Category: lhs-poems-2019

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Sophia Z // GONE

I ask that you close your eyes
and listen to the world
surrounding you

The chirping of the birds
The slow drift of the waterfall
The rustle of the trees

The light breeze

The clear air

Nature’s music

It’s calling for you

I want you to open your eyes.

What do you see?

The light blue sky
The glistening waterfall
The multicolor trees

No.

What you see is the damaged life
The unspoken suffering

Habitat’s being stripped away while you sit at home with the AC on.
Trees being ripped from their roots while you print out multiple copies of the next presentation.

I want you to change
To correct the things in your lives
The consequences
you can’t see it
and someday
they will be gone forever.

Sean Kalkat // LONELY

How fun it was to make them laugh and giggle,
To see the smiles on their faces,

Then they grew up,
It changed them,

Now I wonder,
What could they possibly be doing,
Staring at their screens,
Tapping them and smiling,

It’s like I was imaginary and they had gotten over me.
They’ve forgotten how much fun we had,

I remember the day we met,
They wouldn’t stop playing with me,
Now I just sit here,
Lonely

Peter McCallion // AYE SIR

Propped up against the wall
Waiting and holding on to the last grip of civilian life.
Our heads were shaved and that was when it set in,
We were now recruits.
The swamps of both the training grounds and the packed barracks was home.
I had entered what was supposed to be a barber shop
But what barber shop has only one option?
Three chairs were laid out,
Three barbers waited parallel to the chairs.
Hair covered the floor like leaves on autumn grass.
All 18 years prior erased away with the buzzing
Sting of the razor.
Drill Instructors barked orders,
Move move move!
The words bounced off the cold, gray slabbed walls.
Simple instructions now became complex orders.
I practiced in my head how to march
Lo right layo!
​I had hoped the earlier I started the faster we would march on the concrete parade deck
Filled with the footprints and stories of those before.
Soon we entered a room with grey plastic boxes stuck to the wall.
The boxes were rounded off on the edges
Stirps of plastic flakes were barley holding on the main box.
Before I knew it the box was opened and my hand on the phone that was inside.
We read off a laminated paper with instructions that sounded robotic.
I have arrived safely at Parris Island.

Yuanhui Zhang // STRANGER

I took out a piece of paper
Carefully put it on the table.
Write my real name down carefully.
The time people call this is numerable.

I grabbed my old coat from cabinet
It was hanging neatly
had the accent from my hometown
I tried to take a walk
Try to detect the world that was unknown

Water drops are hanging on the grass.
My coat became wet.
I looked at myself in the shadow.
I was still struggling yet.

The roses hold tightly with each other
They do not know the scene outside their ground.
A dandelion was travelling alone from somewhere
I will hold her in my hand.

I put her nicely in my pocket
Give warmness to this loner
She must miss the soil that she grow up
We are both foreigner.

Someone has different appearance with me
Smiled at me and say hi
I am used to this culture and language

Alexander H. // GRAND CANYON

It was a hot summer day whenI started
my trek up the side of the grand canyon.
The powerful sun beat down without mercy
as I hiked with a companion.

Layers of history, colors twisting
and morphing as it collided to form a cliff.
My ears picked up the sound of water running
as history was carved into the stone like a hieroglyph.

I could hear wind chiming through the trees
sounding like the piano playing for the moon.
Swaying melodically in the dim lit park
with the adversity dancing to the tune.

A fork in an ever winding path was ahead.
Indecisiveness swept over me like a fog
and we went our separate ways
as my slow walk turned to a trot and then a jog.

One, two, one, two, one, two.
Feet pounding the ancient rocks,
heart racing as I peaked to see
the sun looming in back like a crafty fox.

My heart hurtled my stomach as I stopped
to see dawn approach,editing the sky
deleting stars and the darkness
like extra letters and words gone awry.

Arriving at the summit with gratitude
where there I saw my friend.
Nostalgia hit me like a brick wall,
but I smiled and started to descend.

Darragh M. // COOKIE

The stinging smell of coffee beans surround us
We wait in line to pay

The chocolate chip cookie sits in it’s glass jar,
Untouched, full of sugary goodness.

I beg and plead, but my mother won’t budge

All I ask is for this one cookie.
It has been a hard day

This cookie is the holy grail
And my quest is to retrieve it
I want this cookie more than anything else at that moment.

But she doesn’t want to hear it.

A dark gloomy rain cloud appeared over my head,
Rain running down my face

Max Ostrowski // FOREST

The wind is soft on this hollow night
Gently pushing the strong, thick branches
Rustling the ​tall​, thin grass
Which is just starting to freeze over

The trees towering over it all
connected with the world above and below
Anchored in the firm ground
Holding up the dark blue sky

In the sky is a distant star
Shining bright in line with the moon
It sees all on this clear night

If you took a look around
You’d see a river flowing in the distance
Or a lone wolf howling at the moon
And you’d smell the freshness of night

Sohail Mohammed // WARM COLORS

I ask people to take in all the intoxicating smells
And hear the wind whistle like a flute
Or admire the satisfying colors that nature has painted

Hear the birds and squirrels, singing and playing
Leaves crunching beneath their feet

Feel their hearts listening in peace
And eyes satisfied with the beauty

Only to realize that the tree has no more life
Hearing the leaves crunch beneath their feet
Slowing deteriorating to nothingness.

Inviting the air that brings along a cold death
Slowly freezing all the lakes and ponds
Everything comes to an end

Bryan L. // WHY HE CHOSE HER

All his life he told himself he didn’t need one.
That it would be better if he had none,
so what if she looked cute.
He could still keep his mouth shut and mute.

He used to hang out with those he knew,
but this was something entirely new.
This was love he was trying to deal;
a force that he knew he could not forever seal.

He had tried to stay in the shadows.
He was not willing to score or bleed in any battles,
but this girl could be his treasured wife.
Why let something like this control your life?

He finally knew she was the one,
It was either her or none.
He might as well give a try,
as it was much better than to lie or cry.

He chose her since she was the best.
He fell for her and passed his conflicted quest.
When he believed himself to be totally lost,
he actually what he wanted without any cost.