Spring 2007 • $5

Special Section: Reflections on the Holocaust

The Charles Hart Middle School Literary Magazine

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The hArtworks Editorial Board
Writers-in-Residence: Dwayne Betts, Omekongo Dibinga, Sage Morgan-Hubbard, James Saunders,
Nancy Schwalb, Venus Thrash, and Jamila Wade

The Literary Magazine Club: Luqman Abdullah, Maryum Abdullah, Shannon Allen, India Bell, Terry
Bennett, Antoinette Better, Stelita Better, Danielle Blake, Denisha Bolden, Ashley Boston, Antonio
Bower, Natia Boyd, A. Montel Brooks, Steven Brown Jr., Tomika Brown, Jamal Buggs, Jamal Clark,
Kiera Coleman, Reginald Conway, Ashley Cooper, Dominique Courtney, Nefertearia Crawley,
Martanaze Dew, Cherish Gaines, Dai’Juna Gales, Bruce Gibson, Andrea Hermans, Shamia House,
Tempest Jackson, Markus Johnson, Shaiski Johnson, Yasmin Jones, Damon Kee, Nichell Kee,
Symone Kennedy, Shawntay Kent, Jalencia King, Debria Lewis, Annice Ludd, Marvin McDowell,
Shambriel Metts, Kiana Murphy, Jasmine Murray, Ja’Quan Newsome, Ashanti Paylor, Coletta
Paylor, Keyosha Richardson, Marché Shields, Bnyonka Simpkins, Monae Smith, Beatrice Smoot,Jessica Smoot, Ashley Stevenson, Danielle Stover, Wendie Thomas, Tierra Thornton, James
Tindle, Tionna Wade, Devonté Walker, Jamie Warren, Brittany Watkins, Jamal Whittington,
Darien Wilkins, Deshaun Williams, Jamal Williams, Renita Williams, Franzel Willoby, Sequan
Wilson, Beverly Wright, Taniek Young
front cover, l–r:

2

Front cover: Dimitrius Winters at the Tile Wall in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

IntroductionW

elcome to hArtworks, the nation’s only inner-city public middle school literary magazine,
written and edited by the students of Charles Hart Middle School. hArtworks is publishedthrough a 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. Now
in its sixth year, hArtworks gives our young writers the opportunity to exercise their creative energies, speak
their minds, and be heard by an audience throughout the city. The 2006 edition of Poet’s Market recognizes
hArtworks as “an outstanding example of what a literary journal can be (for anyone of any age).”
This issue features our students’ reﬂections on the Holocaust, culminating our study of that period,
including two visits to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and a talk with a Holocaust survivor.
This year we welcome four new writers, Dwayne Betts, Omekongo Dibinga, Sage Morgan-Hubbard, andVenus Thrash, who join Nancy Schwalb and Jamila Wade as senior writers-in-residence. We also celebrate
the return of James Saunders, a 16 year old junior at Ballou Senior High, for his second year as juniorwriter-in-residence. And the 2006-07 school year marks the start of our college internship program,bringing us the capable and committed service of Meilani Clay, Maricia Herron, and Katie Hinden.
We have many friends who have helped to make hArtworks possible, and we would like to express
our gratitude to them. Our sincerest thanks go out to the Herb Block Foundation, Sarah Booth andBloomberg L.P., Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, Children’s Fund of Metropolitan Washington,
Commonweal Foundation, Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, D.C. Children
and Youth Investment Trust Corporation, Fannie Mae Foundation, John Edward Fowler Foundation,
Rita Susswein Gottesman Fund of the Alexandria Community Trust, Harman Family Foundation,
Hitachi Foundation, International Monetary Fund, Marpat Foundation, Mattel Children’s Foundation,
Moran Family Fund, Meyer Foundation, Project My Time, The Tom Lane Fund, Spirit of Giving Guide,
Wachovia Foundation, Wendling Foundation, Weissberg Foundation, The World Bank, Anonymous,
Borders Books and Music, Michael Joy and TSCJoy/Monterey, LLC, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Karibu
Books, Holly Mansﬁeld and GO! Creative, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Arena Stage, theShakespeare Theatre, McGuire Associates, Joyce Page and Ms. Printing, Tollefson & Gustini Investment
Management, our friends at Popeye’s on Malcolm X Avenue, Gregory Auger, George and Lenore Cohen,
Lee E. Epps, Tom and Carolyn Grey, Mark Hollinger and Kathy McNeil Hollinger, Frances Horn, Lynne
and Joseph Horning, Betsy Karel and the Lodestar Fund, Gay and Charlie Lord, Judine Slaughter, Mr. andMrs. Ladislaus Von Hoffman, Richard Thompson, 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: Mary Ann Brownlow, Dr. Susan Gerson, Bernie Horn, Kathleen Huston, Michael Joy, Joan
Kennan, Bill Newlin, Raina Rose Tagle, Nancy Schwalb, Kirsten Tollefson, and Jamila Wade.
We would also like to thank the following administrators, teachers, and staff who are our partners in thisendeavor: Principal Willie Bennett; Assistant Principals Ms. Kimberly Douglas and Mr. Shawn Pelote; Ms.
Katherine Bucholtz, Ms. Gloria Fergusson, Ms. Carolyn Jackson, Mr. Malvaux, Ms. Terrie Spann-Tchama,Ms. Eleanor Seale, Ms. Pamela McKinney, Ms. Ann Brogioli, and Ms. Maevern Williams.

3InsideLuqman Abdullah
What Dreams Are Made of ....................................................................................................... 39
His Mom Would Tell Him ......................................................................................................... 39
Maryum Abdullah The Journey of My Dreams ............................................................................... 31
Shannon Allen My Life................................................................................................................. 23
Antonio Alston My Life ................................................................................................................ 60
Marquell Bethea New Year’s Eve .................................................................................................... 40
Antoinette Better
Riff About My Father ............................................................................................................... 18
Today’s News ........................................................................................................................... 53
Mistakes .�
55
Stelita Better My Life .................................................................................................................... 20
Danielle Blake
In the Midst of Life ..................................................................................................................... 9
Tinkerbell ............................................................................................................................... 31
The Inner Me .......................................................................................................................... 32
My Dream .............................................................................................................................. 33
You’ve Been There .................................................................................................................... 56
Denisha Bolden To be found.......................................................................................................... 45
Natia Boyd I Wish ........................................................................................................................ 28
Aaron Montel Brooks
My Dream .............................................................................................................................. 37
Colorful ..�
37
My Ode to the Toilet................................................................................................................. 37
Eye of the Tiger ....................................................................................................................... 38
Jada Brooks I Am ......................................................................................................................... 23
Antonio Brown Who I Want to Be Like .......................................................................................... 55
David Brown In Ten Years ............................................................................................................. 32
Jamal Buggs
Many Years ............................................................................................................................. 15
Eyes you don’t have .................................................................................................................. 21
Almus Bush
Eternal thinking....................................................................................................................... 24
My Life ...�24
Kiera Butler
Suffocating .............................................................................................................................. 32
A Dream .�
58
Curtis Canty I Am ........................................................................................................................ 61
Lawrence Carter
Poetry is .�
54
Wisdom ..�
59
Dearah Chappell Smiling .............................................................................................................. 26
Jamal Clark
My Letter to a Relative in Jail ................................................................................................... 48
Ars Poetica #1 ......................................................................................................................... 48

4

Reginald Conway
Burning Souls......................................................................................................................... 10
A Poet ...�34
My World .............................................................................................................................. 35
The Designed Dream .............................................................................................................. 36
Jamal Conyers A Dream ............................................................................................................... 16
Dominique Courtney I Show Love By............................................................................................ 51
Alishia Davis Living with Anger ..................................................................................................... 49
Markiya Davis Anger .................................................................................................................... 30
Lance Favors Show love ................................................................................................................ 60
Sean Favors Dragging ................................................................................................................... 24
Anastasia Fleming
Slave .....�
52
My Thinking AKA Pain ........................................................................................................... 52
Jaquan Footman Summertime....................................................................................................... 60
Sherita Grady I Am ...................................................................................................................... 48
Martha Hardman Untitled ............................................................................................................ 61
Andrea Hermans Newborn Child .................................................................................................. 27
Jasper Hicks
Norfolk, VA ........................................................................................................................... 50
Sleep .....�
58
Pauline Holsinger Go Through ...................................................................................................... 55
Shamia House
The Peace Maker.................................................................................................................... 12
The Hunger Mob .................................................................................................................... 12
Isaiah Jackson Untitled ................................................................................................................. 60
Quanika Jackson Trying to Arrive on the New Year ’07 ................................................................... 29
Richard Jackson My day in North Carolina .................................................................................... 63
Trevon Jackson
Today’s News ......................................................................................................................... 49
Football .�
49
Ars Poetica #100: Congress Park ............................................................................................. 50
Earl James Dreams are dreams for a reason .................................................................................... 44
Brittany Johnson Wake up ............................................................................................................ 59
Dominique Johnson Kaleidoscope ................................................................................................. 43
Marcus Johnson Girls .................................................................................................................. 58
Shaiski Johnson
Momento ............................................................................................................................... 13
Kaleidoscope .......................................................................................................................... 25
New Year ............................................................................................................................... 27
Delvonte Jones
Dear Dad .............................................................................................................................. 50
I Want Our Neighborhood to Be Built Up Better ........................................................................ 51
Football .�
52
Yasmin Jones
Empty Souls ........................................................................................................................... 14
Everyday Life......................................................................................................................... 17
Anger ....�
19
Homeland.............................................................................................................................. 19

5

InsideDamon Kee
Beware ...�19
My World ............................................................................................................................... 20
From One to Another ............................................................................................................... 20
Gone ......�
21
Nichell Kee
Horrors...�
11
The stillness ............................................................................................................................ 40
The Window............................................................................................................................ 41
When I sleep ........................................................................................................................... 42
Manaiza Kelley Who Am I? ........................................................................................................... 57
Damian Lee Show Love ................................................................................................................. 56
Shantice Matthews My Life Today ................................................................................................. 28
Marvin McDowell Joyful .............................................................................................................. 29
Jannett McKoy
The Beautiful Woman ............................................................................................................... 57
Dreaming�
59
Kiana Murphy
Walking into a Nightmare ........................................................................................................... 9
A Dream .�
13
I Was Not There ...................................................................................................................... 15
Portia Spreewell ...................................................................................................................... 18
Jasmine Murray
My Darkness ........................................................................................................................... 14
Never Shall I Forget ................................................................................................................. 16
My Philosophy ......................................................................................................................... 17
Terrance Nails Little Girl and the Squirrel ...................................................................................... 54
Mark Neal New Creations ............................................................................................................. 24
Colleta Paylor An Incomplete List of People I Wish Were Alive ......................................................... 54
Kiarra Payton What Is Love Without a Dream ................................................................................ 44
Latia Pimble My Lovely Dream ..................................................................................................... 44
Quintin Pimble My life is like ....................................................................................................... 62
Keona Powell Just Beautiful .......................................................................................................... 46
Marquette Price The Struggle ........................................................................................................ 46
Eric Quarles
A Special Woman..................................................................................................................... 56
My Pain ..�
59
Who I Am ............................................................................................................................... 63
Keyosha Richardson Fiery............................................................................................................ 30
Myah Robertson Memory ............................................................................................................. 12
Brittney Savoy
unknown .�
34
I come and stand ..................................................................................................................... 45
Keishawna Simms All I Can Do Is Write About It ........................................................................... 43
Bnyonka Simpkins
Forced to March ...................................................................................................................... 11
Anacostia River ....................................................................................................................... 40
My Gaze .�
41Demarco Singleton Untitled ......................................................................................................... 626

Monae Smith
Hangin’ Out Wit’ Friends ......................................................................................................... 47
You Figure it Out ..................................................................................................................... 54
Monae’s Day ........................................................................................................................... 61
Pleading Triumph .................................................................................................................... 62
Beatrice Smoot
On Park Street ........................................................................................................................ 21
Desdemona Scott ..................................................................................................................... 22
Jessica Smoot Rashida McDonald .................................................................................................. 22
Antonio Spencer
I’m Burning into the New Year .................................................................................................. 26
The Light of Nature .................................................................................................................. 28
Ashley Stevenson
Remember............................................................................................................................... 11
Philosophy .............................................................................................................................. 43
This is how I show love, I show love by ....................................................................................... 57
Danielle Stover Sadness ................................................................................................................ 46
Tierra Thornton What They Mean ................................................................................................ 38
DeJon Tucker Suffering in Silence .................................................................................................. 41
Tionna Wade
Listen! ....�
10Life Is a Journey ...................................................................................................................... 35
Vincent Walker In my mind .......................................................................................................... 28
Jamie Warren Soul ....................................................................................................................... 33
Donna Washington
A Poem for Myself ................................................................................................................... 50
What Should Be on the News .................................................................................................... 51
Theodore Washington Dear Father .............................................................................................. 46
Brittany Watkins
She Runs and Hides ................................................................................................................. 42
The Window............................................................................................................................ 45
Larry West Questions for God ........................................................................................................ 47
Kaniece Whitaker The Forest ........................................................................................................ 42
Thomas Whitney
My Gaze on the World ............................................................................................................. 25
I See .......�
26
Darien Wilkins My Emotions ........................................................................................................ 31
Amber Williams A More Grown Life .............................................................................................. 53
Nicole Williams I Am Your Sun ..................................................................................................... 47
Renita Williams
Writing Poetry ......................................................................................................................... 18
My Place.�
22
Trustworthy............................................................................................................................. 23
Sequan Wilson Lost Souls ............................................................................................................. 10
Dimitrius Winters New Year ......................................................................................................... 27
Joseph Woodard An Incomplete List of People I Wish Were My Teacher ............................................ 53
Beverly Wright Colors .................................................................................................................. 29
Emmanuel Youman Rap It Up ...................................................................................................... 38

7

On the bus to the
Holocaust Museum,foreground Mark Neal

Ja’Quan Newsome at
the Tile Wall

Sequan Wilson

8

D
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In the Midst of Life

Walking into a Nightmare
Hate. Disgust. Grief and shame.
These are the feelings—of me.
As I enter into a sudden silence. Darkness.
Of a memory that belongs to more than six million.

In the midst of life
they were burned to their souls
they went through hell and deceit
as their lives were taken away
The weeping of the people and theinnocent children.
As the nightfall arose,they were just minding their business,when the Nazis wanted to be cruelbecause of who people are.
It was horrifying, the voices of people
and theinnocent children
who lost their lives because of identity.
And when they came, their suitcases
were taken away from them.
They will be missed by the weeping
eyes of their loved ones.
Danielle Blake

I live the life of others for only a few hours.
But it feels as if I am the life.
Walking for my freedom through a couple of miles.
The opening ﬂames over innocent souls
bring tears to my eyes, that seem to ﬂow
onto burned, lifeless bodies
buried beneath my feet.
As I walk through other peoples’ lives
I seem to hear them scream for help.
Survival. Their lives.
But I have a fear of waking up into this dream.
Of being treated this way, told to do this or that.
Knowing when I’m going to die.
Seeing fear before my own eyes.
This is all a dream, ﬂickering within my mind.
But I choose to never again treat people as if they were a sin.
Kiana Murphy

9Burning Souls
Never shall this nightmare live again.
Childhood memories being burned on train tracks
long gone.
The ﬂames burn with horroras Nazis laugh with sinister voices.
Never again shall a bystander standwith grief and shame.
We will not walk
down the path of fear.
Weary bodies being worked to death,golden stars being stitched on
hard crusted jackets,
the dark buds cry for the hungry bodies,
numbers of people being killed everyday,
the shadows of souls ﬂoating in the sky.
Never shall this happen again.
Reginald Conway

Lost Souls
The ruler that brought us grief and shame
couldn’t take away the long-gone pain.
Jews’ grief didn’t end, for them hope is lost.
The heartless ruler would truly pay the cost.
He presented the Jews their unmarked graves.
Nazis treated them like monsters enslaved.
“The Jews are evil!” the Germans were told,
they just do not know about the Jews’ lost souls.
Sequan Wilson

10

Listen!
Burning souls
and never forgotten memories
follow me in my shadows
unmarked graves and wounded soldiers
dirty, hungry and ﬁlled with the worst sickness
Listen!
Listen!
Our history is before us
so wicked and full of fear
terror is so bad the sun cries tears
their childhoods are full of darkness,grief and shameso much hard, departed pain
unhappy, broken windows and broken glass
Thank you God
Thank you God
Here’s the golden star
we’re free
we’re free
we’re free at last.
Tionna Wade

Forced to MarchI don’t belong here
in these empty rooms. Listen!
My eyes and hands are ashes.
I believe that all children should
know the truth. We are forced to marchwith millions of soldiers, andwith barbed wire on our walls.
I hear voices, wounds I see on
different types of bodies.
I don’t belong here
in these empty rooms.

Ja
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Bnyonka Simpkins

Horrors

Remember

The burning souls have risen from the shoes.
Unmarked graves ﬁlledwith rotting bodies
Nazi soldiers standing on themlaughing in the blinding darkness
The strangeness of the wounded family’s
spirit is in the air.
They won’t rest until they get revenge.
The ﬁlth of the bodies smell is now
lingering in the air. A witness, a young girlfrightened by the sight of her motherbeing shot in the head.
The horrors of the bottomless pitof a rectangular box of nothingness
until it is suddenly ﬁlled with all kinds of people.

Jews were put into ghettos
The suitcases were thrown on the train tracks
The Jews heard the Nazis footsteps
Jews are remembered
Many Jews survived
Never again will this happen
Ashley Stevenson

Nichell Kee

11

The Peace Maker
As I wished for a better place,it never came true.
Golden gates, crystal rivers,
ponds, pools, and seas
horses and ponies galloping aroundas if they were busses or trainsa glorious sky to look up upon
Hunting down ﬂowers in a fresh garden
with posies, daisies, tulips, daffodils,dandelions, and sunﬂowers.
Peace, no guns.
Staying alive, no knives.
No killing, no prisons.
Longest labors, shorter death.
Heroic mist coming to make my dreams come true—
Suddenly it’s time to awake,and as you walk outside, it’s just how you dreamed of it.
Shamia House

MemoryNever shall I forget
I shouldn’t be here
The Jews and their pain
Death, sickness
Yesterday’s soldiers, today’s ashes
Hidden in this grey smokewith scars and wounds of fear
Innocent bystanders
become millions and millionsof unheard voices
Myah Robertson

The Hunger Mob
As we want more, they want less.
As we take, they give.
As we ﬁght, they surrender.
They always take our pride and dignity.
And we take back what’s left of us.
The Hunger Mob wears only either
orange, yellow, tan or white.
The Hunger Mob protects what they got.
The Hunger Mob has dogs, but only for trespassers.
The Hunger Mob eats what they feel.
Shamia House

12

A Dream
I look through my glasses,
seeing a wannabe world.
Instead of bursting into an eternal mist
it will be torn into a glorious aftermath.

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I abandon the reality of the wrong things in the world—
the guns, the ﬁghting,the racism upon the atmosphere
I see getting along, and peace around the world
through the lenses of the made-up world.

so n

The heroic soldiers are under a roof of love and carerather than bombs coming from elsewhere.
Lives will last for an eternity, not for two seconds
upon the earth’s layer.
But when I take the glasses off
it will turn back to reality,
under many tragedies
Thinking that violence is the world’s sanctuary.
Kiana Murphy

MomentoListen, can you hear the broken glass in the hallway
The empty rooms in the house
The people struggling in the sun’s tears
The Jews dying and being buried
Their scars, the wounds
Weeping in blindness and fear
Behind the wall, so forgotten
The struggle of burned cares
In hidden footsteps of the Jews
Remember their voices
In the darkness of the departed
Soldiers, ﬂames, marching on the innocent
Millions of children
Shaiski Johnson

13

My Darkness
My darkness is forgotten souls,
closed eyes, and unmarked graves
like broken glass just hitting the ﬂoor
like a bottomless pit of grief,
shame, anger, fear and worry.
My darkness follows me wherever I go
My darkness is like a person stalking me,
waiting and watching my every move
I can’t get away from its silent, weary shadow
When it’s around, I am on ﬁre, and I’m unhappy.
My darkness is burning horrors,
long-gone sickness, and departed dust
like the unknown witnesses of extreme ﬁlth
At night, the sun’s tears turn into golden stars
being scattered in the night sky
My darkness is destruction and collapsed buildings
But in the end, my darkness eats me alive.
Jasmine Murray

Empty Souls
Souls that feel like ﬁlth
Souls that were ﬁlled with hunger, grief, and unhappiness
All of these souls were silent in the darkness of an unlit candle.
Lots of souls wounded with sickness
The fear of souls saying never again
Flame and pain from Jews
Not wanting to think about their long-lost childhoods.
Yasmin Jones

14

I Was Not ThereI was not there to see all of this.
The scars. The wounds. The fears.
I am only three years old.
So what am I supposed to know?

toAn

i nette B etter

I’m hiding out in my room, under the bed.
My family doesn’t know I am still here.
Barefoot. Buried underneath all of my toys.
They took my family...
But I don’t know why.
All I could see was marching boots.
So all I could do was cry. Silently.
I’m in here, hungry.
But really don’t carecause my eyes are deceiving me
sending me into a nightmare.
Now it’s twenty years laterand I am twenty-three.
But I will never forget
what the Holocaust did to me.
They took away my family.
My home. My future.
It gave me a history.
Shifted me into reality.
Those Nazis. Those Jews.
Those train tracks. Camps. Nightfall.
And then again.
Those uniforms. Those boxcars.
The weaping. The silence.
Burned. Strangers. Blindness.
The voices. Those suitcases... Those suitcases.
But I’m a survivor.
I’m tryin’ to tell my story.
It’s what I went through. My storm.
So all of this is forgotten.
And this has all been a dream. A memory.
I walk with my head held high.
Stepping on all those hell times in my life.
Kiana Murphy

Many Years
Tortured people, armyand everywhere
dealing with rejection, prejudice, and death.
Grief and shame on a still night
Darkness, wounding and weeping
Unhappy people know that they are going to die.
And if you’re silent, you can hear the screams,
the bullets out of a gun
and the ashes below in the windof a man that was unappreciated.
Star of David, a gold star that is guarded
by the north star, they both show
the right way, you can believe in it.
Sick Nazis demanding what they want
but with faith, we will ﬁght back.
Jamal Buggs

15

Never Shall I Forget
Never shall I forget my grandmother’s closed eyes.
Her death will scar me forever
And never again will I hear her say
listen and wait
All the faces at her burial groundand I can see into their hearts
Never shall I forget her empty room
once full of life
But now it’s a gray haze, blue-black broken glass
I step into the room and start to cry
I not only cry, but I cry the sun’s tears
The clouds of memories, pain, and departed doubt.
Never shall I forget the emptiness of my heart
the farewell of her body as it lay there in the casket
I’m spoiled rotten by her
I still cry from time to time
I’m struggling to have a good life
but I’m weeping with hollow heartbreaks
and the one thing I remember the most is these words,“From ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
You may now commence her body into the grave
Something that was once alive is departed
to a place where she deserved a good rest
I will always reminisce on the memories of my grandmother
Farewell grandma, and you will truly be missed.
I love you.
Jasmine Murray

A DreamWhen I see something
I’ve never seen before
it is a mysteryand I sit and observe
unknown shadows;
I get scared.
Its change is golden.
It looks like a beast.
I run on, and outside.
It was a dream,a dream I had
Jamal Conyers

16

M
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My Philosophy

a rk Ne al, Sea n Fa v ors

My gaze is a mystery, slowly existing
Creation of a distant sunset
It’s my custom to observe
the ancient destiny of my homeland
And sometimes when I’m alone
I talk to my shadow
I tell her my suffering, my pain, my sorrows
From her, I expect the unexpected
And what I see is a boy and a girl,afraid to speak their feelings
They both love each other,
but are afraid of the unknown
And I’m very good at love, honor, and trust
because I know that I’m lucky
because I have someone to love
I’m never unheard, and I’m never unloved
I’m capable of motherly loveand I’m used to being spoiled rotten
I believe in love, respect, honesty, and trust
Love is nothing but an emotion
Respect is the way you treat people
Honesty is huge
If you aren’t honest, no one will trust you
Trust is enormous
If you make a promise and don’t keep it
you lose someone’s trust
The world wasn’t made for us to lie,
torture, hurt, or beat
The world was made for us to love each other
If I speak of misery, it’s not because I’m sad
It’s because I’m just trying to pick up
the pieces of my life
To love is a defeat, or someone beat you in a battle
To love is to make sacriﬁces

Everyday Life
There’s a boy sitting at a desk
admiring the clock ticking on the wall
while staring at the little black girlwith the pretty long black braids.
The girl is wearing thick glasses,
so thick she can look into the future.
While the girl is not paying attention to the little boy,she is daydreaming of her rotten fruits in her fridge.
Her voice is unheard and unloved;
Words stuck in her mouth won’t come out
and she’s still feeling like jetsam in polluted water
but this is her everyday life.
Yasmin Jones

Jasmine Murray

17

Portia Spreewell
A lady that is made of onions
on the insidebecause of her sour attitude.
Her clothes are out of style,checkered skirt, plaid shirt
and green and purple socks to top it off.
Her head is smaller than an acorn
but she chooses
to wear oversized hats.
She wears sandals with socks
and likes to dance
but can’t stop.

Writing Poetry
Books are better than bowlingLove is like lined paper
Words are like falling winter snow
Writing is like a speeding cheetah
Reading is like frozen ice
Lined paper is like a kiss of the sun
It burns like words crawling in my ﬁngertips
Renita Williams

She dances until dawn (or until her feet hurt)goes to sleep in bunny pajamas
and knows they are too small for her.
All the food is rotten
because she could care less if her food was either
fresh or twelve years old.
Her mind is blankbecause all she thinks of is dancing
and what she will wear the next day.
Portia Spreewell doesn’t like her nameso she changes it into a dancing name,“Disco.”But in her ﬁlthy heart
she still loves what she does
dancing until dawn.
Kiana Murphy

Riff About My Father
Sitting there with fear yellingat the top of his lungs
Whispers between the walls
Floor shaking
Deep tables slammed with a ﬁstStanding on the stairs
a little girlstaring at the father
breathing with anger
But as he looks at the sweet sugar chocolate pie
he really sees his baby
white cold ice going down her lips
Antoinette Better

18

AngerJa marren celebrates Hall
owe
ie W

en

Anger is like ﬁre,ﬁre from a burning house.
Anger will rot in your mouth
like spoiled milk that has been in the fridge for three months.
Anger might eat your lungs
when you drink a nice cold glass of water.
Anger will ﬁll your body with fear,
fear to never be happy again
Anger is not good for the soul.
Yasmin Jones

BewareMy life is a silver dagger
used by a madman
bent on killing and destroying mankind.
It is darkness in a golden light.
The knife of danger tells you to back up.
The blade of power, overthrowing everything
the handle of speed stabs very quickly.
My silver dagger of despair will obliterate and annihilate
every human and animal that tries to stop, hurt,
or make me eat brussels sprouts.
My one-way ticket to death dagger is very powerful.
The thing you need to watch for is not the dagger, but me.
Damon Kee

HomelandIf the world was the darkness of a shadow
Perhaps the universal sunset of mystery will move;
Slowly overﬂowing with triumph and maybe death
Suffering for many different reasons.
While observing unknown destiny outside of this orbit
Your soul speaks out your tranquil thoughts of the ancient.
Yasmin Jones

19

My World
My world will consist of everyone
and no violence, no killingand every person will have a soul mate.
The world we live in is unstable,
unﬁt for the universe.
A big blanket of sorrow over a planetthat does not belong.
The earth’s people are unfair and unjust.
We need to create a perfect world
and I know they say everyone is not perfect,
but let’s prove them wrong.
Just one can change the world and that one is me,
so listen up and follow my rules so this world
can be what it’s supposed to be.
But this is only the beginning of my greatest dream ever.
Damon Kee

From One to Another
My unhappy world turns
From misery and woe to just plain awful
The grief I share with my soul—
If you tempt it, the cup will tip over
And the broken glass will turn to anger
The ﬁerce emotion shall come to grips with reality
My horrible rage with its massive energy
The hatred for the world will turn to
A burning inﬁnite ﬂame of decision
My fury will subside into a tiny ﬂame and eventually extinguish
A happy feeling will comeFrom a candle as bright as a gold star
Shining in the age of darkness
Then with a shimmering tear in the eye of the people
I say, the world is actually a cool place to live
Damon Kee20

My Life
I got sickness in my life.
My life is unhappy.
I have burning in my life.
I see souls all around me.
I feel broken glasses.
I light up a candle.
My childhood is not good.
I see darkness in my room.
I listen to sounds.
I see ﬂames when I walk.
I’ve forgotten everything.
The sun’s tears are in my eyes.
I close my eyes.
I think about my life.
Stelita Better

Ni c

h ell

K ee

Eyes you don’t have
Is my gaze clear?
Living the life of a person
who is low-down and depressed
walking the streets of a worldthat was once natureturned into a rubbish wasteland.
My philosophy is not to worry about me
Conduct the feeling that life is short
Use it well
To me, life is just a seed in the world we call home.

Gone
Some things are better left unsaid
The reason for this is that my dreamthat was supposed to be real
didn’t appear in front of me
My dream did not become a reality
The ﬂight of a bird is a beautiful sight
I wish I could ﬂy
The sight of a beautiful young animal is great
I wish I was there
Basically, I’m saying
I can’t do things that people expect me to do
I can’t ﬂy. I can’t be a beautiful young animal,
or even an astronaut.
But the life I live is a boring one
full of things that I can’t do
I’m supposed to be a great person
I’m just not there yet
A dark past is revealed and forgiven
Forgotten, gone

I believe in believing
and as I believe
hopefully, so can you.
Jamal Buggs

On Park Street
On Park Street
there was a parade of famous people
just giving people moneyfor being their fans.
Each person would get
ten million dollars;that meant everybody on the street
was rich, and they moved out
so nobody lived on Park Street.
Beatrice Smoot

Damon Kee

21

Rashida McDonald
Rashida McDonald has ﬁfteen dogs that hate her.
She thinks that they love her dearly.
She eats rotten cheese for dinner and moldy grapes for breakfast.
The only friends she has are the ants in the refrigerator.
Her job pays her one million dollars an hour.
She’s an actress—she works in comedies, movies and reality shows.
She decided to go to the army, but she ended up doing a movie about the army.
The title was chocolate chip.
She ﬁnally decided to eat healthy food.
Jessica SmootMy Place
The injured animal crackers poster burned from stressThat blackboard freezes from torture
That unloved book remains rotten, pity.
Look to the left—
Don’t you see an unheard stillness from computers?
The ﬂotsam words and kids jetsam into seats
Look to the right, what do you see?
Cherubs giggling and seraphim nod with a smile
The dictionary religion is recovering from lullabies
So if you dare to come in my poetic room
Without poetic thoughts
You’ll be sorry.
Renita Williams

Desdemona Scott
Desdemona Scott eats oranges with peanut butter.
Every night she would cartwheel, until she broke her wrist.
She also has ﬁve rattlesnakes and two rats that eat rice.
Desdemona Scott doesn’t have a job, but she ﬁnds ﬁve cents a day.
Desdemona lives in a dirt hole next to the Empire State Building.
In her dirt hole, she has one broken chair and a rug made out of grass.
Desdemona’s teeth are very dirty, and termites crawl in her mouth.
She doesn’t mind living like this.
She could live better, but she never goes out looking for a job.
Beatrice Smoot22

My Life
I believe in death because the parents you love died.
And you won’t see that person again.
It is a mystery that some kids can’t
ﬁnd their mothers and fathers.
This little girl is looking out of the window
trying to ﬁgure out what happened to her father.
This little boy is calling his motherand it seems that he doesn’t exist.

Kl-r:

i an aMurphy, Nichell K

eeShannon Allen

Trustworthy
I am bursting with faithopen soothing heart that’s covered with weakness
I strut down these hallways like a Supreme
I worry about tragic things going on
I get very exhausted thinking of death
Something is haunting me that’s called love
I’m scared
Blood ﬂowing through my bones
telling me stop worrying about amorous feelings falling apart
If I open my soul to you, will you crush it?
My sorrow’s tears ﬁlled with cement
so heavy it pulls my neck forward
so my tears can break it
Renita Williams

I Am
I am a little girl.
I like to laugh.
I dream I will become a princess.
I like to watch the moon.
I love diamonds.
I love the clear blue.
I’m not fat!
I’m smarter than a bee with honey.
Jada Brooks

23

New Creations
It is my custom to live in eternal darkness
with no clue of my destiny
and the unknown ruins of my homeland
slowly watching the arrivalof worlds to come.
I believe in mysteries
and slowly observing the worldchange into a new world
a world where there’s no ﬁghting
and no killingand new creations.
Mark Neal

My Life
Falling rose and cherry blossoms
red and blue birds
and a circle of hopeThis is my life, calling
like a ringing cell phone
Trees fall, just like my life
turning and ﬂipping,jumping and skipping
My heart is so black
Why is my life like you?
Almus Bush

Eternal thinking
My gaze is like a mystery of darkness
realized by the afternoon sky
the redness standing for the hurt in my life
my soul is weakThis is the reason for my eternal thinking
Almus Bush

Dragging
Dragging, the old years are on my backIt is hard to get them off
Every time I drag something forward
my past comes back to haunt melike a ghost
I am dragging all these heavy things of my past—
memories of when I had a castand the only way to get it off and get throughis to do what I am supposed to do
Sean Favors

24Kaleidoscope

Da

niel

le Blake

Stars into blue ﬂies,
hearts to red tigers
crawling into stretching gold cheetahs
into green shoes.
Socks falling from the sky
black D’s leading into purple ovals,
soda into glowing
into ghosts howling in the darkness.
Flight of the hurricane
into blindness.
Heat, laughter of the silent guitar,
moonlight into shining feathers.
Shaiski Johnson

My Gaze on the World
My gaze is slowly singing songs of love.
People suffering, because of people passing awayfrom families and friends.
I think about the world becoming peaceful and nice,no more violence and death.
I think about going to a neat and ordinary schoolwith no violence and all that ﬁghting
and getting jumped after school.
I think about what’s going to happen
to my family when I’m not around them.
I think about all the unfortunate people
and all the stuff we have
and what I should be proud to have.
I think about the pain in people’s eyes when I look into them.
I see the darkness in people’s hearts
when something that was unexpected happens.
I see the souls of all the people who passed before me
I see the shadow of me
and imagine how it’s going to look in a few years.
I’m sad when the love and happiness in people’s eyes leave.
I see the anger in people’s eyes every time I see death.
It looks like they want to seek revenge for the one who caused it.
Thomas Whitney25

I SeeI see a gold rose running into a silver sunﬂower
I see a jumping tiger leaping into a pile of green snow
I see a tall white oak tree playing with red lions
I see a red and silver bird ﬂying into a golden sky
I see a tall redwood with lots of colorful lights
I see a palace full of ﬂaming stars
I see a velvet tiger rolling in moonlit shadow
I see a bronze bird ﬂying through an ocean of souls
I see a staircase of unbelievable colors
I see moonlight, a candle with silver, gold and green ﬂames
brightening the everlasting rose
Thomas Whitney

Smiling
Smiling is like stepping a foot up.
Smiling is just like me, ﬂying high in the sky,
Dancing, tiptoeing, like a ballet dancer.
My smile is like joy that comes from a new year—
Yes, it is a new year.
And I’m smiling for a great, crushing and loving new year.
No, don’t storm, don’t let the leaves fall;It’s a new year.
Just have a bouncing, joyful new year.
Dearah Chappell

I’m Burning into the New YearI’m burning into the New Yearleaving all the heartbreaking years behind me
telling everyone I forgive them,struggling—every time I try to leavesomething keeps pulling me back.
What I once was, I will become.
Antonio Spencer

26

New Year

Da

niel

le Blake

I am burning into a new year
and the old year is ﬁghting backlike a bird ﬂying that I catch in a cage.
I am like a wolf in the night
howling at the moon with a pack of wolves
and I live to win.
Like darkness in the light,
the light in the dark,
I am like the sun and the moon
Shaiski Johnson

New Year

Newborn Child
It is my custom to take care of a newborn childthat likes the color blue-green
and is not afraid of the darkness
and likes to watch the sunset.

Smoking into the New Year,with a ﬁre for English
and burning light of math;bouncing and sliding
with the death of history,
and skating in the halls with ﬂying skates
and tiptoeing to lunch,racing outside and stomping
down the hallway steps,
popping an droppingand showing no fear
because it’s 2007, a New Year is here!
Dimitrius Winters

Because this newborn child’s life is not so endless,and I will ﬁll the dream with his destiny
Because I love him so much and it is not his soul that gets me
it is his joy that’s sweet.
He came into this world living with his own family
Now I have to go, I said
into my little cocoon, which is the sunﬂower
Bye, I said. Bye.
Andrea Hermans

27

The Light of Nature
Red hearts unfold like ﬂowers
before they open to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness,drive the dark of doubt away.
Giver of immortal gladness,
ﬁll me with the light of day.
Overﬂowing my everlasting laughter,my shadow changes around me,
my existing soul suffering.
The sunset goes down on me.
Antonio Spencer

In my mind
Twisting red and yellow tulips
into star shapes.
Shouting through a green rectangle.
Playing with a bluebird on top of an oak tree.
Yellow ﬁreﬂies playing with a plastic red rose.
Vincent Walker

My Life Today
In the darkness, I stand.
Looking, saying who is this?
Why are people acting like that to me?
I see my shadow and sayWhere did the life go in Shantice?
My friends in the distancefrom now on.
The reason why I write this poem
is because of a person in my school
who was my best friend, and theunexpected happened:
The friendship stopped.
I think I should cry, but if I stop being me
I will not be able to go on with my life.
I know my days are counted,
so I’m going on with my life.
Sometimes I wish I was not born.
Shantice Matthews

I WishI wish I was a singer with a song’s nameI had a dream
I was in an old country cluband it goes like this:weary, haunting, tragic
I am torn in my life
my life is gone now
it is the end of the year of ‘06
it is going on ‘07
it’s going to be fun
and the new life of me has comemy mother is back homethe club, the old country club
Natia Boyd28

Trying to Arrive in the New Year ‘07ymRao nd Rey no lds

I am falling into the New Yearand I don’t wanna lean back,like the gum on the bottom of my shoe.
I’m stomping instead of runningaround the track,as all my old problems won’t leave.
I’m on my knees crying and begging
please, I’m peeking around the cornerso that I can see if last year is gone,
so if the new one has arrived
I won’t be alone.
Quanika Jackson

JoyfulIf Joyful is a person
she is always smiling.
She wears bright and colorful clothes
every day.
If you try to hurt her
she will kill you with kindness.
If you try to bug her
she will ask you to go away, with a smile.
And she would walk away with a nice attitude.
What Joyful is like:a bright rainbow that wears a white T-shirt
with bluejeans.
And she rides a Lincoln Navigatorhas a nice house.
If I was Joyful, I would have a great life.
Marvin McDowellColorscrimsoncherries
getting washedgoing in your mouthlavendergrapeschilling in thecontainer
getting ready to rot
azure
jeans
hanging in the closet
getting put on
Beverly Wright29

AngerAnger lives in a broken downhome of a barn
for breakfast, it eats hard nails and lemon juice
anger is a killer, ﬁghter, a threat
to all people
it has a vicious Rottweiler for a petanger drives a torn up car with thepaint coming off and no rims
When you look at anger
it might make you itchor maybe dieanger looks in the mirror atits horrible face
anger wears ugly clothes with rips and tears
has cuts on its face
blood rushing down its bodyanger is mean, wrong, hurtful
unpleasantbut sometimes
I love anger
Markiya DavisFiery
ﬁery is a feelinginside of me
when I get mad at people
when I get out of handﬁery is like a ferocious lion
that hasn’t eaten in three years
ﬁery is like me eating a plateof hot chili peppers
ﬁery is like the devil eating me alive
like a bowl of chili colossal
ﬁery is like the devil sucking us up
in a ferocious ﬁery tornado
Keyosha Richardson

30

My Emotions

moDen d Park er

If happiness was a person
he would be so happy
he would always be smiling so hardthat he would have a smileon his face even when he was asleep
and he would always have a good attitude
and would have all A’s on his report card
If happiness would wear clothes
he would wear shirts with smiley faces on itin black, white and all other colors
and he would eat wafﬂes and pancakeswith smiley white syrup and would
drive a light blue limousine witha cloud on the front and rainbows on the backDarien Wilkins

The Journey of My Dreams
This mesmerizing thought of a private pastime,a path that leads to a world undiscovered.
These ideas linger into someone’s twisted fantasy,
which somehow messes up mine completely.
As I speed on to what I’m doing,trying to pursue things unimaginable,
things that frighten them to think about,but make me brave enough to be about it.

Tinkerbell
Tinkerbell is alaughing earthquake
she cracks things with herlaughter.
Her short green dress is likea light green carnationin the nice spring breeze.
Her hair is the pollen of thisbeautiful ﬂower.
On the other side of Tinkerbell
is an erupted volcano.
She can be feisty and rude.
She will sprinkle her magicalglitter on you to make you sleep,
so don’t mess with Tinkerbell
or her magic will do the trick.
Danielle Blake

My fascination with this weird fantasyland
is like a vacation from reality,
some sort of acquired tastethat takes long to get used to.
Maryum Abdullah

31

The Inner Me
I am climbing up a mountain
It is very cold
I sit on top of it while
The sun is going down
The trees are waving hard
And leaning to the side
Like they are dancing and performing
In front of a crowd
The royal blue sky is making me
Sad
When I look at the top yellow mountain
It makes me smile
When I see the snow, it reminds me of
Crystals sparkling on a beautiful dress
The snow is very deep
I am sinking
And snow is getting in my boots
Now as I am getting ready to leave
I take a look back at the mountainTo see that it is very beautiful
And it will always be there

Suffocating
I am suffocating
And I just need to breathe
I am suffocating
And I just need to be relieved
Nothing I do is right
Nothing they say is fair
I cry and scream and throw a ﬁt
But no one seems to care
I can’t do what I want
I can’t stay out late
So now I sit here and write this poem
To release my pain and hate

Danielle Blake

No one will look far enough
Because I’m lost in my mind
No one will search beyond my looks
To see what they might ﬁnd

In Ten Years

I’m still suffocating
And I still need to breathe
I’m still suffocating
And I…must…be…relieved

In ten years I hope to be a rich man
In ten years I hope I will be alive
In ten years I hope to have a good job
In ten years I hope to have a very big mansion
In ten years I hope to have a good college to go to
In ten years I hope to have a police badge
In ten years I hope I will have my friends
In ten years I hope to still have my pets
In ten years I hope I will still have my life
David Brown

32

Kiera ButlerSoul
My soul is likea dark placethat won’t stophurting my soulunknown, my soulis changing
into a sunset
in school or outsideof its shadow.
Sometimes I wish
that my destiny will
come to my soul
one day.
Slowly I think it
might come to amystery now,
like a blue-green
river that follows
down to homeland.
Unwittingly mysoul is destined
to be a spiralor a golden
conqueror.
My soul is defeatedby the darkness
homelandthat regrets my soulfrom the startof the afternoon.
Jamie Warren

Bry

a nt

Je nifer

My DreamMy dream isfurther away than I imagine
It’s not that easy to get to
I am struggling with my dream
It seems like no one cares
I wonder if my dream will
be worth living someday
It will take me further than
my mind is reﬂecting
DreamsDreams, oh the wonderful dreams
I believe that my dream is out there
waiting for me
And I believe in myself
That I can and will
go a long way.
Danielle Blake

33

A Poetpencils draftinga paper being taunted
while the lead is coming down like a waterfall
the pencil writes like the tempo in a songthe paper is still being stabbed by the pencil’s
every movement
the pencil is the basketballand the paper is the hoop
the pencil moves with no hesitation
the pencil makes rhymes as if it wascelebrating words
The lines on the paper blind mewith its rejoicing words
as I read them they pop out likekids on a playgroundthe words come together
in a poem like a blueprint design
and behind this design
is a poet
Reginald Conway

unknownnights of thundernights of frighttrying to relax
to see tomorrow
everything was private
it seems like it all
was melting away
I feel everything fading
I fear no absence
I wake up as a different person
as I was in my dreams
Brittney Savoy

34

Life Is a Journey
ShaLife is a journeystruggle through the storm.
Sometimes it is hard to form
the way you want to live it.

m ia

H ou sePeople get in trouble
then they chew it up and spit.
After all that it’s probably hardto get through it.
Some people give up
and let go of hope.
Life should be tightlike new shoes or a new bike.
There are people out herethat are successful you know.
Once you ﬁnish,
you can tie it up in a bow.
Tionna Wade

My World
I look towards the crowd
Talking into the microphone with a heroic voice
My words are going through torn heads like a blow of wind
None of my words are left abandoned
Instead they rest in the soothing memories ofpeople’s heads
And soon we start to see a change inthe world, for violence becomes peace
The prison rate goes downhill
This is my world of striving dreams
There are no more enormous tragedies
This is my oasis
Instead of physical confrontation
There is bursting love
The strut of prejudice is ending
While the march of joyfulness is starting
There are no more crying eyes
But instead preaching souls
This is my place
My dream
My world
Reginald Conway

35

The Designed Dream1
My eyes close
as I fall to sleep
My dream isdesigned like a candle
The shine of it is likethe glance of tomorrow
2
As I dream theheartless ﬂame
melts away my dreams
like ﬂowing tears
3
But this dream melts
away slowly
into my memory likea truck delivery
4
This dream isbright like
powerful sunlight5
The wind blows andthe light of the candle
is deceased
6
My dream becomesa nightmare
My fears intimidate me
while I am weak36

7
My dreams are
suffering
they are victims
of guilt and regret
8
I see a light
I walk up to it
trembling9
As I walk up
to it, I feela gift of powersuddenly I see it is10
My dream
My candle
My memories
Reginald Conway

My Dream

An

to ni

o Sp encer

My dream ﬂies
it soars so high
the grace, heart and willof the suffering stars
have fallen
But, as it ﬂies
a yawn of a gust of windwhistles my dream to the groundthrust into the horizon
with a jolt of thunder and lightning behind me
I hear an owl’s callthat lights an inﬁnite ﬂame in my soulto the point where fear’s absent
I will ﬂap my wings
I will achieve my dream
Aaron Montel Brooks

Colorful
When bananas go rotten
they sit and turn black
just like I have
my world was gray at once
not knowing the difference between
black, white, yellow, brown.
But now it’s colorful
I can see now
I must take what I deserve
the color of my skindoes not, does not make me a fooland the others who fell into
this colorful world of yours
let them fall, but me,
you will not make a fool of me.

My Ode to the Toilet
Bowl of beauty,
Seat of sitting
Gets no respectfrom the fallingof the paper
to the soundsof a stretch
Give it some love
Give it respect
Give it some pipes
make the rims look wet
shine the handle
and maybe the lid
Make the bowl
look twinkley and maybe you’ll live
you all don’t knowwhat I heard from the ﬂoat
if you don’t respect him
then you’ll die by the bolts
Aaron Montel Brooks

Aaron Montel Brooks

37

What They Mean

Rap It Up

Ceruleanskydarkening and brightening
hugging the earth tightly

Rap is love
to me because
you have feelings
inside ofyour mind
the things you
rap about arefrom your heart
to your brain
to the inside ofyour blood cells
so stay yourself
forever and don’t
ever be a stranger.

Fuchsiasoda
quenching my thirstsmelling good
Violetshoes
walking with me
keeping my feet warm

Emmanuel Youman

Sepia
skin complexion
walking along the earth’s ﬂoor
meeting and greeting people of all skin tones
Vermillion
crayonwriting on a clean sheet of paper
brightening the day
EmeraldMay’sbirthstone
beautifying
Tierra Thornton

Eye of the Tiger
To the sound of the crowd
as they cheer or boo at yourreign as champion
you’ve trained hard, you’ve fought hard
You’ve been beaten, battered and bruised
you have given all your heartand still have the guts to keep ﬁghting
But you’ve lost it
the hunger, the thrill, the eye
You must train harder
You must ﬁght harder
You will be beaten, battered and bruised
worse than ever before
but you must get up
to keep what’s yours
to keep theeye of the tiger
Aaron Montel Brooks

38

What Dreams Are Made of
My dreams are
mysterious, dark as
the clouds but
today I decided
to write them
down. My dreams
are heavy ﬁlledwith fast cars
American dollars andthey go as far
as the stars.
I had million
dollar mansions
expensive fashions.
I had to buy the moonto store it all. Thenafter eating dinnerwith all winners
caviar with the stars
I could afford it all.
But then I woke up in
the real world eating
breakfast, slow cars
with white walls
and all drywall
public schools
with bars, it didn’t last long,what dreams are made ofLuqman Abdullah

l-r:

Qua

nika Jackson, Andrea

He

rm

an

s

His Mom Would Tell Him
His mom would
tell him to go
to sleep but hewas worried about
tomorrow if he would
get to eat.
His mom would tell him
to work harder but
soldiers came by
and started drama.
They told him his mom
was stealing paper every week.
That moment he started to feel
everywhere doubt and deceit.
His mom tried to teach him
addition and subtraction.
You should have seen that face,that empty reaction.
His mom would tell him
to be strong. But after this day,it didn’t last long.
Luqman Abdullah

39Anacostia River
1
Dirty, dirty waves
a rollercoaster2
All the ﬁsh in the sea
just dead as can be
swimming
swimming
3
The boat between the seasrockin’ back and forthback and forth
upon the seas we rock
until we are sick4
I smell the river
How does it feel?
Like ocean blues?
It moves . . .
5The smellof dirtinesson my skin . . .
smelly6
A river.
A boat.
A feeling.
A difference.
A breath.
Bnyonka Simpkins

New Year’s Eve
On New Year’s Eve
It was quiet for a minute
But I guess people had to get out of their houses,
Trading spouses,
Or chasing mouses
I felt bad because people were left out in the cold
Trying to hold on to life,
Because some of them had a wife
Or tried to teach their kids to ﬂy a kite
Or telling them not to ﬁght
And take them to a park and look at the sightMarquell Bethea

The stillness
The stillness of the trees makes a lullaby as the air breathes.
The pity of a rich guy for a poor guy is unheard of.
The injured heart is no longer pumping.
The burning candle has run out of wax.
The warmth of the sunlight warms your skin.
The motherly way of a mother protects the young without thefather.
The baby cousin soon becomes a cherub.
The unfaithful father is no longer in your life.
The girl’s body soon becomes ﬂotsam in the lake.
The thieves that honor their master rob someone else.
The illusion of your uncle in front of you is no more.
The rotten man reaches his recovery.
The torture of the gun ﬁnally kills you.
Nichell Kee

40

The Window

Ma

rvi n

McDowell1
Window that I look throughthat has a faceand could show a place2
Beyond that window
you can see otherpeople like me
3
You can see the morning andthe night. The coral color ﬂutes
glimmering in the dark.

Suffering in Silence

4
The ﬁngertips of the blackbird
soaring in the sky happy
it has its freedom

As I walk around millions of people,
all I see are eyes on me.
But there are no smiling faces.
So I run into a building,crying as I look into a mirror
and see an unpretty mask.

5
Through the beach house window
I see the ocean
glaring back at me
6
The sky.
The bird.
The morning.
The night.
The ocean.
Nichell Kee

DeJon Tucker

My Gaze
My gaze is a clear blue ocean
It is my custom to walk through the waves
And sometimes I look beyond
And what I see each moment I inhale
And I’m very good at each breath I takeI’m capable of going deeper
I believe I will get there
The world wasn’t made for quitters
I have no problems going too deep
If I speak of courage it’s not because I know it’s inside me
But because I’m so afraid of it, and for that very reason
Bnyonka Simpkins

41

When I sleep
When I sleep in the stars
above there’s an angel who guards
me that has much love.
When I sleep there are petalsof roses that are falling in circles
around me and I try to focus.
When I sleep I dream of thesierras, how for some reason
I would like to go there.
When I sleep there are dark rags
covering my eyes so that I can’t see
so that it’s pitch black.
When I sleep I think about
what I’m going to do the next day and
if it’s going to be fun. When I sleep I
wonder if I’m going to be safe andwonder if the rest of my family
is safe. When I sleep I dreama happy dream and make sure nothingruins it. When I sleep I wonder if
I did all my homework and
if I’ll get all of it right. When I
sleep I want to sleep forever.
Nichell Kee

The Forest
Falling leaves tumbling off trees
like a volcanic blast hit fast
the tropical skies changed
like midnight ﬁre.
Kaniece Whitaker42

She Runs and Hides
She looks hopeless in the stars
dreading her fear ﬁre sparks
dreams ﬂourish promises dead.
She runs and hides in her castle
called “imaginary.” In her world
all alone, the song of her life plays
over and over again. Freezing she shivers,
hot and she quivers scared she cries
escaping she tries simply to say
so sickening to do.
Lifeless in the stars
facing her fear ﬁre sparks
dreams live promises made.
She runs free and hides behind happinessin her castle called “happiness.” In her world
not all alone, the song of her love plays
repeatedly. Freezing is no such thing,hot, she sings scared, she hit
escaping she did sickeningly to say
so simple to do.
Brittany Watkins

Philosophy

l-r:

A nd

rea Hermans, Sean F

av o

rs

My gaze is like a blue green mystery
It is my custom to drive on the dark streets
And sometimes, perhaps, being unexpected
And what I see is sometimes unremembered
I’m capable of having overﬂowing shadowsout of the window.
I believe in creations in the world
Because I can see it and I like it, the world
was not made for us to kill each otherbecause after a while we will regret it.
I have no universal circus
I have golden windows that defeat andchange the way people act
If I speak of tranquility it is not
because I know what it means
it is because I like the way it sounds
But because I say it, doesn’t mean thatit orbits around me
My friends sometimes orbit me
like the arrival of a farewell.
To love is suffering unknown.
Ashley Stevenson

Kaleidoscope
southern blue car
driving into
eagle rock lions
walking into lemon zest
tables jumping throughshamrock trees
skating near circles
of orange peel books
Dominique Johnson

All I Can Do Is Write About It
All I can do is write
about my voice
Sometimes I wish it was gone
but I don’t have a choice
Wherever I go, I’mcalled Lil’ Squeaky
But I likewhat they call me
The only thing
I don’t like is when they say
I don’t talk like thisIt gets on my nerves andsometimes I want to hit
them with my ﬁst
But . . . all I can do iswrite about it
Keishawna Simms

43

Dreams are dreams for a reason
A dreamis really nothing but a wish
a wish that your heart makes while you sleep
dreams are made to be lived out
dreams are supposed to come true
dreams differ
but dreams stay the same
my dream is not like mostI dream to go to heaven
dreams should be of non-materialistic things
because after they’re gone, so is your dream
dreams are dreams for a reason
Earl JamesMy Lovely Dream
Two days ago I had a wonderful dream.
Until that morning, my alarm clock
went off and woke me up.
I am one of God’s angels.
I always see my shadow
when it is dark.
Sometimes I tremble and get frightened
because there are no lights onin my house when everyone is asleep.
The shining light was right in my face
like it was going to melt me away.
So I yawn and get out of bed
and think, what a beautiful day.
I glance out of my window andsee everyone outside.
Latia Pimble

What Is Love Without a DreamMy dreams are full with love and hurt
My heart hurts like the ﬂame of lightning
My dreams fade away as the night without stars
My dreams are private as my heart is pain.
As the shadow of my heart beats,
the more pain I’m suffering to prosecute my dreams.
As the light blinks and the wind blows,
my heartaches ﬁnd nothing but love and pain.
The gift of my dreams that I left behind for love.
Tomorrow is not relaxing the thunder of pain and fright.
Kiarra Payton

44

The Window
the window is open
like the eyes of an infantchild. I was pulled in.
Sunken in by the wearinessof this ﬁery red roomof my love, forced tobe happy, sad, I become.
My soul is twisted into
hurricanes of mixed emotions
I have no clue what my life
would end up likeif I escaped from this room.
When I looked up from thehorrible yet lovely beatingthat love gave me, that window
was closed shut. Now I
know why I had fallen. . . .
I had fallen in, to fall in love.
Brittany Watkins

To be foundMy dream is an inspiration.
It really comes from the heart.
My dream comes in all different sizes
like dragons and their wings.

Ja m

es S

au n de rs

I come and standI come and stand for me
to be me not to be you
to show how I can bemyself and not be you
not be a label and feel discovered
looking at the reﬂection of me
knowing that I will besomething and not to feel unpretty or unseen
I come and standI come and stand so everyone
can see who I am
Brittney Savoy

For me to get to my dream I have to
get through this twisted life.
I have to get there before the midnight hour.
I can’t let my dream melt away.
If I don’t get to my dream,
it’s going to feel like there is no tomorrow.
Denisha Bolden

45

Sadness
dripping green crush
wastes from the busha girl is crying because of
the sad song playing
in her headthe color of cherry cobbler
is set upon the girl’s face
while tears bounce beside it
the triangle from thechair rocked back and forth
the square window
opened wildly
while wind from the tree blows
and dogs the colorof Hawaiian passion
bark toward the wild grapes
which hang from the tree

Just Beautiful
beautiful exotic ﬂowers
ﬂowers that are dying andgoing to heavensong birds singing jazzand a lot of different thingssummer heatgiving me suntans
peach butter dripping
and tasting so good in my cheeks
Keona Powell

Danielle Stover

Dear Father,
The Struggle
As a young boy, you walk down the street worrying
if you’re going to get shot or not and just thinking
about the struggle and that’s not a good thing.
But in the end the struggle isnot something you want to think about
and the pain is like having alump in your throat
and feeling like a lady having a baby
or like someone getting shot.
Marquette Price46

There are some things
That I would likeTo say to you
I would like to sayThat I want to see your face
Again, so I could remember
If you didn’t get shot
I would still be able
To see your face, thenI would not have
To replace you.
Theodore Washington

Hangin’ Out Wit’ Friends

na
Mo

e Sm

ith , M a y a R ob ert

s on

Up in Iverson Mall,Singing the blues, dancing,
Remembering the lazy bums on the bus
Watching candy machines
Stealing from kids
Seeing rent-a-cops chasing thieves
Walking, walking
With makeup glistening andShining like a crown
Raging madness going through my soul
Running into a cobweb andBones aching because of stressSeeing the generation before me
While eyes blinking, erasing, andMaking the mind blank.
Monae Smith

I Am Your Sun
When you wake up in the morning
don’t you see somethingbright shining on you,that’s me I am that sun that shinesbright in the sky.
You could never look me in the eyebecause I will blind you.

Questions for God
Why is the sky blue. Why are people
People. Why are there blacks and whites.
Is there really a heaven or hell, then what happens
To a changed man in a cell. Why is earth
Called earth. Why is the milky way the galaxy.
Why do people have noses, have lungs.
Why do people eat to stay alive. Why did Adam
And Eve have to die. Why do people look alike.
Why do people look different. What is gay, what is straight.
What is God. What are the cross roads. What is heaven.
Why do babies die before they are born. Why are there schools.
Why is there an NBA?
Larry WestThat’s me, the one who
makes you feel happy.
I am the sun you ask for when
it rains or snows.
Nicole Williams

47

My Letter to a Relative In JailAre you determined
To get out

Ars Poetica #1

Well I am too

What is a poem?
A note of how you feel

To get out
The streets

What you think of life or how
you like to live it.

Gang bangin’
Drug sellin’

To me a poem is more thanthat

People dying

A poem is life

(Huh)Yeah, one big story.

More like killing
Or being the victim

One exciting moment after
the next.

Will you struggle
I am too

One harsh moment after
Another

Struggling to get out
The hood.

A poemUntil then a poem iswhatever when you live
it out.

Your Nephew,
PS. Keep Struggling.

Jamal Clark

Jamal Clark

I Am
I am a beautiful, Intelligent Black Woman
I am the hope for all black children out here today
You shall know me as Sherita Angelica Grady
Not as a nigga
I am a queen
Not a nigga
Sherita Grady

48

Today’s News
Redskins losing all games.
265 people killed last year.
265 people killed this year.
66% raise in shootings
54% raise in robberies
2 weeks ago the Colts breaking their winningstreak.
The Bears punt returner Devon Hester running
2 td’s back breaking a record.
The college senior Troy Smith winning the
Heisman trophy
The disease e coli spreading in vegetables.
An argument with Eddie Murphy about
pregnancy.
The snow is coming into dc.
Shopping for the holidays.
The theories of ﬁsh having mercury
in them.
Trevon Jackson

Living with Anger
I was 6 years oldwhen my parents ran away.
I was stuck insidea broken life
I couldn’t wish away.
She was perfect, she had
everything and more.
And my escape was hiding
out and runningfor the door.
Somebody listen please,
it used to be so hard.
Being me.
Living with the anger.
Living in a dreamtrying to ﬁnd a hand to hold.
Now that I am wide awake
my chains are ﬁnally free.
So don’t feel sorry for me.
Alishia Davis

mi
Ja s

ne M

u rr a y

FootballI knowscared scared scaredrun
explode/ (just like Clinton Portis)the football ﬁeld
Run
catch
spin
do what you have to do so you can’t get hit.
You don’t want tohavefear in your H.E.A.R.T
Mostof allJ.U.S.T H.A.V.E F.U.N

running, catching, andall the requirements for
Trevon Jackson

F
O
O
T
B
A
L
L

D
O
I
N
G

49

Ars Poetica #100: Congress Park
Poetry don’t mean nothing in Congress Park.
It’s all rap and R&B
When we think about poetry, we don’t care
But when I hear about it, I think I canhave a career in it.

Norfolk, V.A.
With winter joy,
The sun’s breeze,
Look out the window,
You’ll see frozen leaves
When daybreak comes, I try to embrace
All the cool mist around my face
Then I stop and enjoy the silence
Away from profanity and violence

When I write poetry I always
Write about my life and where
I’m from.
The only people I hear talking
about poetry is Mr. Dwayne andmy fellow classmates.

Jasper Hicks

When you think about poetry, Redz
it’s just like go-go and C.T.W.P (Condon Terrace Wahler Place)That’s what CP thinks about poetry
and what Redz think about poetry
and what I think about poetry.
Trevon Jackson

Dear Dad,

A Poem For Myself
I was born in Washington, D.C.
I used to come outside with noshoes on my feet. I used to run andplay in the water and mud and dirt
all together mixed it up with my feetand used to stomp on it and splashedit in my face and on my body.
Donna Washington

I wish I can see you again,
you were my best friend
and also my father. I love
you and my mother.
I wish I can see J-Rock,
Laylow, Shaun, Hakim, Mickey,
Popcorn, Regal, Ty, Lil Dre,Gee, Gary, Shine and Yoshy. We
miss all you soldiers, all of you
soldiers stayed strong. We love y’all
Da alley miss y’all, we wish y’all
was still living so we could still
be happy. Roses, Dee, Boo-Boo
we will see y’all when y’all get out.
Love y’all.
Delvonte Jones50

I Want Our Neighborhood
to Be Built Up BetterJa do ok sa Br

I want to play on our
football ﬁeld
I want to be able
to be on our basketball court.
I want to have funin our rec.
I want for our house
to be big.
I want to move the baseballstuff off of the ﬁeld,
make it a real football ﬁeld.
I want Condon Terrace
to stop suffering.
Delvonte Jones

What Should Be On The NewsThe news should talk about the schools like weneed the Vending Machine ﬁxed in the lunch room.

I Show Love By
I show love by helping
people out like if
it was an oldlady, and she
has bags in her hands
and it looks like she needs
help, I will ask
her, “Do you needhelp?” If shesays yes, I will help
her with her bags
and then I will ask her
what her name is.
Dominique Courtney

We have mouses running from behind walls andunder the heater and we don’t have grey mouses
we have white mouses and they ugly and they stink.
Our heater needs ﬁxing and it is too hot in this school.
We need some cold air.
Donna Washington

51FootballSlave

A pulse, no heart beat. Forget tomorrow,
what your heart beating for you’re scary.

slave- a slave is a person who
is bound in servitude. And discriminatedby one who is forced against their will andcontrolled
by one. Beaten. Hung by the neck. Lynchedbecause the color of the skin.
Controlled by dominating inﬂuences.
Taken from their land on boats,dying from the smell, starved by the whiteman. Work hard labor. Freedby the black man.

I want to be on the ﬁeld likemy man T Roy was
I want to go to the holelike my brothers told me.
I want to do it for my
I want to go
to the best college.
I want to run
like lightning.
I want to hit
like Roy, go forfor the best quarterbackarm.
Fly like an Eagle. Be
like a Falcon.
Delvonte Jones

n
e
i
b
o
r
h
o
o
d

Anastasia Fleming

My Thinking AKA Pain
Why do I feel this pain
inside, why do I cry out atnight at the thoughtof me not being home, me
not being there with my family
and friends. They
tell me this is my family.
Nope, it’s not. This iswhere I like, no it’s not
No I shouldn’t. If you don’t havelove for me. Why must I ask to
go to the bathroom why am I
not going freely. Go and comewhen I please. What? No.
I really miss my sister and my brotherbut when I was free I could notstand them being next to me.
What I feel is pain.
Anastasia Fleming52

An Incomplete List of People I
Wish Were My Teacher

n
Ti o

ade
na W

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Michael Jackson
My mother
Michael Jordan
Tiger Woods
Jet Lee
Tom Cruise
Tom Brady
MartinJesus Christ
Joseph Woodard

A More Grown Life
Shay, brown skin, always with plaits
in her hair. She is disrespectful, butdoesn’t know it. Only twelve years old,people say she go hard, so she tried to act bold.
She looks grown but is not,thinks she’s ready for a kid
trying to live a more grown life.
So Shay stays out all night.
About her age she tells a lie,
every night he makes her cry.
Shay wants to leave and so she tries,
she asks questions from the sky.
Someone who loves her gives her help,
tells her everything has been dealt,
dreams about getting beat with a belt.
He tries to imagine what she felt.
Amber Williams

Today’s News
Women driving in
pain. Heart biting, can’t breathe.
Her children screaming.
Stop! From the top of her lungs,
body shaking hands tumbling.
Crying in fear, the face ofguilt in her eyes and the water
drips of sweat down her
cheeks.
That child’s heart is broken
with hurt inside, and giventhat hurt, pain and tumbling feelings
to the mother thatgave birth, and life for thatchild. And Today’s News is thatwoman is still living.
Antoinette Better53

An Incomplete List ofPeople I Wish Were Alive
Uncle Pedro
AliyahMalcolm X
Martin Luther King
Rosa Parks
James Brown
Harriet Tubman
Frederick Douglass
Coretta Scott King
Aunt T
Colleta Paylor

Little Girl and The Squirrel
Da way dat I express
my luv is I will draw
a little girl with blonde
hair, blue eyes, and very
light skin playing with a squirrel.

You Figure it Out
In an ancient time
an unforgotten dreamthat scared me
and took my heart
through a dangerous pulse.
Mortal revelation
going through my restless soulseeing:that personthat thingthat body.
Wounded dreamin a luxurious fortressreleasing
the tenderness from my mind.
Cruel ember
come from his uprooted heartstrings
struggling asunder likea withered lanternin mid-day light.
Monae Smith

Luv can be contagious
but cannot be seen
like a little girl with blonde
hair, blue eyes, and very
light skin playing with a squirrel.
Terrance Nails

Poetry is
Poetry is
Outrageous,
Emotional,Music
Lawrence Carter

54

Go ThroughRl-r:e gin ald Conway, Kiana

Mu

r ph

y,
N

i

ch

ell

When you go through life you really neverknow who you are until someone you love diesbut as you go on through life, you recognize
what you lost when you wonder why things are gone.

Kee

The things I’ve been through is like a broken
glass and rain drops that go drip to the groundand it is like someone dancing around, prancing
on the ground.
Pauline Holsinger

Who I Want to Be LikeI want todunk like
Jordan, heist
like Kobe
sing likelil Booseﬁght like
Ali, run.
I want toﬂy like eagles
spy likea ﬁshclimb likea monkey,
jump likea rabbit,hop likea kangaroo.
Antonio Brown

Mistakes
Mistakes is like acourse. It follows you aroundthe place. It’s like the wraps
of a twister it repeats
all over again.
Mistakes, a list of words
ﬁlled with letters andnumbers create a bang witha golden kiss fumble weight
lightning with a touch oflips. Hear lightning scream fromthe top of your lungs. Stop!
A mistake you make, deal
with it, learn from it, my course,
my mistake, my word repeat.
Antoinette Better55

Show Love

A Special Woman

I showmymotherlove bypicking up
all my dirt
like Mike
Varbel picks
up a forced
fumble.
I ﬁx
my bedto make itlook neat.
I tackle
the ﬂoor
with avacuumto show
her love.

I respect you and love you with all of my heart
Because you are an artist and I am your work of art
I have cherished you since day one
Won’t leave until your job is done
You raised me to be a man
When I did wrong, you helped me understandWhen I was lost, it was you I foundAnd you stood by my side all year round
It’s hard to stay mad at you
Because you look so beautiful
I’m so thankful and committed to being your son
Forever and ever, my mother is number one
Eric Quarles

Damian Lee

You’ve Been There
You’ve been here for me all these years
You are always there to wipe my tears
You’ve been there when I called your name
You have never hurt me or put me to shame
I’m glad God put you here to show me the way
I’m so glad you are here to stay
You are my guide, you are my light
I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t in my sight
You were there when I was feeling down
You were there to turn my frowns and sorrow aroundSo thank you mommy for your tender love and care
Because of that, you will always be there
Danielle Blake

56

The Beautiful WomanSl-r:

h a nnon Allen, Annice L

u dd

The beautiful woman on earth
The one who brought me on this earth
She’s the best
She’s the one who ﬁlled my heart with true love
She’s the best
She is a pure goddess
She’s the most loyal person you’d ever ﬁnd
So I wrote this to the true woman in my life
My mother
Jannett McKoy

Who Am I?
I am a scared girlTrying to build a better future with my sister
I am a Queen who worships God
I am a poor girl trying to fulﬁll my acting career
I am a light-skinned girlWho is always being called white
But I am actually a black queen
Mixed with a lot of ethnicities
I am a girl who is scared
To live because I am scared
Of getting shot
I am a lonely girl
Whose dreams might not come
Until I turn 40 years old
I am a loving girlWho shows love to any person
Who shows me love
I am a ghetto girlWho lives around ﬁghts
Who lives around drug dealers
Who lives around dope ﬁends
Who lives around people who have sex for money
People who shoot at their own family
I am a girl who has family and friends ﬁghting
A black-on-black crime
Whose ﬁght aids it and they don’t even know it
I am a girl whose dreams have yet to be answered
Manaiza KelleyThis is how I show love,
I show love by
On the desk
banging, banging, banging
love
you will hear fromthe banging
I feel you son
You like my sisterlaughing when I am
in trouble, she would
get in my faceand laugh.
But that’s how we show love.
Ashley Stevenson

57

A Dream
Unity, togetherness
Is what I wish upon
A peaceful world
Why can’t we live in one?
Gentle mother sleeping on air,
In her room
Yes, she’s there
Without one eye open
She sleeps among the stars
In an evil world
This is what she calls home
But now she wakes up
One eye at a time
After dreaming about the universe
Then spreads her arms and starts to ﬂy
But as mother seems to soon notice
Her life is a dream

Sleep
Sleeping so beautifully
She looks so peacefulDreaming upon the universe
Like she was put to sleep by a curse
As she’s dreaming of her mother
She looked so stiff as her brother
All of a sudden
She dreams she’s in a jungle
So scared she curled in a bundle
Then she closed her eyes and counted to ten
Then she felt a great wind
It was Hurricane Katrina
And the ground got wrinkled
Then she woke up at home
But still thinking of people in the superdome
Jasper Hicks

Kiera Butler

Girls
Most people think that girls were put on this earth for entertainment and pleasure
But as young men and boys, we should know better
On how to judge a girl by just the way she looks
By not believing what we see on TV, pictures or in books
At times we may neglect them, abuse and control
But we don’t know what they can do to make our minds and intelligence unfold
Marcus Johnson

58

My Paini
Shask i Joh ns onMy rage, my pain
My loss, my gain
The shirts I’ve stained
People I’ve blamed
The people that bled
The blood, sweat, and tears they’ve shed
Doesn’t mean anything—our lives are almost dead
From the 911 “accidents”
To the wars in Iraq
And the tragic losses by “The Man”
To the kids in the ghetto having problems
To the grown-ups still trying to solve them
My struggles, my pain
Something I want to lose, but always going to gain
Eric Quarles

Wisdom
I know I am a child
I don’t know if I will become an adult
I thought I knew what I was doing with my life
I didn’t think I knew what my life was doing with me
I understand how to live my life
I didn’t understand how to let my life live me
I know the meaning of life
I didn’t know life knew the meaning of me
Lawrence Carter

Dreaming
Beautifully sleeping at home
Dreaming about unity with her motherIn a peaceful world with no violence
And the universe is an island
With a gentle breeze every now and then
Then she says to her mother how lovely she looks
Wishing that she would not wake up
Then the alarm comes on when she opens her eyes
And starts crying
Jannett McKoy

Wake up
Peaceful, lovely
Caring about the world
Gentle, dreaming
Always in a daze
Helping, hoping, caring about me
Never a beautiful universe
Surﬁng in itself
Sleeping nervous
Scared of what you can be
Hoping the next day
You wake up to see
Brittany Johnson

59Untitled
I like fallIt’s the best
You get to go outside with a tank top
No vestYou wake up, feel the breeze
And then the fresh air
Not hot and stuffy
You get to smell
The good smell
Of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausages, grits…all that good stuff
But one thing
All this good stuff
Happens in North Carolina,
Not in D.C.
Where you wake up to a bowl of cereal
That’s not good for you
Isaiah Jackson

My Life
My life is like a movie
People always acting in it
Faking it
My life is like football games
Me always running yards
My life is like popcorn
People always popping up
My life is like a baseball gameI’m always running home
My life is like school
I’m always working
My life is like a clock
I’m always ticking
My life is like a jam
It’s hard to get throughAntonio Alston

Show LoveYou can show someone
love by giving them

Summertime
Summer is cool
You go places like ESPN Zone
Not just sitting at home
Watching the kids ride their bikes all day long
Or listening to a famous singer sing a song
Well, you could do this everyday
After doing your chores and homework, you go out and play
Just living the life
Jaquan Footman

a card or writing thema letter. That’s how muchyou love them or you
can give them same
ﬂowers if they are
Sade or they are not
feeling good on a bad day.
Lance Favors

60

m
Luq

Monae’s Day

an Abdullah

Crescent moon
shining downon the Anacostia River
Report card
being naughty
but ﬂowing like ocean waves
Suspension
from the freedom
while being on thatrugged old plantation
Fingertips
grow like trees
mind gleaming like the sun
Mondayclassroom’s lily blooms
and blossoms likechildren and ﬂowers.
Monae Smith

Untitled
I am like the sky
I get mad
I am like thunder
And strike people like lightning
I am like a ﬂood
Just running through people
Like a mad person
I am like a mother bird
Who attacks people when they mess with her family
I am like a computer
That breaks down a lot
And it takes a long time to recoverMartha Hardman

I Am
I am a child of God
I am a scholar
I am the ﬁrst round draft pick
I am the positive hurricane
I am a dreamer
I am the impact pf the future
I am the ﬂesh and bones
I am the diagram of life
I am the prospect of college
Curtis Canty

61

Pleading Triumph
Pleading and pouring out my soulcomplicated, ﬁlled with triumph
living with a splintered memory
feeling an abyss
from this gravitational pullfeeling driven to destruction
trying to comprehend
instead of mourning
waiting for myworshipped reign’s arrival
trying to be the evening star
instead of tarnishinga promiscuous life
giving a celestial body, ﬁlledwith illusions and in disguise
looking at the scarlet sun
trying not to manipulate
my inner self
recapturing dreams.
Monae Smith

My life is like

Untitled
We are on a journey to a place
Where they are having dead basketball courts
And where the drug dealer passes weed hand-to-hand
They think they aren’t getting caught
But all they have to do is sit and think
Why the court houses,
The policemen,
The whole legal justice system
That is supposed to be on your side
But at the same time
The same people who are helping you
Are making more jail houses than schools,
Placing more drugs in the streets
Why, I say,
Are we helping them kill us?
We are helping them place us in jail
Then maybe we are niggas
No!
I am no nigga
I am a smart, loving, colored man
Who will make it

My life is like a gameAll types of games
Demarco Singleton
My life is like San Andreas,
Because people get shot everyday
Because people look like someone
Or guess who is who
Or people getting killed
Because they are going in the wrong direction
At the wrong time
Like the game that is too fast
But for real,
I don’t know what my life is likeMy life is like it is make-believe
Quintin Pimble

62

Who I Am
I’m not a nigga
I don’t pull triggas
I want to be a millionaire and count ﬁgures
Benjamins, of course
Never will I get stopped by force
Maybe by brain
Because I’m trying to be like Fat Joe and make it rain
Racist cops
Coming up with plots
To stop the black Man
Who thinks that life is about keeping a gun in your hand
So don’t call me a nigga to try to put me down
Because you’re wasting your time
When you look like a clown
Eric Quarles

My day in North Carolina
In North Carolina
We played basketball
We listened to rap music
You can feel the breeze
Coming through the air
As the sun sets and rises
We ride,Look for something to do,
Then we stop, drop, and roll to the ﬁreRichard Jackson

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Artwork by Thomas Whitney and Tiara Mason