Category: 2018-19 Submissions

2017-18 Submissions

Nothing

If everything were nothing
Nothing would be here
If everything were nothing
We’d have nothing to fear

But everything can’t be nothing
For if there was nothing here,
What’s the point of nothing to fear
If there never was a fear?

Pearson Ranch Middle School

6

The Little Girl Weeping

When the wind was howling and the birds were chirping,
I saw you from across the crowded room.
I was waiting for a great big hug or someone to lean on and you were always there.
When you open your arms great, big, and wide I know that you were by my side.

Through the storms and hurricanes through the bright summer days.
I know that you will always be there for me.

Boom, the news broke,
Everything went silent.
All you could hear was that little girls weeping tears.

She felt so lost and afraid.
You had just disappeared and there was nothing to be heard.
The little girl tried to remember his voice,
But it only slowly started to fade away.

When she went through old photos and seeing all the bright faces.
That little girl started to weep.
Knowing that she will never feel the same way.
She tried and tried to remember all the good times,
But some happy thoughts never last.

He was always there for her with a hug or a funny joke.
Maybe it was to brighten her day or just make her laugh.
He was always there.

That memory started to fade as that little girl thought and said,
“Why can’t he come back?”

Be careful about what you say,
And how you treat others because
“You can’t always get what you want,”
And they might be gone in a split second.
When things get tough you will need someone there for you,
So honor and love the people you have in your life.

Just like that little girl wished she could just give her dad a great big hug
Or hear a joke from him one more time.

St. Mark Lutheran

8

MY MOTIVATION

Your smile is the warmth that heats my cold heart
Your eyes widen as they focus on me and your heart
beats faster when I touch you
Everything about you I could fall in love with again
Your long hair falls deep just as I did for you
So beautiful in so many ways
You say you gonna change me but I’ve already
changed the second I laid eyes on you
You claim I’m yours but you aren’t mine till I tie a loop
on your finger
You aren’t mine till I’m the first thing you think of day
and night
And you aren’t mine until you wanna spend every time
you have with me
My soul
My heart
And myself belongs to you
For who would I be without you teaching me how to be
better
A kiss from you sends a sensation throughout my
whole body leaving me thirsty for more
You flirt with your eyebrows when your lips do no
talking
And you kiss with your heart when your tongue touches
mine
You wanna be here when I go through my hardest
times
And I wanna be there no matter how much you push
me away

Cedar Ridge

12

Trapped in a mirror

Trapped

The darkness around me fills my senses
With thoughts of freedom hope and ambition
My cold hand quickly turns pale and tenses
I still do know that this is my mission

My long slender limbs, I know will not last
Every second feels like decades pass by
Drops of energy evaporate fast
Standing by myself on the other side

My friends look at me with disappointment
Their judging expression burns up my heart
Forced as an introvert with no ointment
wistfully nothing will tear us apart

Trapped as a reflection in your mirror
I am at no time present in your heart

Paragon Prep School

7

Where I’m From

I am from the heat
From the warm and hot days of summer
I am from staying Indoors all day
(fan on max speed
Trying to stay cool)
I am from good cooks
And food
With smells that fill the whole house
And waiting till it’s put on my plate.

* I am from hot wings and smoked ribs
From cookies and cake
I am from the “you’re so smart”
And the “my little book worm”
From be quiet and speak up
I’m from the family who laughs,
has a good time,
And smiles when we are together

I’m from New York and California
Pizza and BBQ
From the fur of the rabbit
Who I won at the county fair
From the grip of shiny metal
From the last call of my grandpa
As my dad flew to New York.
These are the thing of
Where I’m from

inspired by George Ella Lyon’s “where I’m from”

Small Middle School

8

A Cry for Help

I heard a cry, a call for help.
Running into the woods
I saw no one.
I heard it again, “Someone help me!”
Anxious to find out what was going on,
I took off running.
Behind thorn bushes and through the trees,
I came upon a path.
I followed the path, running, my brain swarming with thoughts.
I had to keep going.
Something felt unusual.
“Help me!” I heard again.
I stopped.
I spun around, my eyes exploring, but there was nothing to see.
I was alone in the dark on an ended path and it was just me.
Am I going crazy? Is there something wrong?
I still faintly heard the voice.
It sounded like it was coming from behind me, I turned,
But nothing there.
Suddenly I realized that I was the one crying for help.
This was the voice in my head.
The person calling for help was me.

St. Mark Lutheran School

8

An Elegy for Nicky Keller

I remember how the booming,
bright, and brilliant bursts

of color hurt your eyes. We layed
in the prickly grass of the

crowded park, looking at the sky.
I remember how you didn’t

know of the growing death in
your body, and life was

like a flower in a sunny meadow.
I remember your bright, yellow

petals, never falling in the cold
of winter, and your glowing

leaves in the warmth of day.

I remember the first day your
petals fell. After the color

left the sky, and before the branches
became clean and bare.

Your leaves drooped, and the warmth
was sucked out of your

thriving heart. I still watch the
erupting purples, and

yellows in the night sky, and I
will forever feel the

grass of the meadow on my skin.

Bowie High School

12