Lost

By Donya Sheikhrezai

She is losing something, but she can’t see

The person that is lost screams
They scream for help to be found among the dishonesty
She is blinded by lies and thoughts put into her mind

These thoughts created an unreal version of her
The eyes have lost the real sight because its been pushed away into the shadows

The truth yells to be found
The misleading of her so-called friends has swallowed it
They surround her with

troubles and danger
With things she never really knew
This girl is lost and cannot find the truth

The Big Black Hall

By Meera Kumar

Trapped
In a sea of grass.
Fourteen kids.
All apart.
The sounds of lawnmowers, birds,
And ants feet crushing the russet dirt.
My feet demolish the bark,
As I sit in this cold ledge.
Students whining,
People scraping their legs,
A glance or two to the left,
Continuing to write,
The big,
Black hall
Stands before me.
If that one day I was held inside of it.
I wouldn’t last.
Freezing behind the charcoal poles.
Grasping this day,
And feeling lucky that I wasn’t on the other side of those bars.
A moment in the sun.
The wind whips my neck,
As my paper folds over my pen.
Seven minutes more
Until this gazing ends.
That big black hall,
Looking bitter and prestigious.
A few children groan,
While other’s minds are diligently functioning.
I realize that poems are difficult
And free verse is tough.
But once I got it,
It is all up to my pen.
Racing around to find my thoughts.
I came up with this.
Of how the big black hall,
Confined me of my own personal space.

A Class With A Sub

By Meera Kumar

As the lady enters the room,
We stop and stare.
She is the sub,
Who puts a smile across all of our faces.
Finishing our work
There is still thirty-five more minutes left.
To us that means P-L-A-Y.
In teams of three,
The competition begins.
A few people become our net.
One person keeps score.
It is boys v. girls
According to us.
A girl talks like the commentator,
Two are out of bounds,
And a couple
Just hide for their lives.
This tie-dye volleyball
Brings so much fun
To a little old class
That came with a sub.

A bump, a set, a spike
Are all done in a room,
A classroom precisely and
Chaos breaks out.
A picture falls down
And everyone freezes.
The sub doesn’t move.
Continuing on someone
Hits the shutters and
She doesn’t even move.
Wondering how
Us students stop for a sec,
Then move on
Acting as if nobody hit anything.

Just a class full of kids,
Eager to learn.
A boy said,
“If our teacher asks,
A squirrel did this. He tore
Down the room. It was
Too fast for us so we
Stayed on the couch.”
Cracking up

We walked down the stairs
Off to lunch
Just like nothing ever happened.

We were just a class.
A class full of children.
Wanting to learn.
We were just an innocent class.

A class with a sub.

Summer

By Lindsey Fajardo

Summer
I gallop
The burning sand below me makes me jump
My feet sink and I suddenly
Create clouds of sand as I struggle to escape the my scorching guardian
Just a little more
Swoosh
The sparkly deep blue water snickers at me
I gaze…
I can’t reach it
Summer
The dazzling sun shines on my face making me squint
It hurts
My figure develops a cherry red
I glance around desperately
The hot air drowns me in misery as it hovers around me like
A group of bees awaiting their queen
I scuttle
Towards my saver
Plunging into the icy refreshing water
Opening my eyes as breathtaking fish zip past me
Swimming…I shift my feet slowly trying not to get weary
I come out to the surface for air with a grin on my face
My dark brown hair is dripping water and it streams down my back as
I dry myself with the smooth surface of a towel
My blue bike?
Summer
I ride rapidly not knowing what this afternoon will hold
The wonderful windy air smacks my face
Blowing my strands of hair out of the way
Summer
I’m wearing sandals
Shorts, a t-shirt
Sunglasses protect my brown eyes from the vivid sun
Summer
The best time of year
It fly’s past me like an excited butterfly with new wings
I watch it disappear into the night
Summer
It’s gone!

Seasons

By Lindsey Fajardo

Winter
You don’t exist
The trees are bare
People hurry by huddling close to each other
As the cold air stings their faces
They shiver
Spring
Water pours down as you’re born
You open you’re eyes and you don’t see anything but umbrellas
Rubber boots splash into dirty puddles of water
You grow by the minute
Beautiful flowers bloom in right below you
Fall
You suddenly come loose from a branch and you fall slowly as the air carries you around landing you softly on the ground
You moan from the pain of kids tramping on you
Soon you see children in…
Halloween masks with bags full of colorful hard candy
Then in a long while…
Summer
You’ve matured
You’re ecstatic, but also agitated from all the heat
You develop a stunning green on you’re fragile skin
And give shade to the visitors of the park
Summer
Home…
Enjoying the giggles of toddlers
Running and biking down the street with friends
They love to play ball
As you glance up, you’re sister is slowly being abducted by the wind
She’s taken away…
She might end up at a gorgeous beach where
Offspring spray water here and there
Enjoying the cool, refreshing water
They’re happy
And so are you
Summer

The Rips

By Jackie Kerns

Ten thousand piercing explosions
Seem to blow open my head
While bells echo through
my ears
And ricochet off every bend in my head
The clamor rises
Countless “thuds” are heard
Across the plain
That lies open like a tomb under pounding feet

I cringe
My hands fly to my ears
While I try
To escape this nightmare before me

And All goes quiet

Not a single twig complains to its crusher
Nor does a squeak emerge from a man’s mouth
Nothing moves
Nothing speaks
I press harder against the sand fortress around me

The only sound that can be heard
Is the sand that shifts
And hisses at me as I
Burrow deeper into the mound

Then Once more the terrible noise assaults my ears
A “thud” follows swiftly
As the man next to me falls and becomes a shadow
While warm, crimson liquid spills onto his uniform

I look up from
Where I crouch and
The last memory of my
Past life echoes through my head

A single line
My favorite line
From a single song
My favorite song
Came true
“…as bullets rip the sky…”
Quote from the song Vertigo by U2