A Poetic Performance
by Sarah M., Theodore, AL
Tiny, glistening orbs -
Flicker in the light.
A poet, stuck inside,
Marvels at the sight.
Crawling on the window,
Clinging to the pane,
Moonbeams of dancing light -
Illuminate the rain.
Thunder softly rumbles -
Shiver up the spine.
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Birthday
by Mariel B., New City, NY
The Flour and the Egg and the Chocolate
Chip stand around
and plan a party with the necessary
ingredients. Two cups of you, and three of
you. Don’t forget to invite the pink candles, the
one, the four, the skinny wish candle for good
luck.
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Cold Blooded
by Jaimie H., Clarence Center, NY
Scuffing her feet on this icy patch in the road
Hands jammed in her jean pockets
Because it’s going to be a long
Walk away from her home
The wind pushes her on her way
While her mind tries to contemplate the day
Overdue library books
Missing lock and life
A ...
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Death of a Teacher
by Esther M., Cedar City, UT
Faculty meeting made me late
Walking into the classroom
Is in chaos and screaming students
Throw paper and pencils
Hit me making my way to a cluttered desk
Piled with ungraded worksheets
My helper passes around
Their chairs I walk looking over the work
Is what this ...
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Deity Rising
by Michele H., E. Brady, PA
The moon
Stirs behind a
Lattice of untrimmed trees,
Mocking Heaven with a halo
Of dust.
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Golden
by Jonathan B., Wayland, MA
Anticipation
Nature is about to break
That egg over the horizon
Watching the skin of the day
Fade
Fade away
Into the yolk of dusk
With that meal there is water
Blue
Gabriel blue
The blue we see in dreams
Wrapping us up like a blanket
The egg is ...
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March Wind
by Kurtis D., Crosby, TX
Hot talkative breezes press against her body
as she makes her way through
the parking lot of her nine-to-five
a proud force full of 60-70 years wraps itself
around her face like heavy mahogany make-ups
permanent salt-smoothed pearls wait
in the shallow wells of her ...
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Mary’s Memory
by Andrea D., New City, NY
Her silver hair
Illuminated the room
As her fingers
Swam across the piano keys
“Come here, little boy”
She said to my sister
“I want to teach you
How to play.
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Nature
by Kayla P., Cecilia, KY
The sun laughs
when the snowman
melts away
Vanishing
Ever changing
Was once liked
with his button nose
The scarf wrapped
around his neck
Now he is a lonely puddle
Waiting for the neighbor’s dog
to take a drink
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Ode to a Whiteboard
by Jamie A., Coalinga, CA
Scorching letters
on a screaming blackboard
echoing long past lessons.
A pi sign creeping shyly
behind a bold letter H;
Christopher Columbus
lurking somewhere in between.
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Paranoia (III)
by Adam S., Brownsville, CA
Rats, scurrying through the walls
Radio cobwebs in their ears, listening
To every move I make
Every word I say.
Outside my door,
Across the street,
A man waits, raincoat
Pulled up to hide a face of lights.
Silver eyes
Watching
Waiting,
For me to come out.
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Scrapbook Memories
by Victoria P., Ft. Wayne, FL
Memories that left with the bittersweet breeze of a new year,
recalled in wrinkled photos and diary entries,
cling to me like an old sweater.
time. what irony.
tells the sweetest fairy tale and erases it.
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Somewhere
by Sarah E., Alrington Heights, IL
Somewhere a poem
is waiting for me
to carve its name within
the old oak trees
and sweep its face onto
the sorrow and grief that spill from
the blue in your desolate eyes
or under the brush where ash
lingers and lures,
flowing away while you exhale
or even in ...
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The Cave
by Cordelia S., Brownsville, CA
As black as midnight,
As cold as stone,
A baby’s cry,
And an old man’s moan.
Its jagged entrance,
Creates so much fear.
You gape at the teeth
Of its gruesome leer.
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The Sea of Green
by Patricia W., Thornton, WV
The sea of green flooded the cemetery,
Sea of hunter green of white gloves,
At least a hundred, in the sea of men and women,
The sea of green.
The sea of green pulls the casket out,
Their white gloves touch,
They have lost one of their own,
The sea of green.
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Three Stages of Entering a Pool (Age 6)
by Kathryn H., Congers, NY
1. I expect to grow a pair of fins,
wait impatiently in my sky-colored bathing suit
with polka dots
as my overprotective mother
smothers me in sunscreen,
SPF 75.
2. I adjust pink goggles,
inflate neon-orange water wings.
I dip my big toe into clear pool water.
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Untitiled
by Joshua D., Milan, MI
My mother’s eyes were alive in winter,
appreciative of the cold; her life unfolded
like new-fallen snow, good for packing,
molded to the hands of children who hated
even the slightest tincture of goldenrod beams
on their faces in January.
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Untitled
by Steve A., Goodyear, AZ
In a great leap from the heavens
a branched tree flickers
looking up we see it,
shred the helpless sky
its power becomes a spectacle
leaving you breathless.
It will scorch forests,
wreck homes,
destroy lives,
lace glass serpents in the desert sand.
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Untitled
by Cara P., Jane Lew, WV
white mice
made her scared for her life
but there will be no horses today
because the caged bird didn’t sing
’twas the lice upon her wing
stories never made to match
imagination never to catch
cinderella my chosen profession
personify my ...
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Walking Inside Walls
by Aly S., Brunswick, ME
I’m so transparent that I’ve disappeared
It’s a sad thing to have become a shadow overnight
It’s difficult to walk alone through crowded halls
It’s even worse when you have been walking inside walls for years
I am so deep in thought that I have ...
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