she pokes her head around the bend

of the glittering sunrise

she beckons me closer

and when i do

i see her

i see her small physique

bruised

misused

forgotten

but still she beckons me

and there

i see it

in the distance, a small shape

i know her now

she is hope

-ray

who is that

girl in the mirror

staring back at me

i do not recognize her

surely we've never met

but she copies me

she moves when i do

i turn to leave and she does the same

so when i wip back round to catch her

staring at me i am puzzled

who is she

she has round eyes

plump lips

a small button nose

hair that sits in perfect curls

framing her round face

who is she

i do not know

but when i ask her

she mouths it too

and i am reminded

that i'm not who i think i am

-ray

forgotten

for some reason,

i am always alone

even when i am not

i wonder why that is

am i not enough?

maybe they only want pretty friends

maybe i'm too weird for them

they don't respond to my texts

maybe they are busy

maybe they found someone better

or maybe they just forgot.

- livanna <3

secrets in the breeze

shhh it passes by

telling secrets, telling lies

telling stories from long ago

traveling from all the farthest shores

being betrayed, getting hurt

the breeze will know and be alert

no one can know

or the words will flow

like a stream turned into snow

the entire world would cry and cry

the clouds would fall right off the sky

which is why you can only trust the wind

because the truth is in the breeze

and the secrets within.

-livanna<3

there's power in time

power in the passings of years that feel

only like days

power in what we choose to harness the time for

there's power in love

power in the bondings of souls that

cannot be broken

power in the way we treat our bonds

there's power in voice

power in the screams and cries of

those who demand to be heard

power in those who choose to hear them

there is power everywhere.

it only matters how you use it.

-ray

We are people of the sun.

Our skin absorbs his warmth and light, a vessel for storing the love we are meant to spread.

The sun is not nearly our partner, but our friend. He relights the fires of hope when all is dark.

The sun is such our friend, that we are scared of all he does not touch.

We are scared of our own shadows.

They feel cold and they only bring darkness.

But yet as the sun grows, he creates it.

As the sun touches us, he reveals our shadow: a friend we didn’t know we could have.

If only we treated our shadow the way we treated our friend the sun.

After all, when I show her love,

she returns it.

-ray

There’s a certain type of giddiness that comes from something new

A certain rush of adrenaline as I expect the unexpected and dive into the unknown.

After time that anticipation fades to familiarity, and the giddiness is gone, replaced only with the comfort of knowing.

But every so often, it stays.

No matter how often or familiar, I will always be giddy about it.

And it makes sense, because when I’m with you, everything is new.

-ray

I am many things.

In the material world, I am a sister, a daughter, a friend.

I am a student, a worker, and a person.

But in my world I’m much more.

I am an artist, a musician, a writer.

I am an empath, a seeker, and an inventor.

And to ask me what I want to be when I “grow up” is ludicrous.

I refuse to be one thing at a time.

I refuse to be limited to just one version of my higher self.

I will not just be a teacher, or just a musician, or just a writer.

I will do it all.

-ray

When is the time?

I’ve searched in every nook, every remote corner of the earth.

An endless game of hide and seek, but “ready or not, here I come!”

You always managed to outrun me, to stay one foot ahead.

Kicking up dirt in my eyes, pushing branches aside, and the waiting.

Oh, the endless waiting in the hopes that you might seek me instead,

So you might say “ready or not, here I come”.

But as I sat there in that wooden mist, alone, seeking, I did something else.

I started not seeking, but seeing.

I saw you there, not a foot ahead, but a foot beside.

Not as the world shall have it, but as i shall have it.

I reached out for the last time, and I felt you reach back.

This time, I will wait no longer. I will take what’s mine, and what I will to be mine.

I swear not to seek, but to see, with what you’ve shown me.

Now is the time.

-ray

Little Emma Shane

“I don't mean to brag but I am kind of fab. I have luscious gold hair like a cute little mare. My eyes are like sapphires that gleam in the light. Last time I checked yours weren't as bright.”

“Stop it!” They moaned “Be quiet for a bit!” They groaned “No! No!” Shouted Emma Shane as she stood up and showed them the latest video game. “Oooh! Ahhh!” Said the class as they tried to see what was happening through the little screen of glass.

Then the teacher walked in and said “Settle down! I have a very important lesson to tell! No matter your size, your hair, or your eyes,the thing most important is the love that you share.

“Now go! Scoot! Get out of my hair!” And the class filed out all happy and glad. But poor Emma Shane sat there really, very sad.

-Keira Gafarian

Of Course

Of course you are, of course you did

Your always on top

I’ll never do it better than you

Because your spotlight shines nonstop

I try but fail

You always prevail,

without even trying

I follow your lead,

do my best but bleed

While you did it without a scratch

Of course you are, of course you did

You’ll always be the best

-Anonymous

Chemotherapy/Hospital

(this is a story of my past)

I sit in my bed

Weak, tired from my chemo

Sleep for many hours

Then, when I wake up,

I look outside my window

Loneliness creeps in

Order room service

Eat my hospital breakfast

Visits cheer me up

Pipe cleaner lady

She'll make anything from them

Dog dressed as a doc

In the kid's toy room

I craft in the afternoon

I'm loving my art

Then I eat my lunch

Tasteless my room service is

I wish I was home

Then my doctor comes,

a very bright smile she has

it looks like good news!

"You get to go home!"

I am filled with excitement

"Start to get ready"

Her smile starts to fade

"There are a few precautions"

"Whatever it takes"

I start to walk out

All the nurses say goodbye

I tremble with joy

I go back to school

This still does not feel normal

In 3rd grade I am

My friends welcome me

My teacher comes and tutors

But I am behind

Every week I go

Chemo still controls my life

I take baby steps

Cancer can't be cured

But I still live my own life

Now it's behind me

I'm not proud of this

Can't change, I am what I am

Though I am noticed

Myself, my story

Cancer has made me noticed

It stole my body

By:Sophia Espiritu

i am sitting on the couch

and i don't feel real

the room melts around me and

my thoughts are someone else's

i am standing in the woods

and i don't feel real

my friends beckon me to go but i am

already gone

i am far far away

from this body

this body that is not mine

i feel remorseful

for this girl who's body i stole

because it is not mine

it is hers

and i am merely the imposter who lives in it

-ray

my greatest nightmare

is not abandonment

nor being forgotten

it is the fear of crying out

with no one to hear

the fear of opening my

mouth wide with

nothing but air to fill it

I am

mute

I am

silent

I am

unheard

so i will be loud since

i can

i will scream it from the rooftops

not in spite of my fears,

but because of them.

-ray

it took six hours on a flight

five in a cab

and four in a train

it took three weeks to realize

i wanted two stay with you

the one

by then it was too late to change your flight

but i can still change mine

-ray

whoever said it would be easy

to love someone like you

to be sprawled on the bathroom floor

my heart splitting in two

yet as the sun sets on tonight

and we do the same

i know in the morning

when the sun rises

we'll be born again

-ray

I’m always questioned by the way I spend hours away,

Almost never returning from the home I hold so dear to my heart.

I would like to tell them,

But I don’t see how they could ever react with understanding in their heart.

It’s because I love the silence.

Not the silence, really,

But more the comfort I find in the green.

It's the way they bend over you, almost like the mother’s blanket,

protecting you from all that seeks to do the opposite.

It’s the silent whispers that seek my ears each time,

The infinite wisdom they pass down to me.

And the silent weep that it seems only I hear,

The silent weep for all who do not hear the wisdom they so desperately wish to share.

If you opened your ears, you could hear it too.

-ray

A message to you.

I don’t care what the universe tells me about you.

I will not give up.

I will tear down the wall built by the odds stacked against us with my own bare hands, and I will not fail.

I don’t care if I’m meant for a different path, this is the one I want.

And I’m going to take it.

-ray

For one day, for one day.

If I could trade you anything but my advice,

I wouldn’t think to offer love. I wouldn’t think to offer happiness.

I could only think to offer my eyes.

So for one day, for one day,

You could see the world as I do.

Not perfect, but that’s just what is.

Scars turn to marks on a map,

Words left unsaid turn to letters that at last reach home.

You would see yourself too.

Not as the world sees you, not how your smoldering brain sees you.

But how I see you. Not perfect, but that’s just what is.

-ray

My mind is truly a wondrous place.

My mind is brimming with ideas and thoughts,

Waiting to be materialized by the outside world.

It may lead astray some days,

But most there is a clear compass pointing my path.

My mind is truly a wondrous place.

It can pick and scrape until there is nothing less than the truth.

It shows me what’s behind your walls, even before you’ve broken them down.

To those who may enter, it seems chaotic, and for some maybe even a bit broken.

To those with minds like me, they know.

They know what it’s like to hear an entire orchestra beating to the rhythm in your head, but having no aux cord to play it by.

They know what it’s like to see, but be unable to describe.

My job in this lifetime is to make my mind words that can be read by others,

And words that will be understood.

Like I will be understood.

-ray

WeGetTo

A moment of silence,

for the one so brave.

Who kept fighting even till' the end of his days.

Who fought for change,

who fought for life?

A simple thank you won't suffice.

Working hard to get through,

Because after all,

We get to.

-In loving memory of Matthew Dezy DiStefano

It's Here.

It's in your room

at the park

reading your books

In your popcorn

The sound of it lerks

Its here.

Travel

If you want to travel, and make it really cheap, grab a book, grab my hand, and lets go take a peek,

journey through the misted jungles,

ride the stormy seas,

climb on up the snowy mountains,

feel the dry hot desert breeze.

walk on through enchanted forests,

hike on down to caverns deep,

take a boat through swampy marshlands,

trot along cliff faces steep.

So if you want to stay in place, but also travel far, know a book can take you anywhere, no matter where you are.

-Emily.C

Garden Nights

Walk on through the misted gardens, moonlight leading a path so bright,

walk along the old brick cobbles, hear the bat wings taking flight,

walk beside the gilded roses, bugs of light are taking air,

hush as you pass the rabbits tunnel, with sleeping babies, sleeping hares.

Mossy logs lie on the ground, tree tops sigh with every breeze,

frogs dance about with every rainfall,

brooks cross the earth, young and free.

Ancient oaks will share their stories,

fireflies will pass as stars,

the band will play sweet notes and then,

the sound will twinkle, like stars afar.

So when you walk on through the misted gardens, and old paths once again, remember the magic within it, and that it will be there till the end.

-Emily.C

Seasons

The wind will howl, through cold nights storm, best rest assured the leaves adorned,

will dance on through the winter's night, for spring will come, and spring will fight.

The newfound dawn will come to be, a newfound blessing, a family, will play and run on through the fields,

the winter gone, it always yields.

Soon spring will kneel to summer's gay, the time of freedom, the time to play,

the sun so hot will smile down, a warming gesture, no wincing frown, but soon the summer's reign will end, and introduce a brand new friend.

The summer will now melt away, to shining copper, a glorious glaze, of ruby, amber, and golden rays, a brand new year, a brand new maze. So full of adventure, quests, and curios,

but soon this will end, with fresh fallen snow.

So through the years the months will play, but each will bring a newfound day, of laughter, magic, and memories, of a brand new you, and a brand new me.

-Emily.C

Up on a rainbow,

high above,

a dragonfly, a butterfly, a ladybug,

sit down for tea,

a peculiar sight to see,

for someone such as me!

The dragonfly, dragonfly, delicate and blue.

The butterfly, butterfly, beautiful and new,

born from a caterpillar crawling through.

The ladybug, ladybug, loveliest of all,

who knew kindness could be that small.

-Cooper Berger

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