Vision+Voice

I’m whispering away the silence
While my mind is still, my heart is violent.
Turning in over itself. Begging for freedom over all that is left.

But these whisperings remain untouched
Little much that whispering does.
In all the screaming cries of this world,
Our quiet whisperings are ignored.

I need to think and I need to breathe.
I think I’m breathing, so it seems.
Please release me now from this binding reality
I’d rather fall than falter one more day
I’d rather die alone than be forced to stay
Beside all that you are.

The gears that click slowly into place
Are lost in our graceless world.
A tasteless void fills me now.
A life’s objections surrounds me, but how
Else can I break this silence?

They trample over all that I am
Nothing more than a useless, empty vessel trying to stand.
My heart will bleed onto this page.
After all, the wrists remember better days.

I know I mention whispering, but words are all that I am.
A quiet puff of air, and whispers blow away like sand.
And so while they are free, we remain ensnared
All because we tried to care.

It’s some sort of irony… it has to be, right?
The way we lose ourselves in this struggle.
“I want to be good.”
And so I let life just live.
But even a little space
Is more than this world gives.

Our refusal to conform begins to transform
Into a terrible hate for the terror.
Our love for light is lost in the night
Because we refused to compromise with violence.
And so, once again, we are left with the silence.

This silence is not the absence of voices
More likely the culmination of all our well-intentioned choices.
When you keep your heart open
The world has its way.
Little by little, all the hurt numbs the pain.
Step by step, we don’t care if they fall.
If I pause to think… do we still care at all?.

You’re right, you know. The young are different.
We adapt very quickly, so we’ll no longer be the recipient
Of all the chaos of your world.

We’re tired of the lull after every unanswered word.
We’re tired of the quiet, all the lives on auto-pilot.
We’re tired of bad endings, therefore it’s time that we begin
To be what we need, to accomplish what we want.
Please forgive us; our love is lost in violence,
But it’s time these voices spoke and shattered all the silence.

---

S. F. Austin High School

10

There once was a battle called rattle.
It was in a cotton field,
and everybody wore ruffles
and did puzzles
and had friend bubbles,
and when somebody had a nibble of a muffin
they would giggle and wiggle.
When somebody shattered
a banner made out of rubber,
I put a bonnet on my parrot,
and the parrot liked to eat a carrot,
and it ate the carrot very sloppy
and went into his tunnel.

---

Gullett Elementary

4

This is just to say
I have lost the item you told me specifically not to lose
You will probably yell at me, or ground me

But to be honest
I can’t quite remember what item I lost.

I Love Football
When I’m bored I don’t need to frown
I like to go outside and throw around
In the street is where i’ll be
Calling for a pass while the sun is burning my feet
A touchdown awaits, In I go to celebrate.

Sushi is the best food as it is too yummy

It tastes so good inside of my tummy

Crab, seaweed, and cream cheese galore

Eating my sushi will never be a bore

All of the time I try something new

Because All I have to do is go to the store

Even my mother likes sushi too!

But when my brother eats it he acts like he ate poo.

---

Gorzycki

6th

Black,dark
Thick ocean air clogging my lungs
Whispers of reassurance
Crys of regret and pain
Hot salty tears
Stinging my mouth
Warm rivers
Slowly descending down my face
Afraid, alone, stuck

In the courtyard, many are selling,
Those with ties, and trinkets and yelling.
“Hear ye hear ye, the newest cure and ail”,
To which people a far come and hail.

And though most will never stop by my cart,
I cannot say I’ve got wounded heart.
For there are no ails, no cures, no meals,
Just me, my cart, and my love for deals.

A man stops by, a curious wonder,
“What have you got?” his voice a plunder.
“I’ve got the finest deals you see,
Anything you want, just not for free.”

The man looks at me, with scornful face,
Walking away without a trace.
Though there are many carts round here,
I’m the owner who profits from fear.

Two days later, while I’m setting my cart,
A man comes up asking for hearts.
“I want to marry this woman you see,
But I’m already married, with children of three.”

He entrances me, so I draw up a deal,
“You’ll have a new heart, but after you steal.
There’s no tricks or follies, you haven’t a worry,
Simply give wife’s heart to me, and hurry.”

Signing quickly, trembling with fear,
The man runs from me to find his dear.
“Quiet now,” he says holding a knife,
”it’ll be soon” he says to his wife.

A day or two later, I’ve sold some more deals,
The man shows up, trembling and teal.
“The heart sir”, he hands it to me,
“Now my mistress, could you please.”

Now, I am not a man of the law,
But my cart and I are one of awe.
When I saw stains upon his hands,
I knew he might fill my demand.

“Yes, I’ll grant you your heart’s desires,
I switched the bodies of your admires.
The woman you love, you’re holding her heart,
It’s bleeding, defeating, it’ll tear you apart.”

He looks at me without sense of belief,
And has trouble accepting all of his grief.
He shudders, he mutters, and falls to his knees,
“That couldn’t be her,” he begs and pleads.

“It can’t be her, there’s just no way,
You couldn’t have switched them, not that day.
She was sleeping so soundly, I know my wife.”
He sputters to me about his strife.

Wanting consoling feelings from me,
These humans don’t understand, you see.
My deals are not like other vendors,
And my profits are not always splendor.

“Well you see sir, you’ve signed my deal,
You wanted her heart, now I’ve got a meal.”
I let out a smile, laughing all the while,
As he stares back at me, angry and vile.

“Liar! My mistress is alive and well!
You spin your lies, deceiver, I tell!”
Men, and their daftness, I decided to show,
Force him to watch his wife and love go.

I show him his wife, waking confused,
She was not in her house, her home or her shoes.
Then his mistress, cut up in his bed,
No heart in her lungs, no life in her stead.

“It’s alright, now don’t you cry,
Deals can always go awry.
How’s about this, I’ll cut you a deal,
You come with me, and you’ll be at her heels.”

Shaken, and untrusting he glares at me,
Though, contemplation I can still see.
“You actually think I’d come with you?
Haven’t you seen what you’ve put me through?”

Sometimes it’s longer to understand,
But I had only so much time on my hands.
“You’ll come with me, and you’ll see your mistress,
I’ll write you a deal, it’ll be in your interest.”

I knew from his looks he hadn’t any trust,
So with my parchment and pen I thrust,
“He can see his love if he comes with me,
And there will be enormous bouts of glee.”

He read over my pages, with care this time,
Looking out for tricks, follies, and lines.
“This deal seems in my favor, give the pen,”
Again he signed with glee, and then-

I became fantastically in joy,
I took his hand and we deployed.
Not for a jail, or a cell, mind you,
But to my home, where brimstone brews.

I chained his wrists, and gave him a spot,
Seeing his love, with him she was not.
For you see, she was up above,
In a place of happiness, filled with love.

But here, this man, who I torture and loathe,
Stays with all the others I stow.
The vengeful, the raged, the evil they may,
Chained and locked, no sight of day.

Packing my cart, parchment ready,
I walk to their world, and get to setting.
A man walks to me, alone and afraid,
I smile and get my parchment laid.

In the blink of an eye
With a flip of a switch
The world can move on
Leaving nothing behind
Every second that passes
Each minute that goes by
The present becomes the past
And the future is now the present
Anything can happen
All in a moment