like me
Others do not
But that’s ok
Because in the end
I’m still a berry
And that’s cool
Cause no berry is alike.

---

Lyndon B. Johnson High School

10

Football this basketball that
It’s all I ever hear
But nothing about the white coat
that helped to heal your arm
When you broke it
Or the white coat
that was right by your side
making sure everything was good
While you laid on that hospital bed
No
It’s all about the man who kicked a ball into a net
or ran a ball to the touchdown
Stop to think
that the person who wears the white coat
is one reason I’m here watching this game today
Not the person on the field
or on the court
No
But the person in the white coat.

---

Lyndon B. Johnson High School

10

Life is lived in but a day
It begins with the sunrise,
Bright and shining,
Full of hope and light.

And it begins to ascend,
bringing you through the early trials and triumphs of childhood.
You grow stronger,
brighter, and fill the world with your light.

There may be others trying to dampen it,
stifle it and make it do their bidding.
They block it with rain clouds of sorrow and greed
that pour to the earth.

But It does not last.
You will rise above them,
make it through,
let the light follow its own path, if you are strong enough.

This path will lead you through the struggle of becoming your own person,
the choices you will be forced to make,
the people you will choose to love
the life you are determined to live.

And you will reach your highest point,
the brightest part of the day,
when the light is strong enough to pierce through even the darkest and most shut off of minds and make them see your light as something formidable to oppose.

You will burn away the shadows of doubt,
and be as bright and certain as the midday sun.
This period is brief,
but it is the most important.

It will be burned in your memory,
it will make you who you are are in later life,
when you begin to descend back to the earth.
You will revel in the afternoon, continuing to make your light as bright and beautiful as it was in your prime.

And you may bring even more light into the world,
to start It’s own day,
blaze it’s own path
burn as brightly as you once did.

This will be your largest legacy, this new dawn.
The light it shines reminiscent of yours,
reminding you of time passed by.
You will help this light shine to its fullest potential, even if it means dulling your own.

And as your light fades you will remember what glory you used to have
be thankful to those who encouraged you
as you do your own child
watching them grow brighter by the day.

As your colors die away, you hold on to the love you have had in your life,
the brightness in your memory.
You will shine till the last, until your light is finally extinguished, and you give in to the cool, dark embrace of the silver night.

---

Rouse High School

11

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

All the colors in the sky
Make me want to jump up high.

When I stare up to the clouds
All the colors make me proud.

Red, orange, yellow, and green
All the colors mean something to me!

---

O’Henry Middle School

7

I’ve never wanted to rule the world
Hold it in the palm of my hand, watch it unfurl
Until now
Because, ma chérie, if I did
Then to all misfortune goodbye you must bid
For I would give all happiness to you
That is how you know my devotion is true

I would give you sunrises and sunsets
Carefree giggles and no regrets
The smell of the earth right after it rains
When fresh-grown flowers are all that remains

I never wanted the universe under my control
Content with standing still, never moving my soul
Until now
Because, mon coeur, if it was
Then I would set your heart abuzz
With all the good things I would find
And pray that your angelic self would think it kind

I would give you lazy grins and peaceful days
Basking in the sun’s warm rays
Talking, writing, laughing side by side
To you all love I would provide

I want the earth within my reach
Not for selfishness, but so that I may beseech
Every cause for laughter, every reason for smile
To surround you and stay awhile
Ma moitié, my other half
I would steal the world on your behalf

---

Chisholm Trail Middle School

8