Poetry Editors:
Alyse Bigger, 15
Cynthia Kozikowski, 15
Massachusetts
Deception
Ashley Miracle, 14
Ohio
My smile deceives,
my eyes mislead,
who I really am is locked—
deception is the key.
You think you know me,
but I'm not who I seem.
I am simply an illusion,
just like a dream.
I put on a show
for the world to see,
but when I look in the mirror
it is not the real me.
Revealing who I am
means letting someone in,
and then I'd have to love them
and risk the pain once again.
Life seems meaningless
without sharing it with someone.
Who will love me for who I really am
and who won't turn around and run?
But until then I will be
a mere mirage in the distance,
seeming to be one thing,
but only in the first instance.
Maybe one day I will meet someone
who can see beyond what I pretend.
And maybe one day I will let them in
and someday my broken heart will mend.
|
Who I Was, Who I Am
Rachel Barton, 13
Minnesota
The day we moved in was
two days before my birthday.
The cloudy, gray November
sky matched my mood perfectly.
I was as forlorn as a Saturday full of homework.
The wind was slowly shaking the trees
as the leaves fell to a crunchy fate.
I didn’t then understand the importance of the new—
the new—
the new everything,
the new life.
I wanted everything as it was,
as it had been.
Everything has a place,
but not here.
Its place was nowhere near here—
its place was far, far away—
farther away than I could comprehend.
I was mad and I was bitter.
I didn’t care if anyone else could see
from a different perspective.
There was one perspective.
Mine.
The house was like a prison: cold and gray.
My bedroom was a cheerful yellow—
unfit for human survival.
It was not who I was,
it is not who I am.
So I changed me in the past, present, and future.
I changed from blacks and reds to yellows and pinks.
My personality,
my aura,
my everything and anything.
I am not me—
and yet I am.
I am not anything.
I am everything.
I am not.
I am.
. |
Emotions
Brittany Thomas, 15
California
Emotions are a big bag of pain,
people lying to win fame,
kind of makes you go insane.
Not knowing what to do, who to trust,
anything someone says makes you fuss,
I feel like I'm going to bust.
Why do I feel this way?
Is it because what people say,
or is it because we're in the month of May?
I don't know, I'm all confused.
I guess it's just emotions.
Happy, sad,
phat, or mad—
these are all the things my block has.
Girls sitting down on a sunny afternoon,
Just chilling, feeling the wind blow softly through their hair,
eating poppy seeds,
looking at those big green trees,
thinking about what they’re going to do with their lives.
Should they stay single or have some boy make them a wife?
They don't know, they're all confused.
I guess it's just emotions. |
Drained
Samantha Smoody, 17
Wisconsin
I've cried a thousand tears, breathed a million sighs.
I've screamed and sobbed and asked a billion "whys."
What's left for me to do? I must move on.
However, such a request is easier said than done.
Life is so different now—I want to break free.
I loathe* this bondage, I need to breathe deeply.
Sadness overwhelms me and the sun never shines.
My mind keeps replaying the happier times.
I don't know how much more I can take.
I have to move on, for my sanity's sake.
You painted my blue skies a gloomy shade of gray,
Happiness now seems so very far away.
Dreams once so vivid now seem dismal and blurred.
I can't believe my worst nightmare occurred.
I'm so tired of fighting, I can't go on anymore.
I'm too weak to force another smile; my heart is sore.
I've lost a part of me that was so cruelly ripped away.
A part of me was destroyed—will I ever be OK?
I know I'll be all right; it's just a matter of time.
But it seems like it will be years until I see the sun shine.
I've got so many emotions bottled up inside.
It seems impossible, but I know I'll survive.
*Loathe: To hate, dislike. |
