Summer 2005

n
o
m
i
S
Simon SSaayyss$5

Simon Says

Imani Givens

Front cover, l-r: Cameron Hilliard Curtisha Fletcher, Naaman Dudley, Kennard Brown, Quenita Simms, Tamiya Dudley

WELCOME to the premiere edition of Simon Says, the Abram
Simon Elementary School literary magazine, written and edited by
the students of Simon Elementary. Simon Says is published througha collaborative effort between the school and the D.C. Creative Writing
Workshop, an independent non-proﬁt working to create a literary
renaissance in Southeast Washington. In September 2004, after four
years of providing award-winning programming at Charles Hart Middle
School, the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop expanded to offer similar
programs to students at Simon and at nearby Ballou High School. In
the short time since the school has welcomed the program, fourth
graders at Simon have devoted themselves to learning the joy ofself expression and the power of the written word. Simon Says is theresult of nearly a year of workshops with professional writers, giving
our young writers the opportunity to exercise their creative energies,
speak their minds, and be heard by an audience throughout the city.
We have many friends who have helped to make Simon Says possible,
and we would like to express our gratitude to them. Our sincerest
thanks go out to the Herb Block Foundation, the Morris and Gwendolyn
Cafritz Foundation, the Commonweal Foundation, the Community
Foundation of the National Capital Region, the D.C. Children andYouth Investment Trust Corporation, the Fannie Mae Foundation, theJohn Edward Fowler Foundation, the Philip Graham Fund, the Harman
Cain Family Foundation, the Hitachi Foundation, the International
Monetary Fund, the Junior League of Washington, the Rotary Club ofWashington, the Wendling Foundation, the friends and family of Anna
Su, Michael Joy and TSCJoy/Monterey, LLC, Sarah Booth and Bloomberg
L.P., Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Karibu Books, Free Hand Press, theU.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Arena Stage, the Shakespeare
Theatre, McGuire Associates, Joyce Page and Ms. Printing, Tollefson &Gustini Investment Management, our friends at Popeye’s on Malcolm
X Avenue, Ms. Shin’s 6th grade class at Bush Hill Elementary School,
Gregory Auger, George and Lenore Cohen, Fritz Edler, Tom and Carolyn
Grey, Mark Hollinger and Kathy McNeil Hollinger, Frances Horn, Betsy
Karel, Gay and Charlie Lord, Paul Mandelbaum, Judene Slaughter, Raina

Spring 2005iii

Rose Tagle, friends of the late Meyer Saul Taubman, Juanita Wade, Vera
M. White, and Martin Youmans.
Special thanks for the hard work and dedication of the D.C. Creative
Writing Workshop Board of Directors: Lee E. Epps, Andy Fogle, Dr.
Susan Gerson, Bernie Horn, Kathleen Huston, Joan Kennan, Bill Newlin,
Nancy Schwalb, and Kirsten Tollefson.
We would also like to thank Ms. Sandra Randolph-Hardman and Ms.
Valerie Scudder, who are our partners in this endeavor.

Monique Boydiv

Spring 2005

contents
Ashley Boston
My Poem ............................................................................................... 25
Anger ..................................................................................................... 25
Monique Boyd
How wonderful I am ........................................................................... 22
Untitled................................................................................................. 23
Monique ................................................................................................26
Kennard Brown
The Cat in a Kaleidoscope ................................................................ 22
My life is in the sky ............................................................................ 23
Tyrik Brown • Upside Down Sky ............................................................ 18
Naaman DudleyBlue Green............................................................................................ 10
The Perfect Waters ..............................................................................11
Tamiya Dudley
New School Blues ................................................................................17
Words .....................................................................................................19
Curtisha Fletcher
The No Real Friends Blues ...................................................................1
Changing ................................................................................................ 6
Unbelievable .......................................................................................... 6
My name... .............................................................................................. 7
I have all sorts of names ..................................................................... 7
Hoping ....................................................................................................8
Imani Givens
They Call Me .......................................................................................... 5
When the wind blows ........................................................................... 5

Spring 2005v

contents
Jayon Gray • Anger ..................................................................................10
Cameron Hilliard
Homework Blues ................................................................................... 2
Never give up ........................................................................................13
Bragging ...............................................................................................16
Devon Hudson
Mean Sister Blues ................................................................................ 2
Lost ........................................................................................................20
What I saw .............................................................................................21
Tasheanna Johnston
Dancing .................................................................................................18
My name... .............................................................................................19
Jay Jordan
Anger ..................................................................................................... 24
Swimming ............................................................................................ 24
Shawntay Kent
Loneliness .............................................................................................. 9
Pink horse jumping ............................................................................. 9
Brianna Luckett
Clothes and the Moon ........................................................................14
Kaleidoscope ........................................................................................14
The Unusual Foot .................................................................................15
My Name ...............................................................................................16
Michael Marbury • My Rhythm ...............................................................4
Armani McKinzie • Calm ...........................................................................26
Wa’Kenya Middleton • The Writing Poem Blues ..................................4vi

Spring 2005

Shantel Mitchell
My name is Unseen ..............................................................................11
What Do I See? .....................................................................................12
Keontae Rose
Keontae the Great ...............................................................................12
A Jumping Man ....................................................................................13
Quenita Simms
New School Blues ................................................................................. 3
What I Am Called ................................................................................20
I Am Powerful .......................................................................................21
Eunique Wimbush
I Got the Blues of My Brother ............................................................1
One day ..................................................................................................17

Spring 2005vii

Kennard Brown

The No Real Friends Blues
There’s always no real friends.
People say one thing or another,and it always leads up to something or other.
Friends say one thing to your faceand another to your back.
And a real friend wouldn’t attack
your feelings like that.
Fake friends try to cover up
what they’re really like,and that’s why
I got the no real friends blues.
Curtisha Fletcher

I Got the Blues of My BrotherMe and my mom
were going to the malland we saw my brother.
We said “hi,”and he just kept on walking.
I see him, like, every weekend.
He doesn’t talk to us at all.
We say we’ve got three brothers,
and one of them doesn’t exist to us.
His name is P.J.
Eunique Wimbush

Spring 2005

1

Homework Blues
All this homework
isn’t good for me.
Too much of it,
I can’t sleep.
I can’t sleep right,
I can’t eat right.
This is so wrong.
It makes me wanna ﬁght.
Like I said,
too much of it.
I don’t like it,
not even a bit.
And when I ﬁnish,
I watch TV,
and then my mother says to me
Go to sleep!
Cameron Hilliard

Mean Sister Blues
My mean sister is mean.
I think there’s a good spot in her,ﬁlled with fur.
Even though I love her very much,sometimes I want to call the police on her.
Yesterday, my grandmother told her
to STOP!
She tried to put my head in the trash.
Devon Hudson

2

Spring 2005

Briana Luckett

New School Blues
Have you ever gone to a new school?
It was scary.
Going to a new school might
give you a scary blues.
I know it gave me one.
A great idea is to go in with your parents.
When you look at people
they might look mean or nice.
You can’t say, because the way they look—when you stare, they stare back,they stare back really hard.
Did you have friends at your old school?
If you did, I’m sure you’ll miss them.
I know
I miss mine.
At the end of the school year
you might have some more.
I had a lot of friends at the end of the year.
We did a lot of things together.
I know
you will have new friends.
I’m sure you will do lots of things too.
Quenita Simms

Spring 2005

3

The Writing Poem Blues
I was sitting in the room
having a good time,
when a lady cameand made us do some boring poem.
Something I wouldn’t even think about.
Something like this.
I would rather be playing cards
or running around like crazythan sitting in a boring class doing a poem.
When she ﬁrst walked in the classroom
I knew we had to do something like this.
When a poem came, I was mad.
And then my teacher said
“Wakenya, I know you can do it.”
When she turned her back,I pushed my paper away from me.
Wa’ Kenya Middleton
Naaman Dudley

My Rhythm
My family thinks
I am a bouncing rhythm.
My name is bouncing rhythm,
and if you see meon the streets,
I am bouncing everywhere.
The echo is in my mind,
So I can’t
get it out of my mind.
Michael Marbury

4

Spring 2005

They Call Me
I am smooth like silk
and when I am walking
on the sidewalk,I slide.
People call me queen of my room
because I doanything I wantin my room
People call me heartbeat
because I am fast,
in a heartbeat
I am unseen because
when people look at me
they see air.
Imani Givens

When the wind blows
When the wind blows,
it blows the gold to me.
When I look at the color sky-blue,
it makes a rainbow for me.
The rainbow turns into demons,
I run like a jet,the jet turns into a ﬂower in a vase,the vase turns into a circle of rings.
Imani Givens

Spring 2005

5

Changing
What do I do when I see pink shoesthat turn into the white diamonds
that are now on my ﬁngers
then turn into a unicorn galloping in the sky
and so much fresh airthat turns into magenta-colored silkthat turns into a little girl worshipping her heroes?
I said it was all an illusion
and I went back to bed.
Curtisha Fletcher

Unbelievable
I’m so incredibleand so divine
Everybody worships the ground I walk on
and I’m only nine.
I’m the biggest and baddest
no one can stop me, there is no way
I can pick up the sun
and throw it away.
And I’m so smart
I went to kindergarten before I was threeThat’s the way
I want to be.
Curtisha Fletcher

Ashley Boston

6

Spring 2005

My name…
My name sounds like singing birds
swarming in the air.
It will also have its personality:
it will be sweet as a rosein a movie star’s hands.
And my name has a smell—it smells like a new coatthat has not been worn.
It looks like a kind schoolgirl.
My name feels like smooth sheetsthat have just been washed.
Curtisha Fletcher

I have all sorts of names
I have all sorts of names.
My teacher thinks I’m smart
like a whip on a stick.
But my mother thinks I’m restless
like a bat in the dark.
My grandma has the sweetest name for me,
like an angel, she said, every single day.
My uncle thinks I’m so easy to scare,like a mouse being chased by a .45 gun.
But that’s not all.
My friends have the worst name for me:
They think I’m a splinter in their side,and think I think I know everything,
like the man in the sky.
I’m not sure what my name is reallybut people keep labeling me
like I’m a big fat baby.
Curtisha Fletcher

Spring 2005

7

Hoping
She has nothing,nothing at all.
She lost everything
to her name.
Even her home.
She’s longing for something
she can call her own.
Reaching for the sky
she’s even had to lie
just to provide herself
with shelter and food.
Holding her hands up highthinking,
maybe, just maybe,
she can touch the sky.
Give me a sign—
She always said,“I wish I was richand had some money”
but she still has nothing,nothing at all.
Curtisha Fletcher

8

Spring 2005

Keontae Rose

Loneliness
I’m on a hill, far away from people.
I feel so lonely, but there’s something keeping me here.
When I come here, it feels like I’ve been desiring this place.
It makes me feel lonelier and lonelier.
I think in my head,
Am I lonely because of here, or is it the town?
When I leave here for town, will it drag me back?
Sometimes I feel so lonely, I want to cry,But I hold it in and go back to that hill.
It calms me down.
I’ve made up my mind
It’s the town that makes me feel lonely.
That’s how lonely I feel sometimes.
Shawntay Kent

Pink horse jumping
I see a beautiful horsecrossing over a bridge
into a valley of water.
She takes a sip of the waterthen gallops away
into the mist.
After a few moments
she hears delicate voices.
Then a girl in a pink dress
appears from out of nowhere.
But the girl was only an illusion.
Really, it was all a dream.
Shawntay Kent

Spring 20059

AngerAnger stays up two days straight.
He ﬁghts his sleep.
He gets baggy eyes.
He goes to work,
his boss asks him
Did you go to sleep yesterday?
He tells a couple of lies.
Today, he made a new day.
He wants to say
today is angry day.
Jayon GrayBlue Green

Jayon GrayI see a horse, jumping in a triangle
Then, on a sunny day,a blue-green cheetah making an echo
All of a suddena three headed spider
crawled on a branchwith meatballs ﬂying in the air
and the one eyed dinosaur
was moving
And then the world came to an end
and the world rose from the deadand everybody was turned into babies
and the world was born again
Naaman Dudley

10

Spring 2005

The Perfect Waters
It’s like ﬂoating in the dream of someone else.
And thousands of hands speaking to me:
I shall not harm you
and I’m so lonely in the dark world,alone and treated like a slave,
pushed around and tortured.
This lady came and made a spell,then I was the king of the land
and was treated with respect.
Now it’s so confusedthat I think about a thoughtful dream.
Naaman DudleyMy name is unseen
My brother calls me Nightmare
because I drive him nuts.
When I step inside a holeit feels like I am going down
deeper and deeper.
Now my name will be Tomorrow,
My name will be Voices All Around Me.
Today, my name is Unseen
because when people are around me
they seem to not see me.
Shantel Mitchell

Spring 200511

What Do I See?
I see a girl with a rainbow shirt
And also, I see God
I’m worshipping God
Cherry blossoms ﬂoating in the air
I see people happy every day
And I see rainbows everywhere around me
I see the rain fall, and me swimming in it
I see a beautiful bridge
I see a rainbow horse.
Shantel Mitchell

Keontae the GreatI drive so great
I could hang ﬁre on a house.
I’m so fast,a Benz can’t even catch me.
I’m so strong,
I can knock over the monuments.
I’m so cold,
I could freeze the sun by blowing my breath.
I’m so ﬂexible,
I could stretch to Pluto in a second.
I’m so good at magic,
I could turn Ms. Scudder into a rabbit,
and Ms. Nancy into a hat.
Keontae Rose

12

Spring 2005

Quenita Simms

A Jumping Man
I see a man jumping off a cliff
because he’s depressedsomeone sold his housewhen he didn’t ask them to.
His house is blue and his insides are blue.
Keontae Rose

Never give up
My big sister calls me annoying nightmare
because I sometimes scare her in her sleep.
My friends call me nuclear war
because I bring my big water guns and squirt them to death.
My mother calls me the howling tummy
because I’m always hungry.
My dad calls me the memory man
because I can remember what holidays and birthdays are which.
My grandmother calls me sweet little angel
because she never sees me do anything.
My mother calls me the brave knight
because I ﬁght off bugs and insects.
My dad calls me stiff bones
because I have a lot of courage.
I think my real name is metal
because I never give up.
Cameron Hilliard

Spring 2005

13

Clothes and the Moon
I made lizards into pants,
like in two minutes
I can jump up to the moonand it’s not even night
I can walk to the moonto get some cheese, without stairs
I can tell the clouds
to throw down some rain
and I pause the rain
to go out to play!
Briana Luckett

Kaleidoscope
My friend’s favorite color is yellow—
Circles of bowls of noodles
Deer being eaten by bears
Fires running out of windows
Hail drops on my nose, it hurts
Earthworms getting smooshed by sneakers
Green eyeballs blossoming in the wind
And splinters in my ﬁngers
Plus voices everywhere.
Briana Luckett

Jay Jordan

14

Spring 2005

The Unusual FootMy feet are ugly
my toes are long,when I wear thermals,
which I call long johns,
my feet still show.
I kick the ballit’s pink and roundit’s stuck on the ground.
My leg is nerdy
my other leg is perky.
Even though my feet are long,
I wear long johns.
It’s like lucky
leaves on my leg.
A yellow color
will go to my headI drink some lemonade,it spills on my shirt.
I pick up some dirt.
It gets in my eye,I start to cry
I look downwith a frownbecause I have an unusual foot.
Briana Luckett

Spring 2005

15

My Name
My name feels like a smooth pillow
with the sheets all nice and neat andeverything in place.
My name smells like roses
in fresh waterin a perfect vase.
My name looks likerobins in a tree
just being born.
My name sounds likebirds singing in the air
while the wind is blowing.
My name tastes likeorangesfresh from the tree.

Michael Marbury

Briana Luckett

Bragging
I am invincible.
I can overcome any obstacle.
I have turbo speed to shoot across the ground.
I built the Statue of Liberty in one second.
I can lift up 5,000,000 Titanics with my pinky.
I can dribble the ball so fast, people think I went left when I went right.
I can crush any obstacle with my thumb.
I can destroy any obstacle with my head.
I can be invisible by saying invisibility.
I can turn a wolf into a cow.
Cameron Hilliard

16

Spring 2005

One dayOne day, I saw a pink cat
on a cloudy day.
The cat was running in circles.
Suddenly, he turned into a strange creature.
It was 12:00 in the dark,
bushes were falling, trees were shaking
I said, “Why is it doing this?”
The creator had echoed me.
Eunique Wimbush

New School Blues
When I went to a new school,
I did not know anybody
so it gave me the blues.
At my new school,
I had green beans for lunch
and I did not want themand it gave me the blues.
At my new school,
I did not have recess
for a whole week
and that gave me the blues.
Tamiya Dudley

Spring 2005

17

Upside Down Sky
It makes me frownwhen the sky is down
Someone tell me, why is it upside down?
I might be lazy
but inside I am just crazy
I never saw anything in my life like this.
The sky is upside downwith a twist
It’s a kind of green that hasn’t been seen.
I know what I can see,but maybe
someone hypnotized me.
I am so sad,I don’t know what to think
It makes my head feel like an earthquake.
Tyrik Brown

Dancing
Girls in violet shoes
dancing down the street.
The girls came down the hill
and ﬁnd a jaguar on a sunny day.
Then the girls see triangle stars
turning into blue-green dandelions.
The sun went home
and they’re talking, having fun,and dancing.
Tasheanna Johnston

18

Spring 2005

Wa’Kenya Middleton

My name…
Tasheanna smells likesand in the desert,
a new shampoo, like white rain.
Tasheanna feels likea ball of string,or a soft bunny.
Tasheanna tastes liketeriyaki rice,
spaghetti sauce.
Tasheanna looks likea professional tennis player,
or a cheerleader.
Tasheanna sounds likea singer, like Tina Marie,
or a movie star, like Denzel Washington.
Tasheanna Johnston

Words
I saw a blue catwith a cone and ﬂowers on its head,running in the sun.
The cat was howling,
and the blossom on his head
was red.
And the cat grew
big white wings
and ﬂew away.
And it was amazing.
Tamiya Dudley

Spring 2005

19

What I Am Called
My little sister calls me nightmare
because I make her life miserable.
My big brother calls me splinterbecause I’m a painful person to him.
Raven calls me loving
because I’m nice to her.
The police call me echo
because I copy his every word.
My father calls me weep
because I cry when I don’t get my way.
My mother calls me memory
because I remember everything.
My friends call me ﬂoat
because I’m very light.
My teacher calls me Quenita
because that’s who I am.
Quenita Simms

Lost
It feels like I’m lostin a tiny world
with nobody here
but me and some small houses.
It feels like the world
has fallen without me.
I seek for people
I talk while I walkI say hello, there is no response
Next thing you know
I am gone.
Devon Hudson

20

Spring 2005

Quenita Simms

I Am Powerful
I’m a ﬂexible, fast, and smart person
I like to take dance lessons
I can move my hips
I can stomp my feet
And I can make the dance compete.
I died years ago
But no one really knew,
I came back alive in one year or two.
I modeled down the fashion runway
And everyone jumped and cheered Hurray!
Hurray, hurray, and I said okay
I shined my hair
And fell off the stair
But no one really cared.
Quenita Simms

What I saw
I saw an orange dog
using a blue tree,
a car with square tires.
When the sunset came,
I saw a cow jump into it.
Devon Hudson

Spring 2005

21

The Cat in a Kaleidoscope
A cat ﬂies
in a yellow circle
and jumps
into a red hot sun.
It runs into a ﬂower
blossoming in a heartbeat,and it wasan illusion.
Kennard Brown

How wonderful I am
I’m wonderful, look at me
I’m beautiful
When I look in the mirror, I see
a girl with brain, with game, with change
I express my feelings
I’m just me
Last year, I was a model for the fashion show
I was moving my hips so badthat everyone had their eyes on me
I had a pink dress
it looked like I was at a prom
when I walked on the stage modeling
I was nervous
Then I remembered that I was beautiful
and then I said, okay, I can do thisI know I can
I smiled, my teeth were shiny,
it looked like a sun in the building
When I got home I screamed.
It seems that I can dream.
Monique Boyd

22

Spring 2005

Tamiya DudleyMy life is in the sky
My life is in the sky
You are in the sky
You are in the lightYour life is in memory
My life is a dream
It will never end
I try to go around it,
But it will never end
It’s like a window
It never ends
I am in the world
I try and try
It just will not end.
Kennard Brown

Untitled
Boxing through sunny rain
cloudy sky that has beauty in it
color that smells like cherry red on a bridgewith blossoming ﬂowers blooming through the air
they feel like a heartbeat, glistening in the sky
they drown with beauty, silky delicate voices
becoming an echo of the beauty’s
texture in a nightmare valleythat had been unseen,
people waltz day and night.
The howl, in a black memorythat seemed to be the worst nightmare
then I humble myself
and say that a dream
just has to be unseen.
Monique Boyd

Spring 200523

AngerAnger got up and ate nails, boards, and anger soup.
He had ﬁve kids that were born really bad.
They threw rocks, ate cars, carried gasoline
and poured it on trees and lighted them.
They even beat up Happiness’ children.
Anger wears bad things, like spiky shirts.
At night, he goes to sleep in a bed with spikes.
He and his kids don’t have nice dreams.
Instead, they have nightmares.
Jay Jordan

Swimming
I picture someone swimming in water.
When I see this person in my mind,
it makes me think of myself.
But there is something important about this person.
He can see plants and life forms under the sea.
He sometimes ﬂoats above the sea.
He always wears his lucky boxers, number three.
He thinks that the sea is the sky.
He thinks the water is his mirror.
He can always see his reﬂection.
When he dives into the water,
he can feel the nice cool breeze.
Jay Jordan

Monique Boyd

24

Spring 2005

My Poem
I had a nightmare.
I saw a red blossom.
I can’t believe it.
That blossom just ran away from me.
I heard my heartbeat.
I used my memory,
And I remembered pinksnow is going to fall.
Ashley Boston

Anger
When anger gets up in the morning,
he eats a glass cup.
He gets mad every day,soon as the children get home,
he beats them for nothing.
He lives in a dark cave with ﬂies.
When he drives to work, he drives inside his job
instead of going to open the door.
Every night, anger gets mad,so his wife left him for a rich man.
Ashley Boston

Spring 2005

25

Calm
I feel like I am rolling in the ocean
and I feel like I’m up in a cloud in heaven somewhere.
I’m feeling happy, and I’m feeling like everything is alright.
Some things are azure and cobalt.
I feel it is beautiful, and some things are scarlet red.
Everything is luxury.
Everything is just right, and nobody is bothering me or messing with me.
I feel like I’m on a cloud.
I feel like I’m in my own little world.
Nobody is there with me, and I am by myself.
I feel like a little snail, slugging on the grass, minding my own business.
The things around me are azure, cobalt, and scarlet red.
There are so many things around me,
I don’t know what to look at ﬁrst.
Armani McKinzie

Monique
My name smells like a newborn poodle.
My name sounds like a famous gymnastic teacher
Saying, “Do your best!”
My name feels like a shooting star
And someone is going to wish on it.
Monique Boyd

26

Spring 2005

letcherCurtisha FYour contributions help make Simon Says possible!
The D.C. Creative Writing Workshop is a non-proﬁt organization
dedicated to providing quality creative writing instruction to
students in economically underserved areas of Washington D.C.
One hundred percent of every donation goes directly toward ourcreative writing programs at Charles Hart Middle School, Simon
Elementary, and Ballou High School, allowing our students to workwith professional writers-in-residence in the classroom, the Drama
Club, the Writing Club, and the Literary Magazine Club.
Show your support for Simon Says by mailing your taxdeductible contribution to:
The D.C. Creative Writing Workshop
601 Mississippi Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C. 20032
If you have books or equipment to donate, call us at: (202)297-1957
Or check us out on the web at www.dccww.org

This magazine was made possible by funding from:
Commonweal Foundation
D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust
Herb Block Foundation
Hitachi Foundation
John Edward Fowler Foundation
Junior League of Washington
Philip Graham FundThe International Monetary Fund
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation