Summer 2017$10
The Charles Hart Middle School Literary Magazine

The hArtworks Editorial Board
Writers-in-Residence: Abbey Chung, AJ Henson, Nancy Schwalb, Ashley Stevenson, Patrick Washington, and Renita
Williams
The Literary Magazine Club: De’Monte Amoah, De’quan Atchison, Emir Battle, Mariah Bethea, Jose Bouknight, Julio Bouknight,
Michael Boulware, Shaniah Boyd, McKia Bromfield, Tyrika Bryant, Tavon Burford, Riley Campbell, Tyree Carrell,
Jamari Carter, Kajuan Centeno, Troy Chaney, Daizha Chism, Christina Cook, Marquis Cotton, Remington Crawley,
Cameron Duboise, Najee Ferguson, Kevin Franks, Kahliyah Gooding, Albert Gordon, Jahir Gray, Jayden Gray, Amir
Green, Jonesa Green, Michael Green, Saralé Hardy, Thomas Harrington, Malik Heard, Arianna Hernandez, Anya Hogan,
TyJuan Hogan, Bernard Holmes, Derrick Hooks, Clifford House, IV, Isaiah Hunter, Giaune Jackson, Octavia Johnson,
Shannell Jones, Jermia Joyner, Kiyanna King, Joquan Knight, Marques Knight, Shaki Knight, Reginald Lampkins, Shanay
Lasane, Cayshawnda Lee, Chalayia Lee, Christian Marrow, Chapria Marshall, Denali Marshall, Nyelle Marshall, Anthony
Martin, Faizon Mason, Zanaca McCrae, Saebian McKnight, Ladeisha Meriweather, Daniel Minor, Jee’Lou Morton, Louis
Morton, Brianna Newman, Zakirah Oliveire, Ze’Veyon Paige, Ty’ray Perkins, Leon Perry, Jamel Pettaway, Jamil Pickett,Marcantony Pierce, Tatiana Pierce, R.E.L. Platt, Shanice Plight, Shawna Plight, Jazzmine Price, Melody Prince, DeMarco
Randolph, Briona Ransom, Wayne Rhodes, D’hani Rispus, Synia Robinson, Lawrence Rosemond, Tymesha Roulhac,
Jaleel Rush, Saquan Short, Jailyn Smith, Joeseph Smith-Patterson, Keiah Smith, Indya Spencer, Jashaun Strother, Myniah
Sweetney, Christina Taylor, A’Quise Thomas, Arman Thornton, Armani Thornton, Cierra Thornton, Demarco Tucker,
Eric Vaughn, Marcus Vick, Richard Walston, Kamaree Ward, Mark Washington, Khidell White, Aaron Williams,
Jontae Wilson, Vincent Wingfield, Jaymir Wise, Tyrone Wise, and Asonte Wright

Front cover, l-r: Elijah Douglas, Tavon Berford, Christa Madikaegbu
Inside front cover, l-r: Trayvon Proctor, Faith Thomas, Christa Madikaegbu, Saquan Short, Amir Green, Shannell Jones,
Tatiana Pierce, Renita Williams

IntroductionW

elcome to hArtworks, the nation’s only inner-city public middle school literary
magazine, written and edited by the students in the after-school writing club at Charles
Hart Middle School. hArtworks is published through a collaborative effort between theschool and the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop, an independent non-profit working tocreate a literary renaissance in Southeast Washington. Now in its sixteenth year, hArtworks
gives our young writers the opportunity to exercise their creative energies, speak theirminds, and be read by an audience throughout the city. The 2016 edition of Poet’s Market
recognizes hArtworks as “an outstanding example of what a literary journal can be (foranyone of any age).”
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 Annie E.
Casey Foundation, Children’s Charities Foundation, the Clark-Winchcole Foundation,
Commonweal Foundation, Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, D.C.
Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Harman
Family Foundation, Corinna Higginson Trust, Horning Family Fund, Lainoff Family
Foundation, Marpat Foundation, Cathy and Mark McNeil-Hollinger, New York Avenue
Foundation, Luther I. Replogle Foundation, Hattie M. Strong Foundation, Holly Syrrakos,
Gail Oring and GO! Creative, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Arena Stage, theShakespeare Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theater, Jack and Monte, Tollefson and Company
Investment Management, our friends at Popeye’s in Eastover, Brian Adams, Barbara Bainum,
Fritz Edler, Joseph and Lynn Horning, and Robert Johnson.
Our friends at the Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative also deserve ourthanks for giving so much time and energy to our after-school Writing Club, as do ourvolunteers, Steven Brown, Jessica Carpenter, DeArren Dawkins, Bernitta Johnson, DaquanJohnson, Damon Kee, and Anthony and Annette Williams.
Special thanks for the hard work and dedication of the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop
Board of Directors: Dr. John Walton Cotman, Dr. Susan Gerson, Brian Gilmore, Helen
Hooper, Bernie Horn, Bill Newlin, and Nancy Schwalb.
We would also like to thank the following administrators, teachers, and staff who are ourpartners in this endeavor: Principal Charlette Butler; Assistant Principals Ms. SameciaMuriel Broussard, Mr. Derek Gorham, and Dr. Sharon Armstrong; Ms. Pamela Dixon, Ms.
Latavia Drakeford-Allen, Mr. Craig Duchemin, Ms. Nijma Esad, Mr. Jamal Kennedy, Ms.
Jasmine McGill, Mr. Derrick McRae, Ms. Sheranada Robinson, Ms. Elaine Mixon, and Ms.
Eleanor Seale.

InsideBriana Bartley
A Kinda Love.................................................................................................................................8
Morgen Bass
Full Moon....................................................................................................................................78
Emir Battle
Lost..............................................................................................................................................30
Erica Bell
Everything says YES....................................................................................................................19
Well..............................................................................................................................................20
Tavon Berford
Tay Synesthesia .............................................................................................................................5
ART..............................................................................................................................................40
I Can’t Be Destroyed...................................................................................................................119
Nothing Lasts.............................................................................................................................123
Dorian Buckner
I.B.I............................................................................................................................................102
Jerry Campbell
Kaleidoscope................................................................................................................................36
Riley Campbell
Who is a Peacemaker?...................................................................................................................8
4 Corners.......................................................................................................................................9
Vanilla and Wasabi........................................................................................................................9
Dreamy........................................................................................................................................10
Jamari Carter
Toilet............................................................................................................................................52
LaBrea Carter
Peace............................................................................................................................................72
Crazy Things.............................................................................................................................122
Writing.......................................................................................................................................124
Troy Chaney
Food.............................................................................................................................................15
Time for a change of pace............................................................................................................19
The youngest recovery..................................................................................................................21
Poltergeist....................................................................................................................................66
Fist...............................................................................................................................................66
Dr. Seuss......................................................................................................................................67
What Does a Poem Do?...............................................................................................................67
Man of Steel.................................................................................................................................67ii

Blocking.....................................................................................................................................106
Opposition Is Better!..................................................................................................................106
Rainbow.....................................................................................................................................107
B.R.A.I.N....................................................................................................................................107
Daizha Chism
The Chef......................................................................................................................................46
Anxiety.........................................................................................................................................47
Grey.............................................................................................................................................47
Donald, O Donald........................................................................................................................48
Nigerian Princess.........................................................................................................................49
Hate.............................................................................................................................................49
I’m Sorry......................................................................................................................................50
The Artist.....................................................................................................................................50
31 Flavors....................................................................................................................................87
Christina Cook
Alienation....................................................................................................................................58
Who is a Poet?.............................................................................................................................59
When I Was Born.........................................................................................................................59
Pride............................................................................................................................................59
Outside.........................................................................................................................................60
Me or Difference...........................................................................................................................60
My Walks...................................................................................................................................112
Changes I See.............................................................................................................................112
Wow We Are Too Old to be Talking About This..........................................................................114
Remington Crawley
Thanks for Nothing......................................................................................................................29
Cameron Deboise
What Is Home?..........................................................................................................................104
Nervous?....................................................................................................................................107
Elijah Douglas
Life...............................................................................................................................................78
Na’jee Ferguson
Life...............................................................................................................................................80
One Day.......................................................................................................................................84
Hopeful........................................................................................................................................85
Alex Foster
The Hand!....................................................................................................................................13
Kevin Franks
Sadness........................................................................................................................................52
Nice Man.....................................................................................................................................52iii

InsideLonely..........................................................................................................................................53
Kevin Franks...............................................................................................................................79
Staying Tall..................................................................................................................................86
Tommy Fridie
Flowering Yes...............................................................................................................................16
Being Young.................................................................................................................................17
Nasty Blues..................................................................................................................................20
Melody of Me...............................................................................................................................27
Albert Gordon
The mix up.....................................................................................................................................4
Who is a Poet?.............................................................................................................................12
Innocent guilt...............................................................................................................................14
Hood............................................................................................................................................23
Blank...........................................................................................................................................23
Non-Existing................................................................................................................................43
Jahir Gray
The Senses of Synesthesia..............................................................................................................3
Self-portrait of the walking dead.................................................................................................27
Big Boss Man...............................................................................................................................33
Destroy, Build, Destroy................................................................................................................41
Stinginess Apocalypse..................................................................................................................73
Unforgiven Misconception............................................................................................................74
The Last of Us............................................................................................................................117
Abstract Thoughts......................................................................................................................117
How to Describe Your Personality with Feelings and Emotions.................................................118
Miscellaneous Activity...............................................................................................................119
Prediction vs. Contradiction.......................................................................................................120
Busboys and Wreckage of Mass Destruction..............................................................................121
A Poet Is a Poet..........................................................................................................................121
Jayden Gray
Synesthesia Wordplay....................................................................................................................3
Outer Limits.................................................................................................................................32
Revolution....................................................................................................................................33
Love Hurts...................................................................................................................................35
Emotionless..................................................................................................................................72
WMD...........................................................................................................................................73
Miscellaneous Impossibility.......................................................................................................108
The Old, The Young, and Ms. Nancy..........................................................................................108
Memory of Remembering the Reminiscence ..............................................................................109
The Whole Picture......................................................................................................................110

iv

Tattoo 2 Twinz...........................................................................................................................110
The President of Imperviousness................................................................................................111
Philosophy vs. Conspiracy.........................................................................................................111
Contraprediction........................................................................................................................113
Robert Green
Night..........................................................................................................................................104
Andrea Greenfield
Stories..........................................................................................................................................76
Shahida Harris-Thomas
All about Happiness!....................................................................................................................11
Maliquia Hawkins
Kindness.....................................................................................................................................104
Aaron Henson
May God Strike Me Down...........................................................................................................26
Arnold Herring
Black President............................................................................................................................81
Prediction and Contradiction.......................................................................................................82
Bernard Holmes
Mirror..........................................................................................................................................38
Isaiah Hunter
Who is real/fake...........................................................................................................................31
Real Illusion.................................................................................................................................31
Thirst of Blood.............................................................................................................................32
Friendship....................................................................................................................................42
Shadows + Secrets........................................................................................................................87
The Mad Song (Part 2)................................................................................................................88
Kamilah Jeffreys
Loyal..............................................................................................................................................6
Jacoby Jones
Who Knows What........................................................................................................................27
Mavelli Jones
Vision from a Rare View............................................................................................................... 55
Leaders........................................................................................................................................57
Feelings........................................................................................................................................57
911...............................................................................................................................................89
Fire..............................................................................................................................................89
Jermia Joyner
Untold Mystery............................................................................................................................35v

InsideJoquan Knight
She.............................................................................................................................................125
Shaki Knight
Senseless Senses.............................................................................................................................4
Sorry............................................................................................................................................52
Music Mirror................................................................................................................................53
You Do Not...................................................................................................................................53
A Poet Is a Prisoner.....................................................................................................................54
My Auntie....................................................................................................................................54
Beyonce........................................................................................................................................54
Three Things I’m Scared Of..........................................................................................................55
Snobbery......................................................................................................................................80
Transformation............................................................................................................................88
Reginald Lampkins
Who Knows?................................................................................................................................28
Shanay Lesane
The Life of Green.........................................................................................................................34
Imagination..................................................................................................................................79
Dancing.......................................................................................................................................84
Opposites.....................................................................................................................................84
Current Feelings..........................................................................................................................85
Unexpected Darkness...................................................................................................................85
Christa Madikaegbu
Being Young.................................................................................................................................22
How to get in trouble....................................................................................................................34
Almost Everlasting.......................................................................................................................42
A Monotonous Beauty..................................................................................................................43
Loneliness....................................................................................................................................44
The Secret Night..........................................................................................................................45
Dream a Dream............................................................................................................................46
As I Walk Away..........................................................................................................................113
Friends of Contradictions..........................................................................................................114
Creation At Hand.......................................................................................................................115
It’s Not Destructible, It’s Innovatable..........................................................................................115
Savion Makle
What I’m sick of...........................................................................................................................37
Denali MarshallWhen I return as a basketball......................................................................................................36vi

Anthony Martin
What?..........................................................................................................................................25
Giants..........................................................................................................................................99
Proud.........................................................................................................................................100
Who Is a Poet?...........................................................................................................................100
What Is Going On?....................................................................................................................100
Destroyed...................................................................................................................................101
Jamaree Martin
Destiny.........................................................................................................................................77
Stinky Story.................................................................................................................................77
Contradictions.............................................................................................................................96
Cormonee Mason
In my head.....................................................................................................................................7
I am the president of childhood......................................................................................................7
Saebian McKnight
Sights and Sounds..........................................................................................................................2
Unknown.....................................................................................................................................24
Shark...........................................................................................................................................56
I’ve Walked the World..................................................................................................................56
Heights.........................................................................................................................................58
Ninja............................................................................................................................................89
Young People................................................................................................................................90
Louis Morton
True Story....................................................................................................................................51
Tamia Moyd
Tamia’s Routine............................................................................................................................18
Squirrels.......................................................................................................................................21
Gregory Nickens
My Darkness Memory..................................................................................................................36
Glowing New Day.......................................................................................................................79
Lawrence Offutt
Proof..........................................................................................................................................116
Kent Parris
Kingdom of Shame.......................................................................................................................11
The Now Found...........................................................................................................................13
Jamel Pettaway
Benji Synesthesia...........................................................................................................................3
My Gaze .....................................................................................................................................94vii

InsideMarcantony Pierce
Beware of Ghosts.........................................................................................................................12
A part of growing up....................................................................................................................15
The Young Response.....................................................................................................................15
The Lonely Table Story................................................................................................................68
If a Dinosaur comes to Hart.........................................................................................................68
The New Change..........................................................................................................................69
Who’s That Poet?..........................................................................................................................69
A Bad Day....................................................................................................................................69
October is my Month....................................................................................................................70
Nightmare....................................................................................................................................70
Thankful......................................................................................................................................71
Cool Kid President.......................................................................................................................71
Opposite Opinion.........................................................................................................................86
What Old People Don’t Know.......................................................................................................86
Tatiana Pierce
At First Sight.................................................................................................................................5
War of Stars...............................................................................................................................124
Possibilites.................................................................................................................................125
Tyjuan Prailow
What is a Poet? ...........................................................................................................................13
Jeremiah Prince
Lesson Learned............................................................................................................................29
DeMarco Randolph
Above the Clouds.........................................................................................................................92
Mysterious Poem..........................................................................................................................92
Life of Garbage............................................................................................................................93
Destiny Rhodes
Destiny.........................................................................................................................................97
All About My Spiderbaby.............................................................................................................97
Wayne Rhodes
Happiness.....................................................................................................................................76
Remember....................................................................................................................................77
After School.................................................................................................................................97
Come Back...................................................................................................................................98
Indestructible...............................................................................................................................98
My Future....................................................................................................................................98
Unbelievable................................................................................................................................99
Walking Home.............................................................................................................................99viii

Jewpriya Richardson
Hopes and Dreams.........................................................................................................................6
A Child’s Universe..........................................................................................................................6
Tariq Richardson
The Controller Struggle...............................................................................................................35
Cortney Seburn
President of mixed emotions...........................................................................................................5
Aaliyah Shaw
Cupid...........................................................................................................................................10
Reginald Shepherd
What Ocean?...............................................................................................................................14
Perhaps Glooming........................................................................................................................14
Saquan Short
Painting With a Man in It............................................................................................................22
Alliteration...................................................................................................................................41
Her House....................................................................................................................................74
Real Ones.....................................................................................................................................76
Portrait........................................................................................................................................77
Letting Go....................................................................................................................................90
Being Young.................................................................................................................................92
Reflection.....................................................................................................................................93
Jailyn Smith
Stupidity....................................................................................................................................103
The Unknown............................................................................................................................103
Joeseph Smith
Powerful.......................................................................................................................................14
Journey.........................................................................................................................................16
Singing.........................................................................................................................................20
Joevon Smith
How to not get in trouble............................................................................................................126
Xavier Spruill
You Cannot Destroy!..................................................................................................................122
My Philosophy...........................................................................................................................123
Andrea Staples
that world....................................................................................................................................24
Ashley Stevenson
Alliteration...................................................................................................................................39
Entangled Woods..........................................................................................................................81ix

InsideTerion Sugick
Working to Be..............................................................................................................................11
Myniah Sweetney
A Hole in Forever.........................................................................................................................38
Defiance.......................................................................................................................................74
I Am Me.......................................................................................................................................75
Caution........................................................................................................................................75
Christina Taylor
Unknown.....................................................................................................................................28
A’Quise ThomasSolo..............................................................................................................................................30
All of My Imaginary....................................................................................................................42
Yesterday......................................................................................................................................81
All About What Kids Do..............................................................................................................93
Run Away ....................................................................................................................................94
Faith Thomas
Celebration..................................................................................................................................19
Arman Thornton
Grass God....................................................................................................................................60
My Love.......................................................................................................................................61
Myself..........................................................................................................................................61
Drifting President.........................................................................................................................61
My Own.......................................................................................................................................62
Poets are.......................................................................................................................................62
Letters..........................................................................................................................................62
The Book......................................................................................................................................62
Collision.......................................................................................................................................83
What Lasts...................................................................................................................................83
When You Are Young/Old.............................................................................................................83
Armani Thornton
Might, Might Not!........................................................................................................................40
Presidency....................................................................................................................................63
Stranger.......................................................................................................................................63
Magic...........................................................................................................................................63
Summer........................................................................................................................................64
Not Sorry.....................................................................................................................................64
Big Buh........................................................................................................................................65
Hungry.........................................................................................................................................65
Surprise.....................................................................................................................................101x

Hurricane...................................................................................................................................101
Weird..........................................................................................................................................102
Anger (The Real Anger).............................................................................................................102
Demarco Tucker
Philosophy...................................................................................................................................94
Closet...........................................................................................................................................95
Richard Walston
Different World............................................................................................................................91
Unexpected Sunset.......................................................................................................................91
Isaiah White
Who Am I?...................................................................................................................................37
Ricardo White
Why.............................................................................................................................................17
In My Imagination.......................................................................................................................17
Cruising down the street in my 64...............................................................................................18
Aneshia Whitney
Almost Lights Out........................................................................................................................39
Renita Williams
Synesthesia....................................................................................................................................2
Martin Luther King, Jr.................................................................................................................82
Daisha Wilson
January, Part 2...........................................................................................................................126
Vincent Wingfield
The President of War....................................................................................................................25
The Mirror...................................................................................................................................26
Gazing into the Universe.............................................................................................................41
Fear.............................................................................................................................................44
President of War...........................................................................................................................44
Darkness......................................................................................................................................45
What is a Poet?............................................................................................................................45
The Following............................................................................................................................116
Life.............................................................................................................................................116
Jaymir Wise
Hell Games..................................................................................................................................51
Mykel Woodbury
My Philosophy.............................................................................................................................95
Travis Young
How to win...................................................................................................................................65
How I Feel....................................................................................................................................65xi

l-r: Shannell Jones, Christa
Madikaegbu, Tatiana Pierce,
Amir Green, Saquan Short, andFaith Thomas at the Parkmont
Poetry Festival

Sights and Sounds
A whisper looks like a person fading away.
The letter B glows like the color blue.
Smiles sound like laughter.
A new idea feels like clothes coming out of the dryer.
Whenever I look at you,
I hear my heart beating faster.
A star sounds like a mascot shooting a shirt cannon.
The sound of a circus makes me smell cotton candy.
A circle smells like peace.
Saebian McKnight2

Synesthesia
The star sounds like the Earth’s lullaby to us humans
A circle smells like snake sheddings and dishonesty
White moves in the color black
A whisper looks uneasy to an unpleasant ear
The texture of purple feels like smoked lips
The letter B glows the color red
Whenever I look at you, I hear claws on a chalkboard
The sound of gospel makes me smell fresh collard greens
A baby’s cry is a symphony to a mother’s ears at first sight
Smiles sound like Christmas carols
A new idea feels like a crushed juice box in the palm of a teenager
Every time I bite an apple, I see an evil queen
Awaiting her death
Renita Williams

Synesthesia Wordplay
A star sounds like glowing in the dark;
A howl tastes like moonshine.
A circle smells like deliciousness,
Smiles sound like bodaciousness;
White moves in a shadow,
A baby’s cry is bright in a meadow.
A whisper looks devious;
Mischief smells like evil, tedious.
Texture of purple feels a-okay;
A new idea feels like a genius new day.
Whenever I look at you, I hear fake.
The sound of what you giveis the feeling what you take.
When I bite an apple, I see land,
But really we’re the mans with the plan.
Jayden Gray

Benji Synesthesia
Tears sound like a basketball
bouncing around inside
a hollow quiet room.
Love tastes like waffles
on a Friday morning,with birds chirping in the window.
The texture of red
is a sunny day
full of joy and great spirits.
Jamel Pettaway

Arman Thornton

The Senses of Synesthesia
A star sounds likeit’s glowing in the dark;Well, go ahead and take a nighttime
stroll in the park.
A whisper looks like the wind,silence will be grinned;
Mischief smells like trouble,
so crash and burn under all that rubble.
Trap you in a bubble: It’s double trouble!
A new idea feels like gold, you are mold;I’m the brave and the bold,and everyone knows that we’re alltight and stone cold.
Jahir Gray3

Senseless Senses
A star sounds like it’s singing
to the other stars;
The howls tastes ofa lot of madness, or a wolf.
A circle smells like Thanksgiving,a lot of food that people like to eat.
Smiles sound like happiness;
White moves in a diagonal way.
A baby’s cry is bright,
like a shooting star going across the black sky.
The texture of purple feels all soft;
Whenever I look at you, I hear you singing like Shakira.
Every time I bite an apple,
I see Snow White waking up
from a true love kiss.
Shaki Knight

Arman Thornton

The mix up
A new idea gets you excited,
gets the blood pumping in your veins.
The sound of your excitement
smells just like that carry out
up the street from your house,or that brand-new brownie
that you smile at.
Smiles look like a happy bright face
like a baby’s cry, or
the crooked face of someone
about to do something wrong.
Mischief smells like a burnt cookie
or it tastes like grief.
That grief is so sad
it’s brighter than a starthat sounds like a new idea
for writing a new poem.
Albert Gordon

4

Tay Synesthesia
A circle smells like mysister cooking spaghetti in a pot
A whisper looks likea dark untold thought
White moves in a wavy flow
like an ocean
The texture of purple
feels like an evil, wicked potion
A star sounds likea depressing echo at night
Whenever I look at you,
I hear you cry every night.
Tavon Berford

At First Sight
My love looks likea glazed doughnut
smothered with the smell of love.
His rose, strong smelling cologne
feels like thorns.
Hearing him speak
makes me see his true colors.
I feel the taste of his heart
beating extremely fast.
Tatiana Pierce

LaBrea Carter

President of mixed emotions
The president of mixed emotions
is as dark as a thunderstorm.
One minute the president is roaring
like the thunder,when the next,
the president is bright as the sun
as it shines down afterwards.
People think the president
to be bipolar or confusing
but at the end of the day,the president doesn’t give a hey.
The president still remains untouched
and travels where he pleases
while feeling like cold winter breezes
or glittering, like a cherry freeze
on a hot summer day.
Cortney Seburn5

Hopes and Dreams
Brightness at the beginning of life
Hope and greatness;
Some stay in the light
But others go to the darkness.
Floating like a thought,
We always have something on our mind—
Some stay silent, and others speak up.

Christina Taylor

Skyscrapers reach for the sky/stars
like we have our hope, and dreams.
People try to get their dreams from the stars
but very few succeed;
Some reach a half-pointand get part of their dream,
but the rest don’t even see their dream.
Jewpriya Richardson

A Child’s Universe
Many invisible allies I had,
Traveling in a blink of an eye
Laughter everywhere you go
Untouched by world problems
Glittering with untouched ideas
Triumph is what kids strive for
Voices everywhere screaming of fun
Barbed wire over what is beyond us
Jewpriya Richardson

Loyal
Loyal would eat cinnamon toast crunch
Loyal wouldn’t stab you in the backLoyal wouldn’t walk on the same street
Loyal would brush her teeth from right to left
Loyal would be friends with only a select few
Loyal would drive a Mercedes-Benz
Loyal would wear a curly ponytail
She is married to anxious
but awaiting her divorce.
Kamilah Jeffreys

6

In my head
Let it be hope
Let it be bravery
Let it be a universe
telling me right from wrong;
Let it be a transformation
in my day.
I feel like a whirlwind, but
in human form;
I feel like a myth, with struggles.
Sometimes I feel likeI’m by myself,
like mustard without ketchup.
When you’re angry, you mightfeel like a bone crushing dog.
When I am angry
you should fear me,
because I’m a reflection of darkness
and a blizzard, all in one
and I might shoot lightning.
Cormonee Mason

Arman Thornton

I am the president of childhood
My childhood has arrived, and I’m now awake.
Every important thing I do is like a headline.
Others are forgotten.
Sometimes I think backand wish I was invisible,
or maybe even empty.
When I start falling, I wish for someone
to catch my drift.
I hear a voice in my headmelting my soul but leaving it untouched.
It moves me toward the doorways
but the door is broken,
nothing but silence and a wooden clock.
I try to leave, make them think I’m missing
but when I go to the window
it’s like it has barbed wire surrounding it.
I think to myself:
am I trapped with a freezing clock?
am I felt but untouched?
am I really trapped in my memories,
filed with smoke and unmoved mountains?
Cormonee Mason

7

Jaleel Rush (center) andArman Thornton (second fromright) receive their awards
from the Junior League Teen
Poetry Competition

A Kinda Love
Let it be a whirlwind.
Let it be a white wave
coming to me like a blizzard of hope,a mist of love that you might find.
This is a kinda love someone shows.
People struggle for this kinda love.
People hope for this kinda love
but I just wait for love to come,like it’s a vanilla wave from the sun.
I see lightning;
it comes fast.
This I know, my love has come to me.
This kinda love is meant to be.
How did I find this kinda love for me to see?
Briana Bartley

Who is a Peacemaker?
A peacemaker is one who faced hunger
and one who helps the hungry.
A peacemaker is someone who has
been through war
and one who ends war.
A peacemaker will help prisoners
and has been imprisoned.
A peacemaker is one who reminds
but is constantly reminded.
A peacemaker is one who turns aroundwhen his life is upside down.
A peacemaker is one who shines a light in darkness
even when light is nowhere to be found.
A peacemaker is the solution in disguise.

8
Riley Campbell

4 Corners
The president of pain is a coward.
He runs away from the truth, screaming quiet.
Happy is a language he has forgotten.
Seems to be invisible, lies he left to go rotten.
The president of hope is far from obedient.
The fake religions keep him benevolent—
Broken windows untouched,filled with sin;
hope has left it once again.
D’hani Rispus

The president of the past comes from the ruined ruins.
He hears fading voices from his broken childhood.
Toward the barbed wire, the more he dwells—
Consults the president of pain
as they fall to hell.

Vanilla and Wasabi

The president of the future is self-reliant.
He believes in glittering, uplifting triumph.
Already he’s forgotten the past;
Runs with the president of hope—Life’s a play, they’re the cast.
Oh aren’t they in for a surprise:All four presidents are soon to die.
The reason they rule has proved nothing yet,but to leave people waiting, or
dwelling to their deaths.
Riley Campbell

Let it be uncertainty.
Let it be defiance, wherehoney and jalapenos sever ties.
To instill fear and hope into the mind,
a path of four leaf clovers and broken mirrors
and an open gate tomelancholy roses and human struggle.
Acquired like ginger, wanted like peace
it can be everywhere, it can be everything:
The reflection in the mirror, our faces against the wall;
It can be nothing. It can be all.
The perfect mix of good and bad—vanilla and wasabi.

9
Riley Campbell

l-r: Marcantony Pierce,
Elijah Douglas, Tayvon
Berford, D’hani Rispus,
Christa Madikaegbu,
Armani Thornton

DreamyCupid

What if a house is an arrow,colored with the showers
and the sun’s baby?

Let it be a blizzard;
Let it be a hurricane—
I’ll still shoot arrows out like lightning.
If it is a blizzard, I will stillshoot arrows for people toshow love to each other.

and if it takes you
through a parallel universe
you wouldn’t go through the door,
for it has no knob—
you would fly through the window.
As the amber sun has
seemed to disappear
a pie-less sky leaves you in darkness,soon to be lit by nature’s city lights.
All the people in this land
live in the arrow
where their lives are
dream-like and are
Spring forever.
Riley Campbell

10

Let it be reflection;
Let it be history—
They will always know how they meet
and their history is upon their people.
I will look upon the universe
as if I was in loveand I will always remember my history.
I will show love, likethey are my family, but
a different kind of family.
Aaliyah Shaw

All about Happiness!
Happiness lives in a small town
filled with nice people
and the houses are rainbow colors
and happiness has flowers in his yard
and the people dress in bright colors.
They also get along and have parties
and cook out every weekend in the small town!
And happiness sings himself to sleep at nightand eats ice cream before he goes night-night…
Shahida Harris-Thomas

Destiny Rhodes

Working to Be
I’m the president of triumph
which can be invisible to the ears.
I travel through doorways
into rooms of joy.
I am untouched
like a glittering childhood.
I could never be forgotten
because I awake the eyes to see.

Kingdom of shame
The shame kingdom is rising every hour,because of the untouched souls.
The souls are untouchedbecause there are no forgiven souls.
The terrible triumphs give the kingdom its
name.
The shame needs some sunlightand it will have an open doorway.
Kent Parris

Rising mountains are what I strive to be.
You may feel empty, and hopelessbut obedientis what we can be.
Don’t look down;
Uplift yourself, so you can see.
Terion Sugick

11Who is a Poet?
A poet is a person who craves words
A poet is a person who has a solution for everything
LaBrea Carter

A poet is a person who can storm a blizzard of ideas
A poet is a person who has creativity
A poet is a person who will write just to write
A poet is a person who has instant thoughts
A poet is just an artist in disguise
Albert Gordon

Beware of Ghosts
Beware everywhere as ghosts appear
with darkness and fear
coming in the middle of the nightcrashing, gnashingcoming as fast as they can,just to see the darkness in your eyes.
Their teeth are black like a cat.
When you get up in the middle of the night
you’re invisible as you walkin a sewer of evil,
just like the devil,
unfeeling
the ghost is in the ceiling.
Marcantony Pierce

12The Now Found
Who knows what we are in?
We are in a dreamy bubble,
wondering where it might land.
There is laughter in that floating bubble,
giggling to keep it active.
There is always a beginning
but no ending, witha full moon, really smooth.
Kent Parris

The Hand!
I see a handfloating in the water
trying to grab the sky
Tatiana Pierce

And the hand is violet
and it’s coming out of the waterand it’s tall like a skyscraper
And if you turn the art sideways
it looks like it’s a hand coming through a wall
And if you look at it right side up
it looks like a colorful world
with a dry tree in itwith a sky, with no clouds.
Alex Foster

What is a Poet?
A poet is one
who has a mustache.
A poet is one
who does not whisper.
A poet is a prisoner
who is thankful.
A poet is one
who is flooded with kindness.
A poet is one
who is careful,but once didn’t care.
Tyjuan Prailow

13What Ocean?
Yes! Green laughter
tables tumbling
windows shuddering
Evening swirls, twists
and branches swell
Cracks in my skull,
like plexiglass brains
churning, thinking of yes!
Listen to luminous windows
clean, not dusty dirty,
cloudy with a chance of rain.
Reginald Shepherd

D’hani Rispus

Innocent guilt
The president of guiltiness is innocent;
He is blind, but he can see an innocent person anywhere.
He is deaf, can’t hear or talkbut he can speak his special language.
He has no voice, so it’s silent
but it’s also loud.
He has a tattoo, but it is invisible.
He lives around barbed wire.
He is president, and he isguilty of imagination.

Perhaps Glooming

Albert Gordon

14

I celebrate myself
listening to a jazz symphony.
I rescue people off the roof,celebrate parties, blowing green
small bubbles with teachers.
In the morning I wake up
watch TV and dance
to the intro and outro rhythm.
I celebrate myself
head to the sky, praying.
Reginald Shepherd

Powerful
I’ve promised my girlfriend
to always say hi to her.
My girlfriend sings a song
to the waterfall.
My mother’s promises
I can tell to no one.
I use my eyes to look fora single cloud in the sky.
I want to blow bubbles at theplaygroundand be away from all the promises
I’ve caused.
I want to move forward
but my feet come to a halt.
Joeseph SmithA part of growing up
The sky is singing out my name.
Realize that I can’t come out
because I’ve got promises,
about six of them.
The powerful pull of fun
is on lockdown,because I can’t do it.
I’ve got to go forward,
not backward,
because I’ve got promises.
My whole childhood is melting away.
Did you know when the water falls
it’s really crying?
Marcantony Pierce

The Young Response
Is it a fact that old people
know more than young people?
Nah.
Old people want to make it seem
like young people don’t know things.
Well guess what? We do.
Promise us truths,
and I promise you we do.
But it is the truththat we don’t know everything.
Reverse your life, all the way
to when you were young.
You loved it.
So why turn your back on the young now?
Marcantony Pierce

Vincent WingfieldFood
The feeling, to think my one thing in life is just simple:
It’s the soft, fluffy texture of a marshmallow;
A round, sugary taste of a doughnut;
The long and savory feeling of spaghetti;
The mighty aroma of the supreme burger;
That taste of the acidic feeling of soda,
and the greatest combined food of all time.
Every 1,000 years, the four forces of the universe combine
Burger, Pizza, Burrito and Taco
to form…
El Burgerito Supreme!
Troy Chaney15Destiny Rhodes

Journey
When I wake up in the morning
I’m happy to see the birds in the sky.
The bird’s chirping is music to my ears.
The wind blowing, feeling the breeze;dandelion flowers blowing away from me.
The sun is shining on me to begin
a new journey.
Joeseph Smith

Flowering Yes
Green says yes
and I feel happy
pigeons flying up highin the sky
say yes and I smile
and it is evening
everybody is going homeand I am excited
I get to play games
and be alone
and the whole world
smells like cookies baking
Tommy Fridie

16

Being Young
Applause is excitement
while you blow away
like dry leaves on a windy day.
But it’s impossible to fly.
Running makes me breathless.
I should grow wings immediately.
Tommy Fridie
Saquan ShortWhy
I’m going to write a poem about
Transforming:
Angels transform into super angels
to battle your nightmares
There is a guy, and he’s a mystery
he’s a mystery guy
he’s stronger than nature itself
My super angels will protect meagainst any challenge
They have forgotten to make sandwiches
They need more knowledge
Ricardo WhiteIn My Imagination
I keep my window open
to see the moonlightthe breeze from the fan on highsoftness from my bed
along with my smooth covers
blue-black helps me think
thinking of my parents and girlfriend
helps me fall to sleep
Ricardo White17

l-r: Earl Bullock, Jamel Pettaway

Cruising down the street in my 64
My life is invisible
like a Yes Day
Every time I throw a football
it’s a perfect spiral
Sometimes it can get a little crazyon the Yes Day
I’m undefeated on a Yes Day
I never have been defeated on my Yes Day
On a Yes Day, I listen to NWA
I’m cruising down the street in my 64,
if you know what I’m saying.
Ricardo White

Tamia’s Routine
It’s time for bed
Sophia, the first nightgown on my body
Purple slippers on my feet
I’ve had a long day; I am beatMy pink nightlight glows bright
Just like the moonlight in the sky
My crimson bed sheets tucked nice and tightBut my ears are wide open
I just wanna sleep tonight
Turn off all the lights
It’s super dark, the way I like
Now I am ready
To count those sheep
Until I fall asleep.
Tamia Moyd

18

Everything Says YES
My YES day is playing the guitar
until it’s time for bed
blasting music, causing chaos
flowering roses in my backgroundwatching the ocean splash water on my face
while it tumbles down my cheeks
sun shining bright, giving me clarity
YES, my hair cascades
like a waterfall on a stormy, rainy day
the branches swing in the windtapping my window
waking me up from a YES dream
Erica Bell

Celebration
I have heard what the talkers talk.
I celebrate myself on January 15th.
I pack my things in the morning for VC house.
It’s the beginning of something different.
I am 14, full of energy, always ready for fun.
I love to hear Ne-Yo harmonizing over the music.

Shannell Jones

Time for a change of pace
I’m done, not going like this!
Not this time, I’m not going to stay here
in the forest any longer!
These mushrooms are nasty,
the place is always wet
and the wolves and bears think I’m food.
I’ve been stuck here for months
and I have had it!
No more, the wild animals have pushed me too far.
The next wild thing I see crawl in this forest,
if they don’t have papers
they are getting a Full FI-FI Smackdown!
This is war!
Troy Chaney

Leaping into a field of rose petals
because thorns would hurt my skin;
Sweeping away bad memories,
so my new memories will be crystal clear.
Faith Thomas

19Singing
I wanna make songs like “Beat It”
It makes me excited to dance on stage
The window to my heart is open
Challenges faced to make the perfectmistake
Nightmares of losing hope
Broken dreams sleeping in my mind
for eternity
So let’s sing songs like “Beat It”
To delete insanity
Singing seems like the cure
To mostly everything, I think.
Joeseph Smith

Nasty Blues
Yuck, school lunch
Just thinking about it makes me ache
It smells and tastes horrible
The burnt look makes me
bitter with no regrets
Nobody likes it at all
Someone should send thema note about a change
Maybe my mom’s spaghettior maybe
my grandmother’s fried chicken
Never seen so much foodgone to waste
Tommy Fridie

20

Arman Thornton

Well
Share a funny joke
Hear the laughter
like lightning cracking
and wind over the ocean
Send a compliment
Lift their joy
Delight
Sun brightHappiness before them
Smile
Teeth white as snow
Snow White
Easy, simple
Recovers their daySing
Miracle’s voice
Music notes in the air
All is well
Erica Bell

The youngest recovery
From writing my solo band beatto being in the hospital,
I have been through too muchover my stay.
From the shards of my album
found in my eyesto blindness,
The crumbling nerves
found on my arm from a ceiling fan.
My wisdom tooth,now gone from the flying stands
and broken, yet delicate, leglost from the fall of the music player.
All see lost and I…Am…Done(Blink)I’m alive! I’m ALIVE!
Wait, if I’m alive, then I just went a…
A youngest recovery in a dream

Shaki Knight

Troy Chaney

Squirrels
Squirrels in the ghetto
I’m making my song about squirrels
It makes me happy andI dance at every party
Brown squirrels are the best
Squirrels, squirrels, squirrels
Their voices are so squeaky
and broken
Older squirrels have more wisdomHey, let’s do the squirrel dance challenge
Swallow your acorns and dance with us!
Tamia Moyd

21

Marcantony Pierce

Being Young
Painting With a Man in It
I will make my body out of memory
Life of the afraid, unwanted
It makes me shout to the imagined,
to the thumping heart.
The vision to be a rainbow
is a lonely thunderstorm.
Saquan Short

Because you’re so oldYou’ve forgotten:
How to smile
youthfully;
How to imagine a possibility.
You say we’re too young to understand:
The beautyof an inexhaustible earth;
The joy of living.
But surely we understandwhat you don’t:
The difference between now
and yesterday;
The abstract tension of tomorrow.
You say we’re too young to understandwhat we don’t know, but
we’re old enough to understandwhat you have forgotten.
Christa Madikaegbu

22

Hood
Dear hood,
Mavelli Jones

Under my hood is a melting lockwaiting to let free a caged animal
Under my hood is a powerful mind with scars
My hood is dark black
My hood has a spiral window without a soul
Then my hood fades and I see a bright afternoon sky
outside of the hood
I move forward out of darkness
into light
I now regret being under that hood

Blank
Inside of me is blank
like no water under the bridge
like fire without rainor joy and no painor twisting but not shouting
or crashing and not burningand this thought is killing me softly
but I am who I am
so if the inside is empty
who do you think
I am on the inside?
Albert Gordon

At one point in time, I never knew
outside of the hood existed
but now I will say farewell
to you,the hood.
Albert Gordon

23

Unknown
I see a hand beginning to dig in the ground.
I see a rainbow door and I think
when you go throughyou shall have happiness forever.
I see a polka-dot housethat has a mountain-looking roof.
I see a green window,
but is it green on the inside?
Are the clouds going into the ground?
Saebian McKnightl-r: Jahir Gray, LaBrea Carter, Wayne Rhodesthat world
This world
where the grass is actually green
on the other side of this world,
where people’s skin color and emotions
are like Skittles, the dark sideand the sky is blue, actually blueand everything is ordinary
but ordinary is not natural to me:
This
is
her
world.
Andrea Staples

24What?
The moon gives us darkness.
Darkness is the absence of light.
I see fingers deformed
like a chicken finger;
the arms are longthe feet look weird;
their moon is too close—It’s red and jagged.
If I were on a mountainthat would make someone
think of what’s going on.
Anthony Martin

Jamari Carter

The President of War
The president of war has his rising voiceat the top of his kingdom.
The president of war was untouched untilthat afternoon.
He was in his uniform.
His kingdom was filled with silence.
The outside was freezing with barbed wire
everywhere.
Every awakening, never-missing but forgotten
was seen, with eyelids throughwindows protected with wooden boards.
The president was forgotten until this day.
Vincent Wingfield25

l-r: Armani Thornton, Christa Madikaegbu

The Mirror

May God Strike Me Down

The duplicate self-portrait mirror,
alone in the darkness,
imagined with a fearful memorythat was forgotten.
Broken thumping heart
like a crying scared riverwith a hard-chilled thrill
unwanted, but touched.
Strong but broken fingers
rub it with a crying shout.
The mirror remains hidden forever
with a scary broken story.

I said a prayer that reduced me to tears;
God gave me all the steps I need to taketo remove me from here.
I had a vision of this young man
homeless, so hopeless,I passed him at L’Enfant Plaza.
To get to work was my focus
but in my head, I hurt for him so badly;
On his face was calm
but on the inside, he was terrified.
A homeless single father looking for foodfor his youngest child who hadn’t eaten in days.
They are battling hunger,
you can hear it in his voicethat he is struggling to survive.
Everybody walks past him;
My heart is crumblingfrom hearing his cries:“Please feed my son, he needs to eat!”
All I can think ofis how hurt he is.
I couldn’t help but cry.

Vincent Wingfield

26

Aaron Henson

Who Knows What
Who knows if snails have names?
Who knows how feet grow?
Are feet violet?
Who knows if feet are blue and red?
How are clouds not in the sky
or a sun?
LaBrea Carter

Some people wish skyscrapers
will come sometimes.
Do people live there
because of the lookand the funny laughter?
Jacoby Jones

Self-portrait of the walking deadWho knows where the dead man’s walking?
Who knows who the dead man’s stalking?

Melody of Me
I celebrate my strength
I leap out of bed in the morning
Perfection for breakfast
Prancing to begin a school day
The sky above me is clear
My head is clear
Thoughts of softness
I know I am cared for
and I shine.
Tommy Fridie

Walking across the forest of darkness
through the field of houses,
the nagging of spouses;
Trudging through little houseson the mountain—
Don’t look at me
I ain’t countin’!
Jahir Gray27

Who Knows?
Who knows if that’s a person
under the tree?
Who knows if that is a tree?
Who knows if that is a person
who is yellow?
Who knows if that is the sky,
and who knows if it is blue?
Who knows the name of the thingsin this picture?
Who knows if it will ever be dark?
Who knows anything
about this painting,or the green grass, or
if it’s even grass?
Who knows?
Reginald Lampkins

Saquan Short

UnknownThat woman who looks out
the transparent window into a soulless worldof change and separation,
she wonders what society has to offer.
She stands at the same 90 stop every morningwith a lit cigarette, waiting for that 9:35 bus.
She always seems to get off
at the corner of Georgia Avenue,
silent, still, as she gets onto and off of the bus.
Through all the mothers who fight with fathers,
and all the rowdy children,
her expression always stays nonchalant and gloomy.
The weather always seems to bea sun shining when she gets on
but when she misses one ride,
the sky is gray and dull
like the bus ride is nothing without this woman.
Christina Taylor

28Lesson Learned
Yesterday, mighty death invited me
and I was scared
I didn’t know what to doso my heart started to beat real fast
It was dark, and there was a full moon
There was a big skyscraper in the sky
Now, I have learned not to be bad
No moreSo death just taught me something
Jeremiah Prince

Thanks for Nothing

Jamaree Martin

Thanks for support and time,Thankful for love and appreciation
I’m thankful for those things because they showed care.
Thanks for those fun times we have and still will cherish
Thankful for our past, uniting our present and future lives
I’m thankful for these things because without themmemories and goals wouldn’t have been created.
Thanks for kindness and collaboration
Thankful for our powerful indifferences
and troublesome imagination
I’m thankful for those things because they make our relationship work.
Thanks for your beauty and grace
Thankful for those things that can’t be replaced
I’m thankful for those things because of the way
it changed us, thanks to you
Thankful for your love and long silences
I’m thankful for those impossible moments to forget.
Remington Crawley

29

Earl Bullock

Solo
I need to trap in the hallway
to keep myself safe
to be cool and play with my family too
It’s a struggle in this world
It is so hard
I can’t do nothing
and that’s worth something
There is strangeness in people
because sometimes they act weird
I have a lot of kin
Some are family, and some are friends
A’Quise Thomas

Lost
I am the president of my childhood
and I am trapped in silence
In a dream, and my head empty
traveling to a forgotten island.
I am all alone but I hearrattles of voices in my head.
It is so freezingthat you can see the steam coming off your hands
snow melting during this morningas the sun is risingthen pop, suddenly I’m awake,unmoved from the couch.
Emir Battle30

Who is real/fake?
Who is real or fake?
Poets are such geniuses
with their wordplay
and their clichés,but some are frauds
who steal someone else’s creationand disguise it with their creation
while all of their fans areblindfolded by their trickery
covered with their blanket of achievement
while other unknown discoveries aren’t noticed.
Then they get their work mistakenfrom someone else’s
not knowing their past work,
then years later, the real poets get more fameand fake poets have regrets, feeling badand no one has sympathy for themand there is always a lesson
for real poets:
Don’t give up.
Keep trying.
Isaiah Hunter

Jailyn Smith

Real Illusion
This illusion almost seems realand it’s scary, but it isan illusion, like a vortex
in a vortex, inside a vortex—
Does it make sense?
That’s the whole point—
This illusion is meaninglesswith no point, like paying for something
you already have.
It is like a nightmare
that I can’t wake up from.
If I had a chance,
I would have left this world, but
you’ve got to make the best of your struggle
when timess are hard.
Isaiah Hunter

31Destiny Rhodes

Thirst of BloodFirst, trap him with a word of wisdom
then surprise him with your high intellectthen demolish him with your overwhelming strength
then capture him with his past of horror
then dissolve him with his own stupidity
then leave him abandoned, never to be found.
He’s missing, will be silenced,
like he never existed.
Then start the process overwith a new victim that comes for me.
Isaiah Hunter

Outer Limits
The earth travels in elliptical formation;
Galaxy tours, starlights and even zero-gravity sensation.
Interstellar universe, to be a multi-culti-verse:
Missions kind of joy,rocketed airbags to deploy,fusion jet packs set to hyperdrive.
Automatronic airwaves
as it is to have some lives
Indiscriminate, the dominance of your choice
Telekinetic powers, using only of the force.
Rejoice from within,embrace the voice of the sin.
Hear the call of the slaughter—
Is it mother or daughter?
Hear the force say
I am your father.

32

Jayden Gray

Big Boss Man
I am the big boss man,smoke you with a tan
defeat you like the Ku Klux Klan.
You aren’t frightening—
I’ll storm on you chumps
like I’m thunder and lightning,
Like a volcano.
Tell me something I don’t know.
I’m someone they all know
will get the final blow.
You’re restless, you’re reckless;You’re downright feckless.
Finally, you’re done.
I’m not playing—shoot you with a gun.
Your eyes are bloodshot,
then it’s in Hell, you’ll rot.
Jahir Gray

Marcantony Pierce

Revolution
Revolution is freedom.
Evolution is kingdom and queendom.
Revolution is not violence.
Revolution is not war.
It’s peace.
In revolution, revolution is said to be victorious.
In revolution, it’s said to be glorious.
But revolution is a country of opportunity.
Whenever it isn’t, it’s complete insanity.
Revolution is all’s fair in love and war;
Complete resistance till it’s not like before.
Jayden Gray33

Armani Thornton

The Life of Green
Green grapes
remind me of innocent $20 bills
jalapeno green eyeson thick females
the fresh smell of green grass
keeps me sane.
Restless green paintto create pictures of lonely reflections
Warning!
Let’s not forget to wear your green hat
in the shadows of the leprechaun.
Shanay Lesane

How to get in trouble
If you want to get in trouble,
don’t try to do a good thing;express your aggressivenesswrite on the walls
and make fun of the feeble;
Turn your words
into a poison arrow.
Smash what you have
Steal what you want to have
Don’t be on your best behavior
Put others through a constant struggle
turn your sorrow into anger
break forbidden rules
Be sure to keep this in mind
as what not to do
if you want to stay out of trouble.
Christa Madikaegbu

34

Love Hurts
People see girls walking throughone girl shows up, pulling moves!
Boy crushes on girl,
girl blushes on boy,so freaking coy.
Girls fake, guys dig itfor goodness sakes;
Alternatively, girl sees boy,
she likes boy, boy likes girl.
It’s bad blood,
it used to be mad love.
It hurts, it’s fake from below to above .
Why, who cares? It’s fake love.
Jayden Gray

Untold Mystery!
I am invisible
and I appear in the dark
I’m afraid of the light
People have seen my shadows
but never me
I’m kind of bitter, but sweet
I shiver in the cold
and melt when it’s gold
I’m platinum, just like my soul.
Jermia Joyner

Mavelli Jones

The Controller Struggle
When I return
as a game controller,
I will let the person play the gamewhile using me.
I will let the owner
throw me around
while he rages at the gamewhen he loses.
I am a PS4 controller.
If I break,he will have to buy a new one.
Tariq Richardson

35

My Darkness Memory
My darkness memory isme sleeping next to a dragon
with flame coming out of his mouth,
as I dream of the countless sheep
jumping over a haystack
to get their food,as I change my wardrobe
to get ready for a battle,
the troops ambush my baseand kill my dragon. As I take the last
breath of my childhood days
my photograph disappears
in the light of a fragment
killing the soldier
as they restrain mefrom committing suicide.
If I was to be reincarnated,

Christa Madikaegbu

When I return as a basketball

Gregory Nickens

I would want to come back as
a basketball, because
I would be one of the objectsof someone’s favorite sport.
That object isfor the person to get the ballin the hoop for a point.
It hurts when I get blocked,
thrown away.
Denali MarshallKaleidoscope
Bears eating green hearts
circles and squares
fragments of graytwined in squares and circles
green inferno flying
jogging with bears into a pond—
All you will see
in a kaleidoscope!
Jerry Campbell

36

Who Am I?
I am made out of strength
I open my eyes to see colorsof green, flowing throughout the jungle
When the shadows fall,
the jungle grows quiet
You might find me swinging on a vine
headed for JaneI dream in shades of red
like the flowers in Jane’s hair
My heart jumps
when I see Jane’s smile
I fear that I may disappoint
the animals of the jungle
as they trust me and look up to me
My very best friends are the animals
They are like family to me
The sound of my laughter
is deep, as it echoes through the jungle
I feel like I can do anything
when Jane’s around
There is nothing quite likethe smell of her perfume
When it is time to rest
I replay the memories of today
as they are what I live for
Isaiah White

Earl Bullock

What I’m sick of
I’m sick of people turning on each other,people giving up on each other;
I’m sick of people getting shotand killed.
I’m sick of motherand father arguing
and getting in trouble in school,and people faster than me
so it makes it hard to catch them.
Savion Makle

37

A Hole in Forever
I burn past the memory
a train whistles for me to come backI saw a dog once, and fell in love with him,
he wasn’t savage around me.
His foot skims the floor
like he has a grudge against these walls.
He counts birds…says it’s
a way of concentration.

D’hani Rispus

MirrorMirrors are a game.
They confuse you and they
are a game, so confusing
I give up, good day.
So confusing he forgets his name.
So confusing his brain
was tucked inside a suitcase.
So confusing my surroundings
are whirling around, so
confusing my sanity twitches
and cries out for help.
Bernard Holmes

38

The money was screeching,and sirens were ringing
but knowing me, I gotta hold it down
for what’s mine. Before
he put his foot in that car,a slow collapse of words
crept to his tongue, quiet hands
reach across that courtroom gate…
Whispers in my ear, “Can you keepa secret?” “Yes, of course I can.”His last words, in my room,
top closet floor box…
My last savings for ride or die.
Then the latch clicks closed.
My pain twitches and cries out,
I let him fall…
Now you can never say
I ain’t a rider, because against a sharp
light rests the definition of#staydown, find really the way
we ride and die, I’m willingto sit at the edge of a holein forever.
Myniah Sweetney

Almost Lights Out
As the clock strikes three,children get out of school
all rushing to the bus
to get home before it reaches
the point of no retracing.
Outside, the bitter smiles of
the kids sitting in the window
hearing in the depths of their minds“Dinner’s ready.”
The mother stands in the doorway
counting her child’s sighs
which seem endless,mother and son sitting at the table
as he stares out the window
watching the sky change
from play to PJs.
As the changes hit,it all seems enchanted,
like a dream that never dies.
Aneshia Whitney

Marcantony Pierce

Alliteration
Irreplaceable ignorant inside injusticeLong leather laughing ladder
Smooth scar struggle separation sickness
Disappointment discarded drama
Evil empty eyes emphasize
Wasabi window wildfire
Behold burned blue-green birth
Chopped citrus candles
Aniya’s anonymous anger arrives
Franchise fragrance fully frozen
Violence vigils violent
Rich rolling rotten
Together throwing tomorrow’s testimonies
Ashley Stevenson

39Arman Thornton

Might, Might Not!
I believe in my hero, and my own failures.
My own god and my own religions.
I observe my own failures,
I’m suffering but I’ll feel better later.
I am a mystery, I might be underYour nose, or I might not!
To love is to be equal, and have
Observations of yourself.
Armani Thornton

ART
Mystery creation uprise to the world
But nobody sees if you take
The path to innocence in the dark
It will exist in the sunset
And I’m capable of observing its spiral
Golden soul in its unknown presence
And its dark shadow is the destiny
To its homeland.
You cannot defeat, change or spin around
Its creativity like an orbit, you can’t
Change its gesture, you can’t conquer
Its colorfulness that it brings to the world.
To love is the creativity and passionof beauty in this world.
Tavon Berford

40

Alliteration
Saquan, silent as a skyscraper
all shy.
A full moon falls to
Flame.
We saw a hymn is a him
or her.
Some are wordless, too windy.
Saquan Short

Destroy, Build, Destroy
If I wasn’t this angry, I could
destroy a whole lot of things.
I’ll destroy anything the guy brings.
Ice is my main element, it’ll give you lice.
I can destroy rocks, bricks, blocks, tick-tock,tick-tock, blow up the clock, you’re stone cold,
I’ll give you ten-fold, psych!
A bright star in the sky, in the galaxy,a constant struggle tells me otherwise.
Gotta rise above it, a swarm of dandelions
won’t be flyin’.
If you’re lying, I’m dying, forget it, this poem’s
written, it’s smitten. Get rid of her.
A conquistador, take no prisoners. I’ll destroy
and build the people you killed. Your alter-ego
starts playing people from the get-go.
I can destroy friendships, go ahead and scoff,
if you get to sneak-dissing, I’ll pop off.

Tavon Berford

Gazing into the Universe
My gaze is like a mystery of creation
that’s observed from an ancient
but regrettable journey,and sometimes looking behind me,things get pretty weird.
When I see at this moment,
destiny is outside of its shadow
and justice tranquilizes darkness
with a bloody arrow, but
the world as we know it will have aneffect with the universe again,
and all the creatures in the world
may never know.
Vincent Wingfield

The only thing I can’t destroy are fakerelationships, friendships, what a rip-off.
Jahir Gray41

Almost Everlasting

Everlasting friendship, what I thought for the moment
When it ended it was just a thought in my head,
Friendship never lasts, it’s just like a sample
It never lasts, it’s just like a scandal,
Inspiring people to be careful of who they hang out with,
I felt bad vibes and how it makes me feel like a
Snitch. Impatience on finding good friends
But the only find is disappointment.

Things last, things don’ttime never goes away,
but imaginary friends
stay until you makereal ones. People
take theirlives like it won’t
end, but some arefilled with miseryand broken delight.
But welcome tovoices of encouragement
so makea moment of the heart
like an intact photograph,a lasting delight,
like, it’s almost everlasting.

Isaiah Hunter

Christa Madikaegbu

l-r: Armani Thornton, Arman Thornton, Christa Madikaegbu

FriendshipAll of My Imaginary
Imaginary things for me are planetsthat I name. Another one istoys. Imaginary stuff is shoes
with wheels, something else is
a 200-inch TV. Mostly everythingis imaginary. My dreams are imaginary.
One time I asked my friend
what he wanted, he said, allimaginary stuff. But, I said, Why?
And he said because it’s
way way way better
than real.

42

A’Quise Thomas

Non-Existing
My philosophy is a mysteryand I don’t regret thatbut I do regret that it has nochance of existing.
My non-philosophy
is eternal, and that won’t change.
I believe philosophies are
difficult to explain.
Sure, I’m capable of having one.
I speak as myself, not as a group,in my own words is how it is.
Philosophy is just a big wordthat makes you sound smart,
but that’s my opinion.
I don’t know how I think,but do you?
The world wasn’t made for you
to have everything.
What I see is unnecessary
and my gaze is clear,
wouldn’t you agree?
Sure I have no philosophy,
but I’m living perfectly fine
without one.
Albert Gordon

l-r: Jayden Gray, Jahir Gray,
Marcantony Pierce, Arman Thornton

A Monotonous Beauty
My gaze is narrow yet unfocused
I step outside into a beautiful wind.
Looking down to where my inner conscience is in control
The presence of this overflowing makes my outer conscience
Say, “What a beautiful wind! If only it would
Stay like this.” I leave every moment in my inner conscience.
Everyone, monotonous but so beautiful. They wonder, how can I
Observe everything with delight, while I’m
Unfocused on said everything? If I speak of mystery
It’s not because I love it, but because it triggers
Tranquil monotonous moments, or perhaps
It’s a gesture of mine. What a beautiful
Thing life does, almost as that same rose that I noticed
Seven years ago. As we grow older, the beauty
Never ceases to change. To love is to have certain respect.
Respect is to love while loving yourself.
Christa Madikaegbu

43Loneliness
Does it leave a mark when you
Come back to me?
No, because I’m stuck with you for eternity
Always there for me when degraded
Just the sight of me with you
leaves people elated
You and I both know to be sane
is to be wrong
Maybe that’s the reason we get along
You’ve stayed with me till the end
Who know that loneliness would be
My best friend?
Christa Madikaegbu

Writing Club!

Fear
Fear is like barbed wire coming at you
like death hollow in front of you
from hunger of eternity to forgotten death.
A dust devil will haunt you till you turninto dust—Shark-tooth trolls will eat you inside
empty rooms filled with darkness forever.
Giant mosquitoes will strike with theirdangerous, pointy tusks—
Fear is death.
Vincent Wingfield

President of War
The president of war has his
rising voice at the top of his kingdom
The president of war was untoucheduntil that afternoon—he was in uniform
The outside of the kingdom filled with silence
the walls freezing, with barbed wire everywhere
Ever awakening, never missing
but soon forgotten with eyelids
his windows protected by wooden boards

44

Vincent Wingfield

The Secret NightI was born in a dark nailed river
Entangled in the water andclosed in the black.
I climbed to the secrets of alocked & broken mind.
What was buried in my bones?
I believe in the entangled and blessedroad to be broken,
there I was left in the dark
and light was just old dirt.
Now tell me what you remember
from the broken one, when I wasnothing to the gods.
Christa Madikaegbu

Wayne Rhodes

Darkness
What is a Poet?
A poet is one who can write poems andone who can’t write poems;
One who mistakes words andone who mistakes himself.
A poet is one who believes and one
who can’t make himself believe.
A poet is one who has told lies about
himself and one who can’t tell lies at all.
A poet is one who whispers, saying that
he is trapped and not knowing that
he can leave from a tower.

Darkness is like childhood but without the truth
It’s like being tossed around like a puppet
It’s like being ambushed by an impatient person
With shards in their back from a trash can
Blown up at 360 degrees
Darkness is countless & hard to escapeWith its bitter cut weight like scraps of paper
It is the essence of eternity untouched
And unfocused with tremendous force
Vincent Wingfield

Vincent Wingfield45

Tavon Berford

The Chef
Dream a DreamI’m the president of dreams
Dreams give hope & inspirational thoughts
to people and dreams give life purpose
but some negative dreams are what we callnightmares—however, those dreams are overtakenby those who turn broken dreams into ones
full of triumph—our minds are windows of opportunity
So dream a rising dream for the future!
Christa Madikaegbu

Every day I see her
Bags full of groceries
A meal waiting to be prepared
But the expressions on her face are not those of hunger
or eagerness
but of anxiety and concern—she looks scared
When her phone lights up, the message that seems
urgent doesn’t seem to phase her
She has bruises on her face like she’s been in a fightHer wedding ring scratched
She bounces her leg up & down
She can’t seem to sit still
She’s nervous
Her phone lights up
It’s her husband
He expects supper to be ready before he gets home
Wouldn’t want another “accident”
She replies faster than her hands can type
like she’s excited
but the pain in her eyes says otherwise
Daizha Chism

46

Anxietyl-r: Arman Thornton, Jayden Gray, Jahir Gray

It walks with quiet steps, watching its surroundings
Anxiety thinks the worst before it has a chance to come alive
Anxiety lives by steps—anxiety doesn’t stand tall
It walks, head down with hunched shoulders
Walks as if it carries the world on its shoulders
for fear it will tip
Anxiety talks with a nervous stutter like it has
Underestimated. Misunderstood. Misused.
ice in its shirt
Such a segregated color, put in placement
Its eyes hang low, filled with glossy tears that don’t fallto describe things impure and hollow.
Anxiety bites its nails to the skin
Grey, the lead within the pencil of theIt wears headphones so people won’t talk to themgreatest masterminds,
even when no music is playing
but forgotten when the Nobel Prize is won.
Anxiety’s nightmarish words are yesterday, today
Grey, the color overhead that drips rain toand tomorrow
feed our crops or the snow to feed our spirits.
Anxiety is always jittery like someone is out to get them
Grey, with its many shades, walks behind the tallAnxiety lives in silence out of fear that the loud noisesa shadow to mirror your greatness.
of the world will tear away their peace and sanity
Grey, like a uniform you wear, other opinion, but
continue to do more without question.
Daizha Chism

Grey

Daizha Chism47

l-r: Christa Madikaegbu, Jailyn Smith,Destiny Rhodes, Elijah Douglas

Donald, O Donald48

I am made out of greed, pride and anger towards
My own insecurities
I open my eyes to see a disrupted planet we live on& how do I wish to fix it?
“Make it Great Again”
When the shadows fall I come out to bring fear to those who
oppose my authority—You might find me
Destroying homes & ruining lives
I dream in shades of red, white and blue
My very best friends are inner hate & false hopeMy biggest fear is failure to show the world I can
do it alone
The sound of my laughter brings nightmares
to your children—I feel like I can do anything whenmoney’s in my pocket
There is nothing like the smell of destruction when
done by your own hand
When it’s time to rest, I don’t.
I’m too busy planning to make “America Great Again”
Daizha Chism

Nigerian Princess
Up and down the rails she rides
Shaky hands & jittery eyes
Up and down the aisles she walks
Begging for change from strangers
Jagged and rustic shoes
Eyes with enough past to tell a great novel
Hands covered in ash
Fingernails black like nail polish
Hair wrapped like a Nigerian princess
She’s not from here
Staring at her reflection through the dirty train windows
She talks to herself—I hear an accent
She’s saying a prayer
Her small sweater won’t protect her from the winter ice
What a way to spend Christmas
Daizha Chisml-r: Jamaree Martin, Abbey Chung

Hate
You make my skin crawl without saying a word
You apologize like they haven’t already been heard
I just can’t fathom the hate I have for you—putting
this metaphoric spit together for you
I despise your very walkI hope you choke on your words & lose the ability
to talk—I’m tedious with this rhyme
taking my precious time to describe the demise of your lies
I’m fortified & you tried, but you’re trying to murder what died
Look with your eyes open wide
Letting the world know of all your games—this gameOf life you decided to play
You drove me crazy with all of your lies
Go back to an embryo, unfertilized
Daizha Chism49

l-r: Jamari Carter, Saquan Short

I’m SorryI’m sorry I don’t fit your pharmaceuticalstandards for what a woman is
I’m sorry I’m not your spitting image of success
I’m sorry that my big lips, bold eyes and broad nosearen’t your ideal type
I’m sorry that every word I speak feels like a speechfrom a prophet—I’m sorry
That my voice isn’t girly and gentle—instead it’srough and sometimes stammering
I’m sorry I’m not average or mainstream
I’m sorry I’m original & that it’s killing you
Sorry that you now have to pick out a casket
because me being me is all you’re going to get
Sorry. Not sorry.
Daizha Chism

The Artist
Shoes scuffed like he’s had them for a while
He gets on the train with the other kids
You can tell he doesn’t want to
They push him—call him names
Talk about his clothes and shoes“Can’t you afford new ones?”
His mouth wants to say yes
but his eyes say no
They’re about to burst into tears
But he holds back
They take his backpack
tearing it open, leaving his drawings flying aroundthe train—they step on them
stomping them out
What did he do to deserve so much pain and hatred?
No one on the train even looks in his direction
Avoiding eye contact to avoid the obligation to help
What a society
All he wanted was to draw.
Daizha Chism

50

Hell Games
See, now I am angry
So I’ll spit flames like these are the hell games
I burn with an eternal flame
I spit fire like a dragon
My veins course lava—the lava is my blood
I am the original of my kind
So I suffer in my glory
My thoughts are immortal & will live foreverFrom my first word to my last
I exist beyond the devil—I just can’t help it
I burn like wildfire
I have the bravery of a honey badger
I am hotter than a jalapeno
Hotter than lightning—untouchable
Look me in the eyes and know
You cannot run.
Jaymir Wise

Jailyn Smith

True Story
I remember when I was younger, looking up
to my older brothers, till
One got locked up and things got rougher.
The one who started stressing was my Mother,
Smoking & drinking her life away
Didn’t even have the time to say
I’m gonna be clean the next day.
But things are better now & I’m really proudof my Mom—she didn’t just raise 1 or 2,
but 4 of her sons—she’s the real MVP
My Mom is a champion.
Louis Morton

51

ToiletOne thing that wouldn’t be fun
To become is a toilet
As a toilet you become rusty, dirty
And stinky—as a toilet
I would wish that people didn’t use me
I would be crying every night because
People would come to you just to pee or poop
All over you 24/7
Jamari Carter

Sorry
I’m sorry for yelling across the room
I’m sorry for having an attitude all the time
I’m sorry for being mean to everybody
I’m sorry for everything,for not writing a poem andfor not reading out loud to everyone every time
But every time I come here, I always
Get yelled at like I did today
What did I do for you all to yell at me
Every time?
Shaki Knight

Sadness

Saquan Short

Paint first a person’s memory coveredin darkness, hurt and pain.
Remove a smile from your face.
Pull your hood over your head.
Slouch down in your chair.
Confess my deepest fear,
Prisoner of my own thoughts, wishinghappiness could set me free;
The rain hitting the window pane
helping me disappear with every dropthat I hear.
Kevin Franks

Nice ManI met a man once on the bus
who was nice to me.
He showed me how to catch a bus
and even gave me money before hegot off the bus, but
I don’t know his name.

52
Kevin Franks

Lonely
Face
Mouth closed—Not smiling
Eyebrows down
Looking from side to side
Walking around the living room
Everything is quiet
Stay in the house
When somebody is behind me
I just jumpIt’s going on all the time
Raining on
wet slippery streets
empty with no people
Someone says, “Do you need help
getting down the street?”
I say yes
I feel like when it’s dark outsidewhen the lights are out
and you hear gun shots far away
Tavon Berford

Kevin FranksMusic Mirror
First I paint on musical notes
In the basement on the wall
Sitting on a camel’s backMusical experience is necessary
Next I would like you to paint birds and humans
Near a heartbreaking
Noiseless motion—I’m in the bathroom
And it’s pink—I look in the mirror
And it’s me—my room is red and blue
There’s another person in my room
I don’t know who it is, but I know
She’s got a good personality, like me
Shaki Knight

You Do Not
You do not have to do your homework
every day—you can stay after school
and do your work.
When you get home you can play games
after your homework—You have
all the time when you get home
but don’t get a D+ on your report cardor your butt will be grass
Shaki Knight53

A’Quise Thomas

My Auntie
A Poet is a Prisoner
A poet has short black eyelashes
A poet has a thick moustache
A poet is thankful for security at prisonsA poet stays in the darkness in his cell
A poet is sitting alone filling the walls with lines
A poet dances to Kriss Kross
Shaki Knight

I sat in my Aunt’s living roomon her big comfy couch eating Cheez-Its
She asked me do I like funny jokes & I said yes
So we started telling funny jokes & laughing
until my Dad said it’s almost time to leave
I got my coat and I said bye
She said, “Bye honey, see you next time”
That is my favorite memory of my Aunt
Shaki Knight

BeyonceBeyonce’s voice is so loud thatthe whole world can hear it.
Beyonce sings so lovely that flowers
grow in the garden whenever she sings.
She gets her magic from a pink and blue microphone.
Her songs are so sweet that people hear her
and turn into chocolate candy.
Her voice is shiny, happy and smoky.

54

Shaki KnightSaebian McKnight

Vision from a Rare View
When they sit on you
Your feelings are not broken
Unspoken—before I sit inside a bus
I have to pay a token
I abuse you in school because I’m boredlooking at my teachers wig
but I didn’t choose you—my teacher
chose me to be with you
so I scratch you up when I’m bored—I’m sorry
kick you when I’m mad—I’m sorry
Sorry I’ve been a fool by not understanding you
Just thinking that you’re a chair to sit on
But I realize that you’ve been with me since thefirst day of school & every day since then
You are an unappreciated thing that prevents mefrom being on the floor—Cold.

Three Things I’m Scared Of
I’m afraid of spiders, snakes & centipedes
They creep me out to my bones
Spiders have long legs
Snakes are slimy, andCentipedes are long and just look weird
Some spiders are big, with skinny legs
Snakes are long & scaly
And centipedes are long with 100 legs
I’m also scared of thunder, because it’s loudShaki Knight

Mavelli Jones55

l-r: Jayden Gray, Jahir GrayShark
I would like to come back as a shark
Sharks are big & strong & in real life
I’m a small and weak person, but
When I’m a shark, people would fear me
There would be free food everywhere
I would have thousands of teeth
I would be hard to kill
I would like to be a shark because
I think it would be fun
Saebian McKnight

I’ve Walked the World
I’ve walked the world, but I’ve never seen Paris.
I’ve walked the world, but I’ve never seen Antartica.
I’ve walked the world, but I’ve never seen Taylor Swift.
I’ve walked the world, but I’ve never seen a talking tomato.
I’ve walked the world, but I’ve never seen a tap dancing peanut.
I’ve walked the world, but I’ve never seen a breakdancing walrus.
I’ve walked the world, but I’ve never seen a sword-fighting swordfish.
I’ve walked the world, but I’ve never seen a unicorn.

56

Saebian McKnightLeaders
The president of rising knows how
To uplift people and himself
The president of travel moves
Forward with his people
The president of barbed wire knows
How to harm you when you try to
Leave his site
The president of silence knows how
To act without soundLike a 1940’s silent film, and we are all trapped
In it until the end of their first term
No one, nor anyone, can speak
Their truth or falsehoods
The nations are all destroyed, because
All nations were not free—they had to
Follow the leader
No, nothing, but one person can fight
And turn nothing into something
Mavelli Jones

Troy Chaney

Feelings
When I am gloomy, my feelings
dry up like the desert.
For some reason it’s always agray day when it happens;
My eyes get filled up with tears
reflecting on my love to others andtheir love to me, my achievements
and the many bad things I did.
My hands shake just like an earthquake.
My body feels hot, just like sleeping on
an oven that’s 400 degrees.
I feel like I’m walking on a bed of needles
bare footed, with blood everywhere.
When I’m gloomy, people say Why are
you pouting like a little kid? andI hold my body like just likemy Mom did when I was
first born.
Mavelli Jones57

l-r: Anthony Martin, Khiddell WhiteHeights
I fear heights because
The distance from the ground makes me scared
I fear heights because
When I’m high in the sky and I look down
I know if I fall I would be a gonerI fear heights because
When I see everyone shrink below me
It makes me realize how high up I am
Saebian McKnight

Alienation
I hate being a human having these emotions
I hate waking up to go to school
People got me feeling alienated—un-powered
I hate guys trying to figure me out
I hate being noticed for nothing—I hatetall boys—they make me feel sad
I’d rather be tall as a tree—It would be lovely to see
I’d like to be different—I’d rather be a publisher
or famous—I’d rather hibernate than go to school
I hate when boys act fake around me
I’m a planet, and have no one to bother me for a week
I hate school when students want to get yourattention by being annoying to you
I’d love to be a shadow—no one would bother me
Christina Cook

58

Who is a Poet?
I am a poet
I am thoughts in the darkness
I conjure the world with every rhyme
That comes out—it breaks like ice
My worlds shadow everything it does
It holds me like an umbilical cord
My poems are a mystery of creation
It’s frozen into separation of memories
Like a waterfall, it comes to me as a dream
Echo in the distance—it takes a solution of
Ashes, dirt and darkness to know who is a poet
Everyone is a poet through creation

l-r: Jahir Gray, Vincent Wingfield, Marcantony Pierce,
Troy Chaney, Jayden Gray

Pride

Christina Cook

When I Was Born
When I was born
there were wonders around me.
Balloons with all the meaning of acheand sorrow filled the atmosphere for breathless
moments of the unexpected.
Darkness stands up like a stature of brothers
filled with bitterness. I wanted a boy,
No a girl—as tension grows louder;
Regrets showing as shadows of the spirits
and from the unknown silence ofan old lullaby’s soul—there I wasat the depth in the orbit of nowhere.

Pride is a fistful of evil—Pride has a blood vein of
unknown suffering—Pride has wounds that arecovered up
by fear and loneliness—Memories of scars that say«Listen!» —Departed from falling leaves bred withweepingsilence and emptiness, filled with darkness for
eternity
broken glasses, the bone-crushing feeling of pride
is a common revolution over & over again.
Christina Cook

Christina Cook

59

OutsidePink, orange, blue, black, purple kids
SquareTriangle
Trapezoid
Run, walk, skipping, fighting, eating
Deer
Squirrel
Wolf
Daisy
What can be found in nature
Grass
Mud
Trees
What is not in nature
FencesMailboxes
Bricks
I get half of a land of nothing
Less with a spirit showing
And the other half a house with a heart
Christina Cook

Me or Difference

Isaiah Hunter

I want to be remembered by my pride
I want to be remembered as someone who
Showed bravery—who is cut to pieces ofRegret, and dissolving promises, and shattered
Emotions filled with memories dangling
In the balance
I want to be remembered by the sun and the moon
Paper and wind moving out of sight going throughThe storm as fire burning inside liquid
Turns into gas transforming into a
Necklace of planets
Christina Cook

Grass GodAll day you step on me
But I’m here for that
I help you breathe
I help dogs when they’re sickI’m green and clean
I stay along the street
When you step on me I feel it
I cry in silence
I’m called the Grass God

60

Arman Thornton

My Love
Let it be cool
Let it be love
Let it be fun
I am hope—I am fun
I share love, but not my nameOur love is like a brickYou never make me angry
Our love is not ordinary
My love is like no others
My love will not run out
My love is romantic
Arman Thornton

Myself
My shadow shivers in the sun
It’s nervous in the sun—I get mad
I turn into an ox, like a boss
And if you hop, that means
You were in the way
I make my dog go into a frenzy
I like my steak medium rare.
Arman Thornton

Jamari Carter

Drifting President
Smoke everywhere—eyelids cloudy
But I’m headed towards the line
The clock hits 6 and a big gold trophy
I play until I get the trophy
I go home & take off my uniform
Make dinner and go to sleep
The next day I start drifting and
Keep going and going and going
Arman Thornton

61

My Own
I make my own habitat
I make my own spot
I make my own food
I have my own mood
But I do not drool
What I do is ruleThat’s what I do, now
How about you?
Arman Thornton

Anthony Martin

Poets areLetters

A poet is someone who wants to but can’t.
A poet is someone who has a mind.
A poet is someone who likes his life in his own skin.
Poets would rather sleep through the night.

Diligent dogs devoured Dunkin Donuts
and coconuts, corn & candy.
Randy ran and rolled across a rock.
Mandy makes more money than Mark.
The handyman is here to help.

Arman Thornton
Arman Thornton

The Book
I am a hard-back book and there isnothing on my cover—It is boring
I was tired and wanting
someone to read me—I want to be
noticed. But enough about me—
How about some Burger King?

62

Arman Thornton

Presidency
I am the president of VoiceI speak up for people who can’t
I will make people who are wrong say
the truth even when they try to lie
The truth is rising already—everythingthat was towered over and untouched
is coming out,
and to the girl or boy whose heart is broken—
Even if you feel unloved
deep down you are still loved.
Armani Thornton

Magic
Magic can be heartbreaking even thoughIt’s cute—Listen carefully to the spells
When the person casts over you
Feast upon the questions
The person can be considering
Sadness is blue, though it is my favorite
Green is disgust—Yellow is happiness
The feeling is nicer if you share it
Red is anger that builds up when
Someone messes with me
Mix it all together and it
Makes you confusedl-r: Saquan Short, Earl Bullock

StrangerI see a man in a suit—He looks suspicious
I think he’s going to work
I imagine he’s bankrupt even though
he looks like he has a mansion
He might be a weird person—He looks
happy and bored at the same time
I bet he robs banks
Before I get off the bus, he looks at mewith a cold grin
Armani Thornton

63
Armani Thornton

Summer
Summer time is near
Strange fruit grows from bushes and trees
on the sunny side of the street
Everyone comes out to playat the pool or the parkThat’s the solution when you get too hot
The tide is high when you go to the beachFaithfully, there are trees all aroundI twist & shout to get out of the houseto have fun once in a while
It was a good day today.
Armani Thornton

l-r: Braxton Mathews, Anthony Martin, Khiddell White,
Blake Mathews

Not SorryI’m sorry not that I had so much energythat I jumped to Alaska.
I’m sorry not that I bought a white-winged lion
and released it in the school.
I’m sorry not that I turned all the paper invisible
so now we don’t have to work.
I burped twice and farted—I’m not sorry.
I’m sorry (not) that I brought mortal food into
the movies—By the way, I’m a goddess.
I’m sorry (not) that I got caught up in the fun andmissed out on the free food.
I’m sorry (not) that my windows are so cleanthat birds run into them.
Remember—it’s not that I’m sorry—it’s
I apologize, ok?
Armani Thornton

64How to Win
Paint a picture of your life
Talk about your 12 years in school
Talk about how school was hard for you
But you kept trying
Say they did not think you would make it
In school or in life
Say that I listen more, and say
I will make it out of Southeast
Travis Young

Big BuhMarcantony Pierce

Her favorite place to be is her childhood
Her laughter is a blizzard of happiness, but
Her anger can become a strike of lightning
She had fun working at the Redskins football stadium
Her favorite kind of people to be around are
Exciting and creative
Her saying is, “Get it how you live”
Armani Thornton

How I feel
I feel sad about how people throw thingsand break them—Some people
use me as a target.
I feel like water dissolving when they
break me down; My tears are likea river going downhill
flooding the town like a thunderstorm.
Travis Young

Hungry?
Did you hear that sound?
It’s the emptiness inside myself.
There’s an empty canyon in my stomach.
Sometimes it fades away, but other times
it sticks to me like glue.
It drags me around until dinner,tugging and pulling me around like a potato sack.
My engine stops in the middle of nowhere.
The hunger is very powerful sopull yourself up.
Armani Thornton

65l-r: Jayden Gray, Jahir Gray

Poltergeist
For some, they look alive
But me—I can see the supernatural
People see clouds and planes
I see floating coffins and bats
They see adults riding cars & trucks
I see people riding werewolves andGiant spiders
They eat burgers and salads, but
I see them eating slimy brains
And human feet
And from the look of all of thisI may not even be on earth
Or am I?
Troy Chaney

Fist
Tired of being weakFound in the mist
If you want me to fightFeel free to feel my fist
My fist feels like a kingAll covered in blood
I’ll break your skull
And smash it in the mud
It’s not just hard work
I also show dignity
But unlike you
Who shows your stupidity
So now you know
And here’s a candy cane
Now run and scram
Before I put you in pain
Troy Chaney66Dr. Seuss(A loving poem to my favorite author)
In the ashes we know
To the spirit of love
We miss you so much
Like a lost turtle dove
I miss that guy
Who liked to relax
I miss the orange moustache
Of my friend Lorax
When reading this poem
Filled me with hunger for lamb
But that changed my mind
To eat green eggs and ham
I miss you so much
And because of that
I will always remember you
With the cat in the hat
Troy Chaney

What Does a Poem Do?
People come up and ask me
What does a poem do?
I ask them—What do you think?
In fact I will say this to you to
Influence others too
Because you can make your poem
Do something to help you
To care for others
To change things
And to feel important to yourself
That’s what poetry can doTroy Chaney

Wayne Rhodes

Man of SteelI’m made of strength—strong enough toCreate beams of light—I open my eyes
To a criminalized city
When the shadows fall my rivals & enemies rise
You’ll find me serving justice to my foes
I dream in shades of family
My heart jumps when no one assists me
My biggest fear is a crystal that brings darkness
My very best friends are the greatest detective,
An Amazon queen, and the king of the ocean
I can do anything when filled with determination
There’s nothing like the smell of justice served
Extra crispy
When it’s time to rest, I think of a thoughtless past
Troy Chaney

67

The Lonely Table Story
Once upon a time
there was a lonely tablewith no friends
no food on it—no nothing
The table man is the loneliest
table in history
Flies flying around him, whisperingthat he was never made with you
On the table is a pitcher, and if you
look closely at the pitcher, real closely,in the picture is gravy
and it’s white.
The truth hurts, doesn’t it,
Ms. Nancy?
Marcantony Pierce

Jayden Gray

If a Dinosaur comes to Hart
Let me tell you what I would do
First thing I will do is look at it
because you don’t know what
it is about to do
but if I see it running towards me
I’ll be gone like the Flash
Dinosaurs are dangerous
Better get a sign to warn people
But if it’s not there, you’re eaten
I wish I was like the Power Rangers
Because dinosaurs are unstoppable
See you later. Hope you don’t get eaten
by a T-Rex.
Marcantony Pierce

68The New Change
I come from true stories,
like light bulbs glowing
and I see grandmother.
She is blessed like the river.
I come from pine trees changing;Born, a season to grow.
I wanted to go home.
Marcantony Pierce

Who’s That Poet?

Leroy Bailey

The poet is me
Looking for graduation
Writing out blizzards of ink
And this ain’t a tankSee, being a poet takes hunger
But be careful, some people may hurt you
Some people may fire you, but
If there’s one thing my Mom taught me
That’s to never give up
The one and only poet, Marcantony
Has the power of memory
I take this seriously
I want to be the best poet
I am that poet
Because I mean it

A Bad Day
A bad day is every day for me
On a bad day I will not hold my rage backOn a bad day, don’t say hey, or
you will just have a really bad day
I’m happy when you’re gone
like listening to a favorite song
A bad day is just terrible pain, butlike I said it’s every day
It will never end.
Marcantony Pierce

Marcantony Pierce

69

LaBrea Carter

NightmareOctober is my Month
October is my month because it hits
like a hurricane—creating memories.
I see shadows of people watching Empire,but I’m not a fan of Empire—I’m a Skywalker.
So get with the beat, or get with the heat.
You can’t defeat me.
Oh here we go again—I win again.
I’m undefeated on one day—My special day, which is my birthday
In October.
Marcantony Pierce

My real name is Nightmare
And with you I have a problem, so
I will give you a nightmare
I see the fear in your eyes—you’re notMoving—you’re shaking like freezing
No one is here to help you
Trick or treaters banging at the door
You don’t open it—so they come inThrough the window—you think you’re deadI’m so scary that even the haunted hallway
Can’t scare me—I make them scared of me
I’m in the valley looking down on your family
It’s not my fault they can’t see the sunlight
Happy Halloween
Marcantony Pierce

70

Elijah Douglas

Cool Kid President

Thankful
I am thankful for not just the big things
But also the small things, like air
Because without air we will die
And for clouds and trees
I am thankful for all the small things
People love the big things, but
Let me tell you, small things countIf you never talk about the small things
It may just get ready to ruin my Thanksgiving
And if you do that, then I might just leave
Then I can be thankful for thatI’m the president of the cool kids
So when you see a kid that is cool,Thank your president, Marcantony Pierce.
Why am I the president?
I am because I’m the coolest kid
in history—J’s on my feet
So get like me—but let me get something
clear—I’m not Donald Trump& I’m not throw up, so catch up
President Marcantony is here,
So prepare to be cold.
Marcantony Pierce

Marcantony Pierce

71PeacePeace is when people want to be cared forWhen people want to love instead of pulling
Each other’s hair—Killing children
That’s the opposite of what I’m trying to say
Peace is when people sit back & laughWhen people eat together, sleep together
Even trick or treat together
That’s what it isNow let me live in peace
LaBrea Carter72

l-r: Richard Walston, Xavier Spruill

Emotionless
Many of my friends have been
misdirected—Many of those ignoramuses
have been infected—We the people, the defenders
like Avatar the Last Airbender
Their downfall is their plunder
They’ll be grounded from down under
They’ll be soft as a sin
Should’ve never started to begin
We drove the streets to defeat
corrupted and courageous—take a seat
You’ll pop and lock like the tickety tock
We’re the hot shots from the boondocks
You’re gonna get it, you stupid idiot& leave the scene, you drag in skinny jeans
We’re the twins, we always win—as for our friends
you’d be softer than sin
Jayden GrayWMD
I come from shining lightning
onyx and brightening—a bottomlessblack rock—a class of hard knocks
comedy Fort Knox—break their bones
send them to Auto Zone.
I come from midair bludgeonings
I come from impotent rage
threatened to run away—a stay of
black rage
Woke up sometimes, eternal wage
seething cynical cage—you wannatake our dime, I’mma steal your shine
while you whine—we see silver lines
Italy, Rome—tell your memories stay home

Isaiah Hunter

Jayden Gray

Stinginess Apocalypse
We’re the people who loot and plunder.
We’re the people who come from down under.
Well it’s blunder when stingy people come totake over and steal people’s thunder, wellit’s takeover time—Go commit a crime.
That kid’s angry and he’s mad—He ain’t big andbuff—he’s short, chubby and sad—face looking likea floor mat—body built like a raft—dude’s so fat
he looks like he fell out of an elevator shaft.
Stinginess? I can put up with that.
Someone hit him with a golf club, hockey stick, bottle
or a baseball bat. Hey trick slick Rick, go get whippedwith a belt, a hose, a whip, a shovel, and a nightstick.
Jahir Gray73

Defiance

Unforgiven Misconception
I come from the black road—I wake up in midair
I come first in line—nothing but a roadheading four ways
I am above and beyond hunger and stupidity
What is the temperature of this humidity?
Like a god with ammunition
fully weaponized moods
Once again, floating in midair, I can descend
without despair—That kid is gonna get hischange of mind—Let a broken light gothrough his head—This ain’t showbiz
besides I’m a trendsetter, not a go-getterand that’s just how it is.
Jahir Gray74

l-r: Christa Madikaegbu,
Vincent Wingfield

Her house

Lumpy lies
Acid washed fingers
Venom is bitter
If she finds a
Way to slither
Through me, that’s amazing
She can’t read me
The pain
Is complicatedBarefoot bruise
Foggy hands are
Uplifting with noPeace—Far away a
Candle slowly burning
Why does our candle suffer?
She’s comin’—She’s comin’
Defiance is comin’
The sun’s tears
Crawl with burns
Of acid—Reality stares
Into my shiny eyes
That were at war, and
Now at peace
Myniah Sweetney

I come blessed like a river
Or a door that is closed
Now that her walk is old
But not locked
I come from howls sent up
All night and all day
They say I climbed to the roof
Looking for a black roadLeading to my MotherTell me what you remember
From the light broken on the earth
Become the bird I wanted
The house of a Grandmother is a
Smell like sweat
Saquan ShortI Am MeI’m my mother’s
Reflection—a million bees
Stinging one’s emotions
Stay strong, take a breath
My Father’s Tasmanian devil
An owner’s grinning dog, just in time
For dinner—flex your intelligence
Knower of all—Throw his furious rocks
Into a tunnel & smash the broomstick
My Sister’s words
Her necklace of plants grows
Based on my water words
The balance in our relationship
Her fire burning inside
My Brother’s backfire—his hundred legs
Ginger and sizzling cries
But last, I am me
My words make you wonder
My voice makes you cry liquid gold
This time there is no imprisoned light
She is not shattered—the little girlWho will always be herself is me
I conclude a constant struggle
I will make somethingof the red rope
Myniah Sweetney

Saebian McKnight

CautionFarewell if there was actually true happiness
Gray is my bedroom wall color
Broken glass isn’t the prescription that matches
That girl’s heart –Caution
She has to watch herself when she says that
Love word
Listen baby, listen
If faces are scarred from barbed wireBlue black wrists & twisted ankles
Twisted toy boxes & strangers weeping
Nightfall—ashes in repetition
It plays so many times
I’ve missed you for eternity, it seems
I’ve missed you—I’ve missed you
The voices, the boxcars & hunger
I swear you fear reality
Justice fears history
But I fear silence
We feel love with caution
Myniah Sweetney75

HappinessHappiness is the key to life and to friends
Happiness is sunshine & brightness
With no clouds
Happiness is family
Happiness is freedom
Inside, it is kids & candy
Not being happy is rain
Storms, smoke and nightfalls
Wayne Rhodesl-r: Anthony Martin, Saebian McKnight, Saquan Short

Real Ones
There are more fake flamingos in the worldThan real ones
One day I will have a Bugatti, one of the real ones
One day I will have a mansion to live in
And will have all my friends to visit from all over
The world
I will have the love of my family
And I will have lots of smiles—the real ones not fake ones
Saquan Short

Stories
I will not return to the earth as if
I had never been born
I believe all the stories of who I was
A hard back book, a tent behind the houseof a grandmother who was not mygrandmother—the smell of beerbone in her hip strains now that her walkis old—What you remember of her now
is her walk.
Andrea Greenfield76Remember
Remember Wayne
He was the man
Went to the NBA
Came back to
his hometown andhelped the neighborhood
the homeless people
The greatest man in the world
helped his family andgot them out of
the hood
Wayne Rhodes

Jamari Carter

Destiny
Believe all the stories of who I was
the first son to ever walk the moon
I’m afraid of dogs
I come from a grandmother who walks
the dead & shows me the light of who I held
Kiss the door, but not too soon
Black Secrets told to a mother to never be borna god below the hoop
They say he went to the moonPortrait
My constellation was born on March 16, 2002
I cried like a spoiled baby—the one boy
On my Mom’s side, the 3 boys on my Dad’s
I was unfocused but skillful
Now I’m a shadow in the night or
A kiss in the sky—Next time you
Walk down the avenue, say
I’m the boss

Jamaree Martin
Saquan Short

77

Life

Marcantony Pierce

Full Moon
One dry night the first son was
Afraid of water and was afraid of dogs
Then they say I light up like a light bulb
I become kindness—I walk through a door
That is not closed and see nothing else
But road—I threatened my Mom that I
Would run away
Sometimes I would wake up with fur on my neckI don’t know poetry
I learned how to write in critical condition
I’m bored so I’m not gonna listen
Sitting here thinking and wishing
Poetry was not a gift
I’m at home now, needing a lift
Scared, wow, so frightening
Hoping one day I get my license
Elijah Douglas

Stinky Story

Morgen Bass
I heard that somebody’s children are
afraid of water—that their Grandmothersmells like bear and dead bird
they smelled like they knew death andhad a book bag break her backShe sat up all night & day with a box of light bulbs
beneath her arms—I believe the story
because it was a hot season that I heard froma pine tree with a big tent behind her houseso now, that bone in her hip strains to heal the fracture

78

Jamaree MartinImagination
I saw Imagination
he was tallbrown skinned with blue eyes
had dreads that go from 3 inches longto out the door
Imagination comes into writing club every day
and hangs out with everyone
but he likes me the best

Jaleel Rush

Kevin Franks

Shanay Lesane

I come from a long line hollowed out
on a dry night—The first son in a line
Of someone else’s children
Hungry and afraid of the elderly and the new deadMy mother said she would take me whereever
I wanted to go—It was dark enoughto bury myself.

Glowing New Day

Kevin Franks

I come from a long line with a box of light bulbs
Fractured in my hand as I wake up in the middle of
The country along a black rock on a hot season
Drinking beer and reading a hard back book on
The roots of a tree as I get struck by lightning
I run to my tented housed to grab my weapon
Of nails and glass as I run away to play basketball
And sweat in the hollow on a dry night
Gregory Nickens

79l-r: Christa Madikaegbu, Vincent Wingfield,
Arman Thornton, Marcantony Pierce

SnobberySnobbery is a stuck up person that doesn’tcare about anything.
Snobbery is a dust devil living under the ground.
Snobbery is a kid-less person.
Snobbery is the loneliest person in the world.
Snobbery is a human with a lot of courage.
Snobbery is a reflection of a white wave.
Shaki KnightLife
I have the good looks of my father and thehidden mind like my mother—I have a glow likemy cousin and loyalty like my brotherI have the boldness like my aunt, but I also havethe struggles like an unopened window.
I’m just like everyone, but we don’t have to havethe window closed—if we open it, we realize
life will get better.

80

Na’jee Ferguson

Entangled Words
They say I climbed to the roof
Afraid of dogs without ethos
Afraid of hunger and stupidity
When I threatened to run away
With a box of light bulbs beneath
My arm—I come from a line ofSomeone else’s children
I come from hard back books
And tents leading to my motherYesterday I was glowing with no light
To heal fractures
I believed all the stories
Nailed to a pine tree
From my grandmother
Ashley Stevenson

Yesterday
Yesterday I was nothing but a road
Heading four ways
When I threatened to run away
My mother said she would take me
Whereever I wanted to go
I come blessed with kindness, likeA grandmother from the new deadI woke up in the middle of the night
With fur on my neck, like a black rockI’m from the hot season as if I had never been born
A’quise Thomasl-r: Chase Stroman,
McKenzie StromanBlack President
Oh, Obama is the first
Black Presidentof history.
At breakfast my familyeats waffles with cream andgrits and bacon.
So I eat breakfast and it
was a trick, but I am still
home, still hungry.
Arnold Herring81l-r: Jayden Gray, Jahir
Gray, Marcantony Pierce,
Armani Thornton,
Christa Madikaegbu,
Arman Thornton

Martin Luther King Jr.
Born into a world knotted up,
He counts birds under the eveningsun.
He forgets his name until he realizes he’sa king.
He’s narrowing down what should happen next
At breakfast he thinks quick,the flick of the wrist burns anger like a stone toa stick.
Just for a second a slow collapse of words“I have a dream that one day,”It changed a lot through time

Prediction and Contradiction
Everybody knows that whenever you
sit still, it makes people go insane.
The opposite of skipping class would begalloping the hallways. And some people
be fighting.
Some kids don’t listen to teachers.

Renita Williams
Because if that was respectful, we’d bepreachers.
Arnold Herring

82Collision
I land on the sun
I burn up on the moon
I freeze on the sun
The moon is so bright
The sun is so dark
The moon is a star
The sun is a heavenly body
LaBrea Carter

Arman Thornton

What Lasts
When You Are Young/Old
Young people like cool new cars
Old people like classic cars
Old people like classic music and say it’s good
Young people can go fast
Old people go really slow like koalas
Young people go to sleep slowly
They play their games until 12 or 1
Old people go to sleep in a snap
Young people don’t remember nothing
They are not as smart
Old people remember everything
Back to the beginning of time
When baby Jesus was born
I would rather be old
My brain explodes like a volcano

Chicken lasts for half a minuteLife does not last forever
Earth lasts until somebody presses
the button to blow it up
Family lasts until they dieeven when you argue withthem, they’re still family
Slavery does not last
we already broke itLove lasts forever
like I love my family
even if you don’t show it.
Arman Thornton

Arman Thornton

83Dancing
A power line falls
as I spin around, boxes of leaves
remind you of a ballerina.
Spotted by a sharp light
I tripped just for a second
It was only a trick.
I faced the camera
to pose for a picture.
She leans across toshow first one shoethen the next
tiptoeing, singing songs.
Secret Campbell

Shanay Lesane

One day

Opposites

One day I was sleeping
and my back did not feel the sameand it was weird
I thought it was the way I was sleeping
but a few minutes later
I looked in the window
to see if someone was inside
but I saw my reflection in the window
and I saw a wing so I did not tell no one
it was growing at a fast paceso I found a high place to jump so I jumped…
then
I
		did
			notfall to my death, I flew.
I was amazed. A few months
later I told my family I can fly
and found out my parents know
all about it, and they can fly too.

Everybody thinks I’m mean
Being nice
My whisper sounds like a scream
I’m hungry and fullI remember to forget the unknown
Sometimes it’s hard to listen, but easy
My poem turned into a short story
Shanay Lesane

Na’jee Ferguson

84

Current Feelings
Angry, mad, frustrated
Just want to punch someone
So much tension
Throw a chair, a box, or rocks
Immediately switched up on me
I feel so separated
No friends
No one to have my back
Have you ever lost yourself
to get what you want?
Well I haveI realized I’m in this alone
Missing the breathless laughter
the steady playing
and volcano of happinessShanay Lesane

Aniyah Stevenson

Unexpected Darkness
My gaze is unexpected darkness
It is my custom to fight backSwinging to defeat
And sometimes kicking and biting
I’m very good at connecting punches
I’m capable of ancient creations
I believe in myself
Because of my triumph
The world wasn’t made for unremembered fights
I have no regrets
If I speak of justice it’s not because
It’s negative, but because it’s tranquil.

HopefulWhen I feel hopeful
My head starts to bow
and then my legs go down
My hands start to get in a near position
then my face starts to come down.
When people see me do this,they ask if I am praying
I say no, I am hoping
and they just go away after that.
And when I feel like this,
this is what my body does.
Na’jee Ferguson

To love is to suffer unwittingly.
Shanay Lesane

85

Opposite Opinion
Anger is happiness
Hungry is not hungry
Whisper is being loud
Remembered is unremembered
Gentle is being mean
Fighting is talking
Rain is water
Smooth is hard
Window is a door
Ancient is young
House is school
Roots are boots
Destroy my phone
Hidden from mom
Soul food everywhere
Joquan Knight

Marcantony Pierce

Staying Tall
I want to stay a warrior
I want to be truthful to my mother
I want to stay tall, because I have a big appetite
I will always be fresh and clean
I will never be betrayed by family or friends
Because I won’t say nothing at all
Never told a lie but seem to be a liar
I hate the rain, but I love the sunshine
it brings, after a storm.
Kevin Franks

What Old People Don’t Know
First of all
I read your poem talking
about us young folks
and what we don’t know,what we’re not talking about.
It made me mad as red.
You want to make it seem like you know everything
but you don’t.
I know someone that does—God.
God is everything to me
but as for you old people
don’t get it twisted,
When you talk about us young folks
you’re talking about the one
and only Marcantony
Marcantony Pierce

8631 Flavors
Armani Thornton

Strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, chicken,
beef.
All kinds of flavors that make up me
Chocolate, for my skin,
soft and smooth it may be.
I shimmer like diamonds,
too bright to see.
Chicken for my tenderness
not salty or dry
catch me in the summer
I’m even better fried.
Vanilla for my eyes
dark brown is the shade.
Creamy and smooth is how they’re
made.
Strawberry for my sweetness,
I have soft spots too.
Even though I’m sweet
I’m a little bruised.
Although this isn’t thirty-one
I’m not the one to blame.
I just have too many flavors,
too many to name.

Shadows + Secrets
I burn the past with all my secrets
but it also goes into another world
where tomato vines feed the secrets
up into autumn with just a whistle
you can hear a dangerous voicethat gets swooped up by a put-outerthat is hurtful enoughyou won’t be able to hear a voicewith a shadow
he forgets my name with every grief
we go throughcomes passion and violence
thrown like a stone
through the church window
Isaiah Hunter

Daizha Chism

87Transformation
All of a sudden, I can hover.
The hummingbird can sing a song to people.
A hummingbird has a short beak,the neck is bright pink, the feathers are light blue.
Hummingbirds have long skinny tongues.
Hummingbirds are faster than a cheetah.
Did you know, a hummingbird
can sleep for twenty minutes?
Did you know a hummingbird canstay alive for five years?
Shaki Knightl-r: Jenga champion Joquan Knight and thevanquished Patrick Washington

The Mad Song (Part 2)
They look mean, you look buff, just to pretend
when you got whooped it was a disappointment,
when you hit with a fierce blow,
you went down, now that was a show,
just because you have nice clothes on,
I will knock you out and throw you out thewindow, then I’ll knock you out of existence
and make you decay, when you die
your death will be a mystery, no priest,
casket or condolence will appear,
you’ll be knocked out so badly, no one
will know you were here, and last but
not least, I will knock you out so bad,I’ll knock you off the face of the earth, causing
your parents to have regrets of your birth.
Isaiah Hunter

88

911
I am in the kitchen
I burn the past
just like my hand.
My hand was burning like the evening sun.
My mom called 911.
Since I’m black
the ambulance was a no-show.
Mavelli Jones

Ninja
Whirling around in the air
They hit you so hard you forget your name
They use weapons you’ve never seen
Move around so fast you believe in Flash
They stay in the shadows
to keep their identity safe

Destiny Rhodes

FireFire, fire, fire
You cannot destroy
its desire, but its desire is to destroy you
burn you, kill you, or destroy your image
fire, fire, fireits boundless heat has no feelings
but you will feel it
Its wrath will let you hear
your blood spillingyour skin sizzling—
you’re grilled. You realize
you’re in hell.
Mavelli Jones

Saebian McKnight89

Letting Go
I’m happiness on Earthknowing that beauty is
beautiful makes anger
like open windows that
goodness is good
makes rememberedl-r: Daizha Chism, Isaiah White

Young People
Young people can do somersaults and older people can’t
Young people can go breathless longer than older people
Young people can go to the NBA Finals and older people can’t
Young people cause more disturbance than older people
I would rather be young, because when you’re old
You can’t move quick and do exciting stuff
Young people can do more extreme stuff, like
Going hiking or rock climbing
Young people have more imagination than older people
Young people can actually remember what happened yesterday
And older people can’t
Young people can do more impossible stuff than older people
I would rather be young, because when you’re young
You’re always hyped and not asleep
And you don’t have to worry about being close to death
Saebian McKnight90

Depend on each other;gentle note and voice
make the no window
together; before andafter follow eachother
To bear and nottrees to own;
to act and notroots not lay
claim; to do thework and let it go;
destroy satisfied forjust letting it go
shout is what makes
it stay.
Saquan ShortDifferent World
Two days ago a half-man half-horsecame into my room
It went into my closet
I followed it and it was gone
Daizha ChismAs I kept on going I fell in snow
It was a whole different world
As I walked through something was
running in the woods

Unexpected Sunset

My mother called me for dinnerand I told her to look at my face

I walk away from fights because they are bad
Every time I beat somebody I feel sad
I defeat that person and darkness starts to form
Then I look in the sky and say one word,
The sky turns golden.
It was an unexpected sunset,
I woke up and noticed that it was all a dream,
Opened up the window, looked at the sky
And it was green, I asked myself
What’s wrong with the sky?
I blinked one time and I was woke.

She said, nothing’s wrong with your face

Richard Walston

I looked all through the woods
and I didn’t see nothing
I turned around and a wolf jumped
on me and bit my face
But I was still alive

I just started crying
Richard Walston

91

Being Young
It’s because you are so oldpeople do not understand.
But we are the young people
uncompromised forever.
Young people as the forgotten
rivers, inexhaustible into
the earth.
Surely we, whirling, knowwhat you do not know.
Saquan Short

Jailyn Smith

Mysterious Poem
Above the Clouds
Catch the light, it’s such a beautiful sight
She counts birds in the sky as they fly by
The clouds whirl around all downtown
This past winter in school I’m a winner
The sky is blue while I make stew
and the clouds are wet
DeMarco Randolph(after Terrance Hayes)
I was in midair
my bones were entangled,
I have light bulbs glowing like ideas,me sweating like beer,afraid of fractures
and the elderly also,
the act of kindness,
like a bird with no expression
the dogs with ethos are kindand blessed wherever
I wanted to go,just like the rest.
DeMarco Randolph

92

Reflection
I’m a reflection
such a big mouthand now flutter
A few lonely hours ago
you slept in traffic
skin jack-o-lanterns
now
Don’t swoop, even try to explain;
Racing wind, even tonight thetrillion eyed shadow looks
at me.
Because you’re supersonicsuch a plummet mouthand energy, your eyes
glow ecstatic
Saquan Short

All About What Kids Do
Kids getting on the bus
Kids getting on the bus to go to school
Kids twirl around
What kids do on the bus
They’re beautiful like the rainbow
Kids jump
Kids play too much
They are funny but
Sometimes they can be mean
A’Quise Thomas

Joquan Knight

Life of Garbage
I’m the garbage can and I eat sandwiches
but eating trash is far better than honey buns
hotter than the sun, unfinished housework
that’s not done and I don’t have a mum.
I’m a garbage can that don’t play in the sandcan’t blow me away with a fan, don’t have
no hands, or play in a band.
DeMarco Randolph

93

My Gaze
Shannell Jones

Run Away
One time I wanted to run away
My mom kept insulting me and
Kept calling me names
So I got mad and I went to my room
Locked the door for a while
Then my mom came and asked
What I wanted, and she apologized
And she bought me a lot of stuff
And she gave me a kiss
A’Quise Thomas

94

My gaze is clear as the eye can see
It is my custom to observeand destroy negativity
And sometimes I regret thecreation of a shadow madeby the unknown me.
And what I see is thearrival of overflowing Loveof my Black family.
Jamel Pettaway

Philosophy
My gaze is full of regret.
It is my custom to observe
my conscious mystery.
And sometimes I change
the universe’s sunset into
my own creation.
And I’m very good at unexpectedtrouble that comes my way.
I’m capable of making the shadow
invisible.
I believe in change to destiny
but it doesn’t exist in my time.
Demarco Tucker

Closet(after Terrance Hayes)
I was nothing to becomeof. They say fractured lightbulbs gloom from people’s
afraid minds. Hung but
entangled into the dustof the locked door. It
was shut, closed growing
from the roots of a half
chopped tree. As I run awayfrom yesterday’s broken hip.
I would take a board
nailed to my closet door.
And shoot a weapon ofkindness into the net. How
beneath my closet can I
be?
Demarco Tucker

Gregory Nickens

My Philosophy
My gaze on rap is that it’s dope
Mysteries come wit it, and you never know
It’s a lot of people dat need some soap
But rap will get you money even wif da jokes
Spittin hot barz and spittin hot rhymes
And I’m very good at stoppin the time
I believe the style of rap won’t die
My squad walk in and can’t nobody decline
If I speak up on da beat it gon get killed
Y’all don’t even know da beat gon get illed
You can take my rhymes but you gon get stealed
The world was only made for me and my peers
Mykel Woodbury95l-r: Jailyn Smith, Andrea Staples

Contradictions
I will be happy when Destiny is mad.
I will be full when Destiny is hungry.
I will whisper when Destiny is talking.
I will forget Destiny’s name, when Destiny remembers mine.
I’m gentle when Destiny is hard.
I’m fighting when people are not fighting.
It’s raining, why is New York dry?
Destiny’s skin is smooth, why is this other girl’s skin hard?
My glass is hard, while other people’s glass is plastic.
I’m ancient while I’m young.
Destiny wrote a poem, while I wrote a paragraph.
I planted a root that became a plant.
I destroyed a school, and mama replaced it.
I eat soul food, but Ms. Abbey eats American food.
Jamaree Martin

96Destiny
I’m happy, you sad
I’m mad, you bad
I’m fly, you dry
I’m hot, you not
I’m living, you dying
I’m crying, you winning
I’m laughing, you made me cuz you
choking
Choking on food you can’t swallow
Ran to a pool I can’t follow
Followed you to the pool
But I’m still startled
Destiny Rhodes

After School
People all around me, laughing
At a friend’s house, playing the game
Just for a second we go to the store
I burn past the dog
I told him, can you keep a secret?
Into the stars cause it was night
When I walk home it’s quiet like a stone
At home inside grandpa’s arms
Wayne Rhodes

Isaiah WhiteAll About My Spiderbaby
I exploded with spiders
My body turned into a daddy long legs
My friend danced his way to the party as a spider
I saw a bug that talked
I said hey, and he talked
The bug led me unto the wizard of bugs
I asked, could you turn me back human?
He said yes
He told me the trick was:Crush a bubble, lick an unbroken heart,and follow your bumblebee dreams
I did as he said and suddenly
I began to change back to my human body
I was happy
And I was told never to talk to bugs.
Destiny Rhodes

97l-r: Joquan Knight, Andrea
Staples, Jayden Gray,
Marcantony Pierce, Jahir Gray,
Destiny Rhodes, Abbey Chung

Indestructible

Come Back

People can hold you down
But never beat you down
Love is indestructible
It can overpower you
Like your ego
Like a broken leg
And like energy
It’s defenseless likea million ants.

One time I walked away from home
I was lonely and in darkness
I left because it was darkness
I was forbidden to go backand I felt left out
I felt I was not loved
I couldn’t handle the struggle
So I came backI felt confused because
I didn’t know why I left
I should have told someone.
Wayne Rhodes

Wayne Rhodes

My Future
First paint the future
A basketball star in the hall of fame
Remember to use green
Use green to paint the feast of money
Abandon all bad friends
Listen to the important people in my life
I want people to witness my good skills
Wayne Rhodes98Unbelievable
I’m riding a motor rat
When I see traffic, it’s crazyIt’s unbelievable, not real
A gravity dagger
I’m so fast
If you try to catch me
You are trash
I’m like a buzzing bee
Mixed with Lambo
I’m driving on a planet
Drifting out of the sky
Wayne Rhodes

Giants
It was only a tricka trick playthat the Giants ran in 1998.
The Giants are goodSuper Bowl boundafter they win a gamein the locker room
they clown.
On January 7th, 2017
the Giants lost to Green Bay
but they thought it was all a dream.
This past winterwe had a good run,but as we moved on and lost
we played for nothing.
Anthony Martin

Troy Chaney

Walking Home
Walking home
I walked past a lady on the phone
She looked mad
So I knew she was not glad
She was making a lot of noise
I think that lady was screaming
I think she was screaming at a kid
She was having a bad time
It looked like she was having a rage time
Walking home I knew it wasn’t great
But all night long I was awake
Wayne Rhodes

99

ProudMy face when I’m proud is happy
My hands are open and resting
I relate to a peacock
People say why are you so happy
I walk with confidence
I hold my body up and I’m confident.
Anthony Martin

Daizha Chism

Who Is A Poet?
A poet is an athlete.
A poet can be anyone
all you have to do isspeak your mind.
A poet doesn’t have bloodin his veins, he has ink.
Never invade a poet’s space
it will be thunder.
Poets are the tower of a castle.
A poet is everybody.
Anthony Martin

What Is Going On?
I woke up early, seen a cat, dog
I chased it around the house thenit hopped out the window
I was still chasing it but I don’t know why
when I looked up Mars was there
The water turned white
Cars began to fly
Animals were mutated
I began to hear a song
but it was very low
Something was falling out the sky
but it wasn’t snow.
Anthony Martin

100Destroyed
When things get destroyed
you maybe won’t get them back.
When you look over your shoulder
someone has your back.
That’s friendship.
Most friendships neverget broken.
Most friendships don’t
get destroyed.
That’s how much they bond.
When you overpower a friendshipthat’s how they break.
Your friendship should be fragile
like a glass plate.
Anthony Martin

Andrea Staples

Surprise
I walk away from the people
that betray me, that hate me,that are just so disrespectful
to others. I walk away from haze,
I hate haze. I walk awayfrom fiery walls of smoke,
everywhere it’s hard to breathe,
all I smell is burnt crispy treats.
I walk away from lonelinessbecause it’s sad, but boring.
I run away from storms,
thunder and lightning everywhere.
It’s kind of scary, because of
weird people. I follow everything
I am supposed to. I follow my dreams
and no one can tell me otherwise.
Armani Thornton

Hurricane
After the thunderstorm
I come out with the blink of an eye
A power line falls when I come around
I’m slanting roofs in my neighborhood
When the evening sun rises I fade away
Armani Thornton

101

I. B. I.
I believe I will make a good world
and a life for people.
Armani Thornton

Weird(after Terrance Hayes)
I come from a long line of dirt.
Afraid of running away from a weapon
My mother said I threatened nothing
But a paved road heading four ways.
Stupidity is afraid of expressions of kindness.
A pine tree is not like a river.
A line of gods awakened.

If I speak of god I will see him
out my window.
The world wasn’t made badbut people fixed it and now
they live in this world called Earth.
Sometimes the world breaks up
and things change.
Dorian Buckner

Armani Thornton

Anger! (The Real Anger)
Happiness is found when you are happy
Happiness is forgotten until you get happy
Filled with happiness and fun
Silkworms are the most beautiful
insects in the world.
The nicest kids in the world love to help me.
I’m going to be the nicest girl in the world.

102

Armani Thornton

Stupidity
after Terrance Hayes
I will not wait to becomea bird dark enoughto bury itself in midair
flying over everybody
that hated on you
Just look at them with despair
knowing that it’s only
a few people who care,that’s stupidity,
making people go on a killing spree
seeing people get shot
without receiving a master’s degree
it’s stupidity,
people robbing you,no matter what city
it’s not just the adults
but also the kiddies…
kiddos, kids, there we go.
I guess I’m just a lucky so and so,smart but never show
stupidity
Jailyn Smith

Arman Thornton

The Unknown
My gaze is at a distance
Even though I’m self-sufficient
It is my custom to walk in a mystery
This poem is going to go down in history
and sometimes I observe the things around me
and what I see is that the world don’t revolvearound you nor me, but us
And I’m very good at stuff
I’m capable even though I don’t look toughLike a baby who was just born
Like an eagle, y’all on the ground and I’m soaring
I shine brighter than diamonds and pearls
Knowing that now this is Big Jae’s world
Jailyn Smith103l-r: Andrea Staples, Jayden Gray, Destiny Rhodes

Kindness(after Terrance Hayes)
He was a lonely child in a dry night
first son of someone else’s children
afraid of shallow things such as
water closets, weapons, & hunger
with stupidity, can’t relate with elderlyor new dead, climbing through obstacles
hearing howls sent from all night & daylights leading to my mother fromthrough the night, do you remember
her fractured bones, coming from the dirt
road leading to the paved one,will not return as if not born, will not
be a bird to bury in midair, where did
you bury my dog, in what tree
are the bones entangled, come blessed
like god changing his mind, kindness
mother said would take mewherever I wanted to go.

104

Maliquia Hawkins

What is Home?
Paint home, thefeeling at home.
What are your thoughts?
Home is more thana house, a dark holeor a place to relieve stress.
Keep a memory of
it. How do you painthome? The same way
you think of it. If
family is there thenthat’s home, the power
to feel what you feel.
You own it. You
can put everyone
out.
Cameron Deboise

NightMyrai Jones

I was up all nightAfraid of how my life might end
Will I die with no love
Or will I die knowing I had a friend?
Never once had a father
so I chose the wrong path on my own
I did have a cousin
But he sang the song in the same tone
I chose to play ball
So I can make it out
But I did wrong so much
When people hear my name they don’t even knowwhat it’s about
This isn’t my life
But I’m just saying
You will never know
Who might grow up not being a man.
Robert Green105

l-r: Khiddell White,
Wayne Rhodes,
Richard Walston,
DeMarco Randolph,
Anthony Martin

Opposition is Better!
There is always a force or signature
within the universe. But for every
force in the universe, there is anequal and an opposite. For every
matter, an anti-matter.
Everyone holy, someone demonic.
Have a dream house, looks likesomeone copied that one.
Favorite amusement park?
Re-new that idea. Greatest
gaming weapon? Re-skin it.
You get what I mean, there’s
guys and gals out in this crazymixed-up world who are just being
copy-cats. But besides, I can do that too…
BETTERRRRRRRRRR!!!!
Troy Chaney

Blocking
What does a wall do?
It just blocks a path in your way
I don’t care who built the wall,
Imma bring it down.
That brings me to somethingelse, pros and cons.
It likes being a huge pain
because you can’t gothrough it. But you canbring it down with awrecking ball, a hugehammer or a jackhammer.
It’s very weak to all of that.
You can even say, “It mightbrick on ya!” Eh! Ehhh!
Troy Chaney106Nervous?
I’m shaking, head to toe
leave me out or
leave me alone
Talking despite
Me and joy, we’re not alike
Think hard or
think proud
People with me can’t think aloudJoy is off but I’m no fear
Most people have me for the year
I’m not furious so I’m…
Cameron Deboise

B.R.A.I.N.
B.irth of a thought, able to create
the spark for the unit.
R.etroforming the unit, creating theentity of its structure.
A.cknowledge the information given to
the brain, to use it in life’s problems.
I.nformatize the knowledge, to create
more thoughts and form them to more.

Christa Madikaegbu

Rainbow
If I describe how a rainbow
can become your feelings and thoughts,
I can describe it in six ways.
Red, your own mini
volcano of anger.
Orange, an earthquakeof agitation.
Yellow, a mini sunof happiness.
Green, your grassland of peaceand sense of calm.
Blue, your lagoonof tears and sadness.
And purple, your twitchy
and crazy soul.
Troy ChaneyN.ow for the finish, use yourability to help the world becomea better place for all.
Troy Chaney107

Miscellaneous Impossibility
All of a sudden, these miscellaneous
events kinda happened. When you jump
you can fly. When you walk, you question
why. When you turn, you can slide. And
when you holler, you can glide.
The stroke of midnight,
look in the mirror, self-consciousness.
You get stronger every night.
Mesmerizing at sight.
Metamorphic, microscopic,
Toss the topic, miscellaneously
I’m anthropomorphic.
Jayden Gray

Tyler Parrish

The Old, The Young, and Ms. Nancy
You are never too young to be old,
You are never too old to be young,And you are never too old to be Ms. Nancy.
Uncompromised, you are never too young to be fancy.
If young Dolph made it to falsehood,
The likelihood would be the oldies into newbies,
If you want that on your conscience, look
for momentum, Confucius.
You old people say get off my lawn,
We kids say after dawn.
Methodical language, deaf vanquishes
as we anguish with advantage.
The Young and the Ageless, or the
Old and the Restless. Either option you’re
helpless. The elderly know this. You arenever too young to fly. And you are never
too old to question why.

108

Jayden Gray

Jahari Pearson

Memory of Remembering the Reminiscence
Have you ever felt like you felt unnoticed
or been forgotten? Well let me tell you thememory I’ve had, us being forgotten, left outof what the girls tell our friends.
It never ends! Attention, the recognition,outer dimension, the cosmology constellationfrom the ground up, but can’t shut up.
Another memory I’ve had is being here in
Writing Club, surrounded by the people I love.
I may hate school, but I do love Writing Club.
Like it’s childhood, but the future world.
The best memory worth reminiscing is us
hanging out. The worst is a schoolwith fakes and bluffs. Go get that on
your conscience now, you maroons.
Jayden Gray

109

The Whole PictureFirst of all, out of all the seasons,the years, the months, the weeks and thedays, it’s just one bizarre episode after
another.
We all have our fondest memories from ourpast, present, and the future. In statue,
from childhood reminiscence to laid back adolescence
to memory lane.
We win some, we lose some, cheaper by thedozen. The longest memory of all time is us
friends hanging out like Good Times. Forgetthe bad times.
All’s fair in love and war, but one you
shall never forget. You ruined our yesterday,
the Past. You ruin our evening and morning,
the Present. And if you ruin our good times,
we’ll ruin your future.
Jayden Gray

DeMarco Randolph

Tattoo 2 Twinz
Riding down on my motorcycle dirt bike,about to take flight, I wonder at night.
Seagulls, is this legal? With my knuckles
tattooed with the right saying “COOL” andthe left saying “TWINZ” What does that all
mean? We win, that’s how it’s been.
Welcome to Life vs Death, minus the breath.
Gold T chains, Denim Jackets and jeans,gloves and boots black. Twins are back, jack!
It’s the little things that don’t last. Broken
voices, blast from the past. Tattoolessemerges ruthless. Highlights lasts in spotlights.
Above all things that last, it’s not the last
life fast, ignore the past, to future yonder.
It’s all infinity and beyond.
Jayden Gray110l-r: Marcantony Pierce,
Arman Thornton,
Christa Madikaegbu

The President of Imperviousness

Philosophy vs. Conspiracy

I am the invincible. I am the invulnerable!
Say goodbye to the Queen of No! and sayhello to the King of Yes! I hear voices in
my head, there is no rest, they cancel me,
it’ll be a pest.

My gaze is as clear as the nighttime
atmosphere. It is my custom tobust them to keep them from here
I have a philosophy that no matter
how bad things turn out, they will
always turn good in the end. Conspiracy
theory proves they will die like Big Ben.
You can’t judge a book by its cover. And
sometimes talk crap about another.

I’m the President of Imperviousness,better known as the Ultimate Lifeform.
Smarter like Obama, better than Donald Trump
the know-it-all louse, if you step out of line,
you gonna get housed.
In the Cool Kids Utopia, I make therules of promotional jurisdiction.
Yes to music
Yes to phones
Yes to video games and yes to no school.
We’re the Kids of America of this Yes!
Movement! From Hollywood to LA,
Jacksonville, Mississippi to California, Texas.
From triumphant Saints Row to Galaxy Wars
Oppress. The Kids of America will rule with
an iron fist.
Jayden Gray

What I see? I see eat, sleep, conquer
defeat in my future, you know? But heck
you know what they say, YOLO. As in you
only live once. But you know, we ain’t
the dumbest of the bunch. Because of
abstract thought. Not because of raindrop
top drop. To love is to know when to stop.
Jayden Gray111

My Walks
I walk away from doubt of the emotions I see,weeping children crying under a stone.
I walk away from the grieving
and replace it with hope.
I follow when the wind stops moving
you can hear like a moving of boots
but I’m also in a dust of hidden memories.
I walk away until the nightfall of silence.
I follow the souls of emptiness.
Christina Cookl-r: Khiddell White, Anthony Martin, Wayne Rhodes

Changes I See
Things that change over time
the past changes through life
what else changes?
Our creation changes to what we see
Our voices change to our moods
As a flower changes its creation
An artist changes the viewof how we want to see things
A disappointment becomes happy and glorious
A sarcastic wittiment can turn into a joke
Or expressions of pain can turn into suffering
A shadow could be destiny or chance.
An unremembered quote can be
your favorite words to say.
Christina Cook112

Contraprediction?
Anger is joy, hungry is fed up when
whisper is noisy to the power of ten.
Remembered is amnesia, gentle isfrictionless synesthesia.
Fight is pacifist, out rain iswistless mistfulness. Smooth move= groovy moods. Hidden = sound,lost = found.
Corrupted data lost and abound.
Ancient ruins, fast and around.
Destroy the build, if roots
were stilts.
Icebreaker, poison, fire emblem
antidote. Venom sacrifice makes
the life of vice. To live is to dielove is to learn. Why not once,but thrice.
Jayden Gray

Saquan ShortAs I Walk Away
I walk away
into the sweet,
silent darkness of the nightwith a scar of regret.
If you follow me, you’ll
be forever unknown
to me, a person only
knowing to deceive.
An overflowing disappointment
locks itself into my soulwith only you forever with the blame.
As I walk awaywith no farewell to you
a gleaming happiness fades
into my soul.
Christa Madikaegbu

113l-r: Marquell Lewis, TyJuan Hogan, Justin Dodds

Wow We Are Too Old to be Talking About ThisI can’t speak for young people
I am old
I can’t be hype for the excitement
I’m too old,
I could break a hip.
When we rock on to music
we move our heads back and forth
we think we are dying.
We young people can hear the forest
We old people need a hearing aid
We young people feel expressions
and are happy
We old people can’t feel expression
and we are always bitter.
We young people can hear better
than the old
We old people need to yellto hear what you say
When all we said
was “Hi.”
Christina Cook

114

Friends of Contradictions
You and I are like fire and ice.
Your joy is a changing flame,
yet mine is always the same.
You say the window is open
but the window isn’t there.
Your beauty is classwhile I’m fragile glass.
Yet the disturbances
never last, and pain
is abstract.
We saw the world together
but we’ve never been outside.
We are just two contradictory beings,
you and I.
Christa Madikaegbu

Creation At Hand
I’m curious to create
but it’s a struggle
to create a mirrorthat only shows areflection of desire.
A blue-green shadow
made into a crystal
spirals into a moonlight
I created.
It feels like I’m thecreating playerfrom Minecraft.
Now life’s a living game.
If infinite creation was energy
I would be full of it. But why
can’t I create an unbroken
earth? Maybe it’s someone else’s
creation at hand.
Christa Madikaegbu

DeMarco Randolph

It’s Not Destructable, It’s Innovatable
I know my knowledge is indestructablefrom addition and subtraction
to 35—7. My teachers
say that pink in Spanish is rosa
while others say it’s rosado.
My knowledge is neverbeing destroyed, it’stransforming,
evolving,
in my mind, my memoryis an abyss full of information.
The knowledge I have lets me know,
amber is not only a mineral, it’s also
what insects are trapped inside, andthat George Crumb made potato chips.
You can say my knowledge isn’t
destructible, it’s innovatable.
Christa Madikaegbu

115

Proof
The Devil is a lie and God is the truth,
the truth ain’t really no good unless you got
the proof
See proof ain’t the proof that shows all thetruth. People tell you a thing and say it’s
the truth, but unless you see it or touch it
there’s no proof.
A dog is a duck, you don’t got no proof.
A man is a fish, you don’t got no proof.
Vincent Wingfield

We all live life, now that’s the truth.
Obama was a good man and that’s the truth.
Trump says he’s helping America
yet there’s no proof.
Truth lets us know what’s going on,
Proof shows us what’s really happening.
Everybody can tell the truth, but unless
you can show the proof, then it’s a lie—
That’s truth.

The Following
I follow silence into the dark sky
I explore and realize that I’m beginning to
be uncompromised with no difference of
momentum. I follow magnetic energy upon
my final slaying, with the fear of pride.
I tear apart my silence, divergent matter of time
I die long and hard, but as long as I die,I will slay the sky.
Vincent Wingfield

Lawrence Offutt

LifeLife is restless, backwards, it’s to be torn apartor not torn apart. Life is like sunrise and sunset but broken twilight with life and deathjust fading away into heaven to meet God.
Life is more of death, but less complicatedwith no patience, broken misery, and a badand horrible sunset.

116

Vincent Wingfieldl-r: Marcantony Pierce,
Armani Thornton,
Christa Madikaegbu

The Last of Us
Games will never last, cards will never last.
Friendships will last, friendships won’t last.
Places will change, rooms will change.
Not the armor and range.
Tattoos never last, birthmarks never last.
Trees never last, plants never last.
What a delight, this ain’t the sports highlights.
Food never lasts, drinks never last,video games never last, desserts never last.
Lights change, twilights never change,
fake people change, voice will always change,
It ain’t that strange.
Buildings won’t last, houses won’t last,cars won’t last, trucks won’t last,vans, bikes, scooters, skateboards, snowboards,
motorcycles and other vehicles will and will not
last.
Relationships always last, relationships will
never last, relationships change, they won’tchange, it’s just a blast from the past.
Jahir Gray

Abstract Thoughts
Abstract emotions to the left
More abstract emotions to the rightCause they are left to be out of sight,
and that the paint colors are morethan bright.
Emotions of happiness, sadness, fear
and anger, the abstract pulls you up
a clothes hanger.
Purple jealousy and green envy.
Blue, yellow, red, orange, brown, pink,magenta, lavender, fuchsia, shout out
all the colors in your mind and leave‘em empty. Technicolor, and multicolorand black and white’ll give you a fight.
Jahir Gray117

l-r: Tavon Berford, Elijah Douglas, Jailyn Smith

How to Describe Your Personality with
Feelings and Emotions
When you are feeling any kindof emotion, you could be stomping
the ground if you’re angry, drifting yourarms if you’re sad, or if you’re happy or mad
People might say, “What’s wrong with you?” or“Is there anything that I can do?”You can relate to a ball of fire, or a thunderstorm
or a bright sunny day, a snow storm, or blood
dipped in deep blue sapphire.
You might be smiling or frowning or clenching
your teeth whilst you are drowning.
You might hug yourself, pause, for a cause forapplause, or kick yourself to the curb or grow someherbs, this ain’t “Phineas and Ferb,” your colors
are of translucence and iridescence, so why don’t
you grow up and lose all your childhood adolescence.

118

Jahir GrayI Can’t Be Destroyed
I can’t be destroyed even if
you tried to shoot me witha poison arrow on my chest
cuz I’m a survivor and a herowalking through these obstacles
and it’s a little fledged I regenerate my body using tunnel
vision.
I can’t be destroyed in any typeof shape, form, or pattern, I
just put the pieces together
like it’s been scattered.
I can’t be destroyed, I’m too
hot on fire, I got theheart of a lion, the eyeof a tiger, the constant
struggle is my desire. I
defeat these battles likeI’m Floyd, and just like a
cockroach I can’t be destroyed.
Tavon Berford

Saquan Short

Miscellaneous Activity
When the smoke cleared, I saw nothing
but impossible strategy. Strategy, oh,what tragedy. If you walk the fountain,
you can jump over a mountain.
Together we’ll remain a story, powers andglory, rain showers live up to 24 hours.
If I’m too overpowered, then you are a coward.
If I walk through walls, fly and can brawl,
then get ready ‘cause you’re in for a fall.
I fight to eliminate and obliterate, super-sonicsuper-shadow. I’m the beast incarnate.
Jahir Gray119

l-r: Jahir Gray, Earl Bullock, Ashley Stevenson, Vincent Wingfield

Prediction vs. Contradiction
Anger makes people so weak, that they
can’t keep their heads in the game.
A whisper would sound like the wind breezing
through a flame.
Water cannot freeze into stone, the fight I
hate to postpone.
The glow keeps on glistening, your time is up,
so start listening.
I hate to officiate, I’m the beast incarnate.
I’m a little curious, I’m fast and furious.
Mess with me and it’s gonna get serious.
Jahir Gray120

Busboys and Wreckage ofMass Destruction
In the middle of the backgroundIn the middle of nowhere, here and there,
lies an unwanted vehicle left out on its
own, abandoned. Its eyes are two
broken headlights. Its whole face ishidden, like a tornado hit it.
You’ve ridden it, it likes to sleepin the day and drive around at night.
It’s afraid of nothing. He gets angry
when people make fun of him and throwrocks, he’ll drive you away and run you over.
He thinks that most people who use it are
awesome and cool. His greatest request is
to be a regular, normal, brightly-colored,
undismantled school bus. He is lonely, but he’s
very happy to be lonely.
Another one of his greatest wishes is tocontrol thunderstorms and beams of heatand lightning, and to have the ability toclothesline you and pummel you and stomp
you and crush you.
Does he have a reformer? No. Ladies
and gentlemen, here’s your newest transformer.

top-bottom: Saquan Short,
Jahari Pearson

A Poet is a Poet
A poet is a poet
A poet is like a wizard
who causes a blizzard
A poet might cause a blackout, beyond
a doubt. He might light a candle in thefireplace and burn it down without a trace.
A poet might solve a solution with aresolution, and put an end to this evolution.
Jahir Gray

Jahir Gray

121

Amir Green

Crazy Things
You Cannot Destroy!
You cannot destroy a weapon
You cannot destroy my hope
You cannot destroy my joy
In these darkened times
You are the light that guides me on
The warmth that keeps that chill away
The sound that sparks my hope
The joy that fills my heart
Xavier Spruill

I gave people a bet but broke it
but it wasn’t broken
A boy swallowed a comb
but he wasn’t choken
I looked in the mirror but
there was no reflection
I went to see an action movie
but there was no action
A man was supposed to get a blood shot
but he got a blood clot
Your town gets melted because of a volcano
but it does nothing but mess up your brain though
You wish something on a wishbone
and all you get is a pile of stones
We all know how people smokeand now all cigars are on a boat
Now people regret all this stuff.
LaBrea Carter122l-r: Armani Thornton, Jayden Gray, Jahir Gray, Marcantony Pierce, Arman Thornton

My Philosophy
Nothing Lasts
Everything in this world never lasts
Everything in dis world getsbroken up like glass, even yourfamily will turn their backs onyou, just like the past, so
I just move on forward but I
don’t move fast.
Everything in dis world never stays
the same, I might as well cally’all pennies, nickels and dimes
cuz everything changes

My philosophy is my dreams
And my dreams are to finish middle school
then go to high school
then graduate from high school andgo to college and play footballor basketball and then go to the pros.
Then when I graduate from college
I’m going to be a football or basketball coach.
Xavier Spruill

Everything in dis world never lasts
Everything in dis world
just changes so fast. Everything
in dis world never lasts, I guess dis
is boxing, but everything never everlasts.
Tavon Berford

123

War of Stars
Galaxies and bigger galaxies
all fighting each otherjust to shine.
It’s normal but unlikely forthem to combine.
Galaxies floating all over space.
They all have stars, lots of stars
that play as the soldiers.
Boom! Crash! Boom!
The war is starting toreally heat up. Every punch
scratch, kick, and shot counts.
The war of galaxies, the war of stars.
It’s tragic how much damage they do andhow much trash they leave behind.
Galaxies and bigger galaxies
all fighting each other justto shine.
Stars and bigger stars all
wanting to survive the war.
Tatiana Pierce

Jayden Gray

Writing
My custom is to wrote and do things alike
Sometimes I draw of things I saw.
The world can change, butpeople still need their range.
Leave the past behind and meetyour destiny.
To love is to care about your ancestors,
because they made this world.
You can only change this world.
You do not own the world,
it’s not like you can loan this world.
LaBrea Carter

124

Possibilities
Steady possibilities apartfrom troublesome people.
Impossible possibilities
that reflect tension at times.
Windy possibilities that redeem
durable abstract days.
Tender moments that make life moremagnetic.
Possibilities that never quiver.
Tatiana Pierce
TyJuan Hogan

She
She’s Mean, mean as they come.
She’s beautiful, as beautiful as a princess.
No wait, my princess.
She’s hard working, a boss in training.
She… She got her own, yeah I said it—her own
and she ain’t looking for no hustler…miss independent
with the world’s best smile.
Goofy with the message that says “you can’t change me”
Insecure but stable, able and willing. She’s mine.
Joquan Knight125

l-r: Christa Madikaegbu, Armani Thornton

How to not get in trouble
No hitting.
No inappropriate language.
Do your chores.
Be respectful to everyone.
Go to school on time.
Do my homework.
Don’t skip class.
Always be nice.
Don’t talk unless spoken to.
Be a great kid.
Joevon Smith

January, Part 2V.
This is continuing from December
After New Years, some people are passed out, or maybe drunk.

VI.
To me, this is any ol’ day.
You will wake up the same, get dressed the sameand do everything the same—nothing really changed.

VII.
January is supposed to be the month of startingyour new year revolution. “Eat healthy”,“Work out more”, or even “Make more friends.”
They say it, but only do it for a couple of days.

VIII.
I would call them liars, but they are just following the trend.
This is similar to December: You will wait for Santa, theneveryone will turn around and make a new year revolution.

126

Daisha Wilson

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