Sun

Don’t get too close
or you’ll get burned.

I think you know,
I think you learned.

The sun is a glowing star,
it may look close but it is actually far.

It’s the only star we see at day
at home, and at the bay.

It wakes us up in the morning,
when some birds are soaring.

Now I think you know about the sun,
that was really, really, really fun!

Boone Elementary

2

Lost

Lost your way,
Where are they?
Where to turn?
Too much to learn
Sun’s gone down,
But home’s not found

Alleys, paths
Internal wrath
Which way to go?
I don’t know
Endless walking,
No one talking

Getting near,
Mild fear
Look around
Now home is found!

Fern Bluff Elementary

5

“Know your Role”

Mama said I was born at 6:00 in the evening. Rosy cheeks and bright cherry lips. She named me Summer I reminded her of sunshine. I am the younger sister to my older brother but I’m a big sister to 3 others. “I know my role” I am a daughter first a sister and friend. “I know my role” I am a pretty brown girl, I am smart, and I am sweet .
sometimes I dress weird and I’m not neat. “I know my role” I love art because there are no rules I am free to be me “I know my role” Math is my favorite it challenges me. At one time it was hard for me to read the words looked funny and hard for me to understand I did not give up I worked hard every day because “I know my role” My little sister copies everything I do I don’t like it but I know that I’m a person she looks up to. “I know my role” Do you know yours?

Zilker Elementary School

5

Nirvana

As much as I can say, life is not the truth.
It hinders not much more than a fearful light.
Are human sense invites you to a parley in a booth.
It is a devastating thing as once the Buddha fought in an airy kite.

The only safe Valley out of the mountain is by Nirvana love.
It’s rests deep in the mind and heart and is, only locked.
The final stage brings about it but you’re not alive from your rocked.
The delusion that fake life gives is not a dove.

Nirvana oh Nirvana brings craziness to the regular mind.
To the regular mind do not worry say no wants, to not bind.
Left and right you walk be the Buddha’s real.
As to free from life give meditation to the wheel.

Fantasizing the Northwest Passage is a precious Jewel to the mayor.
Slash back in infuriating distaste even more, hate in happening.
Taking the love that he gives and meditated as a prayer.
The soul inside of you is ready for a fruitful fruit ripening.

Now back to a moment a precise time and being.
It is illustrious that the delusion of Life appeals timely.
The sunshine of loving sweetness resides in your seeing,
The jewel brought up before is it Beauty for some blindley.

Walsh Middle school

6

Puddles

The rain has come again
Extinguishing sunlights flame
A tapestry of grey memories paints the clouds
Maybe the sky is broken today
It held too much and suddenly it cracked and everything fell apart
Pouring from the sky, heavens discarded sins

The rain reminds you of your past
You don’t know why
Maybe it’s the color – grey
You mutter something along the lines of “what an ugly day”
Then turn your head in disgust
Retract into yourself
Pray for the sun
Close your blinds
Turn blind – maybe

I sit against the warm asphalt
The sun is still there , the heat is our reminder
Pools of mud and dislocated thoughts surround me
Stagnant brown oceans
I dip my toes into the water
Then my legs
Until I am up to my neck in puddles
Wading in the dirty thoughts
The ones others hide themselves from

I want the mud to stain my skin like paint
A reminder of the rain when it leaves and is erased by the sunlight
I want to swallow up heavens sins, tongue out towards the sky like a child
Gulping down the rain you avoid
I want to look into the destruction of water and see the life it brings
Feel the way it kisses against my skin
Thanking me for joining it
The rain and I, star crossed lovers

Pour onto me
As I wade in shallow puddles
Toes covered in dirt
Hands gripping at wet asphalt
Eyes trained towards the broken sky
I know you cannot forgive the rain for what it does
It’s a reminder of your loneliness
Approaching you in storms
Until it pours and spills and devours
Forcing you to hide indoors
You find memories to be such an ugly thing
The past you despise so much
I hope one day you’ll find the beauty in the storm, the rainbows or maybe even just the puddles.

Anderson High School

12

The Art Of Self Love

Some days I wish to dig my nails into my flesh
To shed my skin like a winter coat,
discard it for the warm rays of summer
Maybe be bones for awhile
Bask in the feeling of being empty, of being a ghost, a shell
But unfortunately, my body and I seem quite attached

So instead I’ll keep my body but remove my brain
Float it like a balloon above my head, half stuck-half free, never quite anything
Suspended in air, dizzyingly out of place
Going through the motions without emotion

Yet, in the end I find myself crawling back, body and mind nothing without one another yet in constant combat
I’ve been fighting a civil war with myself for 17 years
Who I am on the inside resenting the person on the outside
I stop to wonder if they’re even different people
I try not to wonder

Resent is a lot more palatable than vulnerability
So I’ve found myself resenting things that scare me
And oh how I am scared of myself

It’s easier to trim my body off like a split end
Not think about it until it grows back and breaks again
The cycle repeats, over and over until I can’t remember a time that I wasn’t snipping
Cutting off the unsightly bits
When did I decide it was so unsightly?
Who taught me to loosen ties with something so determined to love me that it continues to come back, despite my constant abuse?

My body and me
We’re quite attached
Although we’re not yet friends
But yet still I find myself staying, loving, longing for change, to improve
I see the love my body gives for me
Despite my efforts to cut it off
To sweep it under the rug, detach myself from it’s presence

It’s been a painful war between us
But my body is not a battle ground
It is a temple
A place of worship
A house that one day I hope will become
Home

Anderson High School

12

Dear Conquerer

I swallow the hard lump in my throat
The one that brings tears to my eyes
As if I’m stomaching poison
Maybe I am- in a way
You’re so toxic after all

When I cry you decide that you’ve won
The silent battle of who-hurt-who
As if my tears of frustration are a trophy
A white flag I’m waving
A symbol of your superiority

But no one wins a war
Soldiers are lost never to return home
So is trust
And love follows soon after
A relationship shattered by a game
A relentless need to conquer
You lead a crusade of pointless arguments
You argue your way to hell and false riches

Bathe yourself in my destruction
Lather yourself in my tears
You’ve hurt me- congratulations
You fought a war against a peaceful nation
You stripped it of its gold
Slaughtered the citizens
If only you knew that the true value of the nation resides within the richness of soil
Or maybe- it’s ability to grow back despite conquest

Tear down and destroy, dear conquerer
Until your feet are weary and your soldiers are dead and you cannot remember why you were fighting
Does it even matter?
You’ve won.
And once you’ve set the small peaceful nation into flames
You bask in your earnings
Plastic covered in gold paper
A facade of glory
You weep into your winnings
Mourning your own loss

The small nation thrives again
The soil is rich and deep and lively enough to survive such vicious attacks
I am reborn, stronger than ever
Maybe it’s because the deepness of my roots

Dear conquerer, you’re conquest of rudeness was fruitless
I am not something you can destroy
I will kill you with my kindness
Confuse you with my empathy
Terrify you with my softness
Destroy you with my tears

Anderson High School

12