Like a baby bird
Harnessed to its nest
Humans when young
Cannot see much else
Blind at first
Their eyes only see one thing
The bright light of the sun
Is all that seems to be
With the passing of time
Comes the gain of sight
Now there is darkness too
That consumes the light
Jumping out of their nest
They fall far from home
Hurt by this cruel new world
Seeing past what’s bright
Every season, I would try to sing, but
Out of tune,
Out of rhythm,
Out of breath.
I never wanted to learn-
What’s the use?
Out of pitch,
Out of harmony,
Out of tempo.
Day by day,
I would play out onto the open field, where my next meal lay
Innocent like a pig,
Ravaged by a group of humans.
Month by month,
The leaves would fall,
Just like the feathers of my youth.
Year by year,
While the others were learning:
Articulation,
Dynamics,
Melody,
I wouldn’t care.
Spring,
Summer,
Fall,
Winter.
Five years have passed,
All my friends have families-
Around spring,
I see them build their homes,
For their many children-
Why don’t I have a mate?
15
When I was 12, I thought 15 was the perfect age
But is it?
Most are sophomores or freshmen
Studying and homework, new relationships,first jobs
Learning to drive and pineapple cups
These are the times people look back on
Adults reassure me 15 is perfect
15 is perfect
until i’m 16…
A letter in the mail
Is all I have
8 years of love
And
friendship
The memories
and the bonds
We will never forget
The photographs
And letters
on my wall
Flipping from the trampoline
Into the pool
The laughter
And experiences
We no longer
have
But the love
We still
Feel
My childhood
I will never
Get back
But I still
cling onto
With memories
And the letters
Signed
With love, From NC
A girl named June sat in her room
Wanting a better computer
She worried ‘bout wins, and her new roblox wings
Things like ponies, they meant nothing to her.
Her parents knew
She cared not for shoes,
Or dolls, hair brushes or new makeup hues
All it seemed she wanted to do
Was play games,
and she won at them too
She killed dragons in minecraft, as she fell through the days
And played fortnite for hours as she wasted away
She’d get money from wins,
And buy all the skins
But she always just seemed to want more
Her parents tried to stop this fool,
They made lots and lots and lots of rules,
But every time they would try to make rules
She’d answer “thank you kanye, very cool”,
And they tried and tried, rule after rule
But just never seemed to get through
She wasn’t too keen on much but TV
She’d sit for hours and hours
Watching Spongebob and Gary
While she drank her Sprite cranberry
Wasting and wasting away
She began skipping school
And breaking the rules,
Just to stay home and play one more game
And all the doctors they went to, they tried and tried in vain
For not a single one could set upon to tame the young girl’s brain
Her doctor, he wanted to ask her why she’d started to vape,
She turned to him, with a sly little grin
And said “They did surgery on a grape”
The doctors knew what had happened too,
They tried and tried to get it through
The parents did not want to see
To let it through their heads
That they didn’t have a little girl, but a teenage boy instead.
I have a few issues.
I’m always stressed,
I procrastinate and
I’m ignorant.
It takes too much time for me
To process information.
I hide emotions because
They can be too complicated.
Sometimes I feel too
Mature for my own good,
And high school science
Isn’t really my strong suit.
But I don’t care.
Because I’m still happy,
Positive, formal,
and caring.
I have a few issues.
But who doesn’t?
Despite my flaws,
I like who I am.
Goodbye sweet football,
Oh how you’ll be missed,
The Friday night lights,
And the knockout hits,
Title: Yearning for a Football Autumn
It’s hard to project my feelings on the finishing of the fall,
One part of me is happy to be free,
But the other is not at all,
I have to come to terms that my favorite sport is over,
A longing feeling sinks to my shoulders,
I should be happy for it,
I can spend time with friends,
But here comes the thought, time and time again,
There will be no more jokes cracked at the team dinner table,
For those were the last days we were actually enabled,
To suit up after school and go to work,
With a sense of great pride, even though it may have hurt,
And some days we would question if it was worth,
The hours and the effort we put in with no immediate return,
Yet, on fridays that all changed,
We were silent and collected,
The stands were roaring, fan’s voices projected,
We would run out ready to try for a win,
Because we know we’d never all play together again
I relax on the wooden dock fishing
with little Jasper, thinking
not about the four-hour drive
not how the school year is starting in a few weeks
or if I will be on dish duty after dinner.
Nothing is on my mind.
Simply the tender air of the sun
mixed with the calm breeze of the lake.
We race to the floating platform and plunge
into the open water holding on to the rush.
Others join us after hearing our cries of
glee and laughter.
We have been through so much together;
through death that came too soon, through many
days and nights in this old rickety house, through storms
that almost collapsed the trees around us.
Some of us have gone, but we have stayed strong
held each other’s hands through the worst of it
and remembered the best of it.
But today while those thoughts are in the back
of our heads, we sing and dance
to the music that we create with our hearts.
In life, there is little room to be hardened with sadness
or to be so enraged that one cannot speak.
So today we are grateful for the days to come
and the ones we will spend here in this blessed place.
In the heart of Lexington
After the poor old stop sign
And a swift left turn
Follow the signs and
Don’t forget to wave to the
Nice crossing guards
That withstand every lousy
Morning with smiles on their faces.
Upon your arrival
You are met with flowers
Blooming from every bush
And trees towering over all
Who walk under them.
Those who come should embrace
The nice hellos every morning, and
Cherish the janitor that remembered
Your name, while looking out for the
Squirrels that scurry by every morning
And the birds that follow in the evening.
Finally, you have to leave.
There is not much there to do
Except remember the place you grew up
And move on.