Category: 2023-2024 Submissions

It feels like we’re going backwards. I don’t know whether
It was possible for us to get back on track.
I’ve spent so much time thinking about us, together.

My current state was never meant to last forever.
My hair knotted and strayed, heart pounding, voice beginning to crack.
Compared to you, I was never as clever.

But no matter your praises, I know you see me as an error.
A stray 0 in a binary, a malformed spirit that should be thrown back
Into the great beyond, wherever and ever.

For a second I thought you would reach for me, cut the tether.
I would’ve welcomed it, given you the go ahead myself. It’s retribution, payback;
I always hated disappointing you. You would, you would reach for me.

Instead you stand there, still as stone. You tell me never.
“We’re one and the same. Though you I do not lack.”
“I could never hate you. You are a part of me, forever.”

I can’t rationalize it. You and I are the same flesh and blood, but I am lesser.
How is it that you can see and stack
Our differences and still say that you cherish and pleasure
The thing that you hate most, your mark of falsehood altogether?

Nature

Up
Above
My head
I hear leaves
Rustling in the
Autumn breeze.

Down
Below my
Legs i see
Flowers of all
Colors and sizes.

Over
The hill
I feel bark
From a willow
Tree thats blowing
In the cold breeze.

Under
The tree
I smell the
Fresh smell
Of books with
Ink still wet.

Deep
In my
Heart
Beating
So loud it
Is like a motor.

I really
Believe
That we
Have a
Protector
Watching
Over us when
We
Are alone
When we are
In nature by our
Sides all the time
Who makes our plants
Grow who is our mother
When we are in nature.

My time capsule is full of church music
the kind you find late at night
when everyone else has gone home to bed

My time capsule is full of silence
pencils without paper, cries without voices
apologies without words

My time capsule is full of impossibles
the days our most desperate wishes were enough
the night we were both looking up at the moon

My time capsule is filled with almosts
the envelopes that were never opened
the letters that were never written

My time capsule is full of nearbys
melodies that sound the same a thousand miles away
whispered prayers that the stars carry to you

My time capsule is full of faraways
everyday I promise myself soon, soon
these church walls can take me anywhere I want if I close my eyes

My time capsule is full of what-ifs
somebody sings to me wait and see
so here I am, wide awake at night, waiting to see.

Hello, fellow butterfly in a cage.
I am so, so sorry.
This was never how it was supposed to be.
I wish I could take all the pain away.
The world is lying to you, do you hear me?
This is a part of you that never has to change.
You are beautiful.
Love does not insist on its own way of doing things.
Love rejoices in the truth, and you know what that is for you.
Hold on, butterfly.
Keep going.
One day soon, you will fly again.

My sister is as beautiful as a flower, as fast as greyhound and as cool as a car.
My mom is as graceful as a butterfly,
as pretty as a mermaid, and as calm as garden.
My dad is as funny as a clown, as tough as a dragon and as fun as a family BBQ.
My family is amazing.

Dribbling on a Sunday
Playing Basketball with friends
Every time I shoot the ball
The game gets closer to the end

Time on the court lasts a while
But its fun no matter how long
Up and down the court I go
Dribbling the ball makes a song

Its the 2nd half and we are down by two
The game is heated but mild
We always to have our friends cheer us on
I shoot a three, and the crowd goes wild.

As the ball is in the air
It makes a really cool swish
Now we won the game today
It was my birthday wish!

Christmas
Santa up in the sky
My mom making pudding
Kids running inside to eat
My homemade gingerbread man getting chomped down
My cousins giving me hugs goodbye
Christmas

Hair spray fumes plume
in the air, collecting in my lungs
in my hair
pulled tight
As I chance a glance
one last time in the glass

Lengths of ribbon encircle
ankles strengthened across years,
and streams of sweat,
rivulets
across my back,
along my face,
salting the air

And I turn and then learn, and I turn yet again
yearning to glide on the soft satin box
around and around and around
And I achieve a third
but it’s not enough
so I go again and again
One more time, one more uncertain glide
As my body flips, a playing card with sharp motion
and I slow and roll down
One more time, one more time, but it’s never just once more
I won’t stop
until it is perfect.

Metamorphosis.

Do you really know
how it works?
First,
if it’s lucky, the caterpillar spins itself stuck in silk.
If it’s not, when it come time to grow
it’s trapped inside its own skin.

And then.

It doesn’t blossom into antenna and wings,
doesn’t slowly, softly, shift,
from one thing to another.

Then it l i q u i f i e s.

An enzyme called caspase
tears through tissue,
breaks old and familiar bonds,
until everything that it is,

isn’t.

And from here,
its cells must betray it again,
dragging themselves atom by atom,
(furtively, painfully)
into the shape of a stranger.

Please note
that during this time,
a butterfly is extremely vulnerable
to outside influences.
It has never been more unsure,
and could ooze right out and die.

And if it finally finishes forming,
(it never will)
it must find the strength to break free,
and stand shaking beneath the shattered sky.
It can’t just fly.
It needs time to process

what it has involuntarily become.

Maybe it never wanted this,
to be something more.
Something pretty.
(And isn’t it so lucky if it is)
Maybe it just wants to be

what it was.
(Is)

I used to be alone but now I have a sister
I used to have a fish but now I have a dog
I used to have two uncles but now I have two uncles and an aunt
I used to not have a care in the world about death but now it haunt my head every day
I used to have a friend and now I have a best friend
I used to not worry about habits but now Im yelled about it everyday
I used to have a friend but now Im not so sure
I used to have just met a person but now they’re my best friend
I used to be five but now Im twelve
I used to be in Mills now I am at Gorzycki
My grades used to not matter but now I check the everyday