Vision+Voice

Before, during, and after my last adventure.
I had forgotten who I was, who I am.
I had just been stumbling through my black and white, silent movie.
I realize now,
I am an entertainer.
Made to entertain the masses and bring joy to my friends,
Now I must dress in my costume,
Jeans,
check,
Long white socks,
check,
Worn shoes,
check,
Random t-shirt,
check,
Sweat-Shirt,
check,
The main pieces are set.
I take one last look at myself as I walk out the door,
Oops forgetting something,
Flash my hand across my face,
A Smile,
Now I’m ready.
Lets see what my next endeavor will hold.
-The Mad Writer

---

Austin High School

10

There must be something in the water
The water that fills the glasses of men.
Men who dismiss me because I’m not exotic.
Because you will never find my hair on somebody’s cheap wig.
Because no one goes into the doctor’s office and asks for my nose
Because there are lotions filled with bleach meant to lighten my skin
And Whiten my mind
Just like how you whiten your teeth to brighten your smile.
I’m confused
Does this mean that I need some new double Ds
And a bag full of weave to make you want me?
There must be something in this water.
This water that I’m drowning in
You’ve filled the pool over my head and I can’t swim
Meanwhile, there are foreign girls sitting by the beach getting a tan
Darkening their skin while you tell me to lighten mine
But I’m fine
The surgery will only take a little time,
and some blood to make me the girl that can
finally, feel wanted.
Finally feel like more than somebody’s second choice.
Finally feel like a girl who isn’t surprised when a boy shows interest in her.
There must be something in this water
That you force down my throat
Because now as I look in the mirror it’s harder and harder to resist
Your grip. This must be the feeling that gets people to slit their wrists.
When you’re tired of fighting and want to give in because the water tastes like poison, but promises heaven, so you just keep drinking
Until you realize that you’re not who you thought you were anymore.
Your hair has been burned and your skin is boiling.
Some days you can’t even remember your own name
It’s insane, but it’s true
You don’t know what to say and you don’t know what to do
so you just blame it on the water.

---

Liberal Arts and Science Academy

9th

On a forest path with the rocks sliding off the edge
Green vines tangle with the tree branches
Tiny red petals folding over each other with a yellow stem like a birthday candle
Green leaves shaped like two hearts curling off the stem
A perfume surrounds them
A heavy pink fog
Our twin hearts and ambitions tangle together
Until they are a knot of yarn
That can’t be fixed until someone cuts the thread
My sister plucks a red bud and pops it in her mouth
Dad said it was poison
She said it tasted like watermelon

---

Ann Richards School

7th

dark as the depths of the sea
slow as a deadly glacier
royal, powerful, grounded
cold as an icy blizzard on bare skin

blue is the deepest of sleep, dreamless
blue is the grace of a ballet dancer on stage, nameless
blue is a salty taste on your tongue
blue is steady breathing, calling out in silence
blue is creases crowning eyes of an elder, frameless

unsettling as bruises, beaten badly backwards, black and blue
wicked as the plot of a movie, retching your heart, warping your mind
calm, quiet, in control
shocking as the thunder, preparing for petrifying pops of lightning

blue is mesmerizing paint drenching fingers, now hued
blue is pouring rain, lingers a sombering mood
blue is the calm before the storm
blue darkens the sky towards night
blue is unknown faces in a crowd, untouched and nude

blue drags you down to the beach to watch the waves
‘cause you may only be alive a few more days

---

Bailey Middle School

8th

Oh what we can imagine…
Oh the Deep Blue
Waves,
Tide,
Sand,
Sun,
Water,
SPLASH!
Paradise,
Fish,
Sharks,
“AHHH!”
Shells
“Aaaaouuuu Pretty!!!”

Oh what the Deep Blue contains

What does the Big Ocean Blue really contain?
Monsters?
Dreams?
Fear?
Treasure?
We don’t know,
anything could be hiding and lurking in the water.

We can only know so much,
about the Deep Blue

I believe the Waves, the Ocean, and the Deep Blue,
all withhold…

Secrets!
Imagination!

The ocean can withhold anything you want it to,
Deep Blue

---

Gorzycki

7

You were there
Holding me,
Feeding me,
Loving me,
Showing me that you cared
I lived trying to find out
How I wasn’t fully developed
I asked questions
But you denyed
I used to live in fear
Trying to figure out the otherside
Why, why
Couldn’t you tell me
It took so long
For you to try and get the courage to tell me
Because you love me
The day I was born
The crash
The hospital
The helicopter
The lungs
There you were
Holding me
Smiling
Cherishing the moment
There you were telling me the story about me

---

Ann Richards School

7th

The world is silent
The sky is blue
But the ground is as white
As clouds

Wing appear around you
Beautiful forms fill your vision
You see a light so bright
You look away

What surrounds you
Is softer then clouds
As sold as rock
But as beautiful as…..

Angels
Angels are what surround you
Are what you see

Angels
As beautiful as
Angels

---

Ann Richards School for Young Women

7th

Bear
I push myself
Deeper into the couch,
Not wanting to turn on the TV,
But I do,
Read the news headline,
Over and over again,
Not being able to process the thought,
I turn around ask my mom what it means,
But she says she does not want to talk about it,
But she’s just hiding from reality,
I turn back to the screen,
Try to find the felling,
But it comes to quickly,
Just as the bear’s claw did,
Sunk into my back
The wobbling screams,
The scarlet blood drops on the dirt road.

---

Ann Richards

7th

He doesnt play the stage
The stage played them
Crying with the unappricated music
Making a last ditch effort to unuse it
He wants a half note, not the measure
Unplayed whole notes, death to a bar
Heart pounding, with wooden sounds About to burst into a trillion pounds
On him
Passion is the first thing he has
Nervousness is his third curse
Music second to none
Best at none
A slave to the notes
A rage to the notes condition
No one listens to a musician

---

Anderson

9