Mom Brushing my hair

“Head up”

She says

Holding the brush

“​Gulp”

​ YANK

“GASP”

Holding my sore head

Staring at the

Dark pink brush

With several new

​ ​Knotted

Clumps of hair

My hair, it’s the thorny tangled bush

That is beyond the patchy yard

It’s Impossible to untangle

I ground my teeth

As my mom Battles my

N​AUGHTY

Hair

Forcing the brush

D

O

W

N

I let out another

“GASP”

but my mom just

L👀ked at me

Her

Expression

Firm Saying,

It’s not my fault You're here.

DOTTIE’S NEW TOY

Dottie got a new toy

Which looks like a gray furry dog tail

And sounds like one too.

It vibrates and whimpers

Shaking

Like a scared dog

The first time Dottie heard it

She pranced over

Curiously

Her dark brown eyes

Staring unblinkingly

At the whining creature

Her small ears perked up

Standing there

But then she bends down

Her furry light brown head

Then clamps her sharp teeth

Around the tail

Picked her head back up

Her mouth still holding

her new crazy toy

And looks at us as if to ask

What is this thing?

Riding our ATV down the mountain

“Eeeeeeeeeeee”!

I clench the ATV so hard my fingers turn white

My hair is flying over my head and bouncing wildly from the wind’s might

I desperately try not to think of the death drop

Right next to our path

But it keeps coming back to my mind

With our narrow road and fast turns

I can’t forget it.

I wish I was back in my boring house on the mountain

Or riding with the speed of a snail

It’s all I can do not to wail.

Looking around I see

There are lots of vivid green swaying trees

So tall and a couple more inches

And they can touch the sky.

As we get closer to the bottom,

We pick up speed the engine now a roaring lion

But now I don’t mind

Zooming down the pebble filled road

I relax a bit and laugh

Gone is the fear of the death drop

“Wheeeeeeeeeeeeel!”

We pass big houses with signs and bright green fields,

and lots and lots of horses,

We pass chirping birds; white, blue, orange, and black.

A white and red hawk soars overhead screeching

I never want to go back,

I never want to stop this ride.

HAIKUS

BLADES OF GRASS

Blades of grass on a hillside

Slick with rain they dance in the wind

Looking, I see peace THE BAR OF SOAP

When I squeeze, it

Flies over the bubble like clouds

Into the dirt flecked sea

COPPERHEAD SNAKE

Hair raising/ beautiful

It’s coppery diamond shape pattern

Against smooth peach scales

THE PARTS OF A TREE

It starts at the roots way underground and sturdy keeping the tree anchored and healthy

Then comes the trunk,

A huge tower

It's the base of the tree with thick gnarled lined bark and

Puffy soft dark green moss clinging

Then there are long branches,

The top is a red and white hawk’s perch

Waving at me in the soft wind

And at the same time,

trying to touch the sky.

The leaves are vivid green

And some,

Break free of the tree’s grasp

And come twirling and dancing

Until they settle on the damp ground.

BUSY BED

My twin bed is very crowded

With a huge golden brown stuffed dog

And a two white furry blankets covering my

White cased pillow

A tiny gray soft bunny next to my

White kitty who’s lost an eyeball once and had it shoved back in

And a big dark chocolate colored brown bear hugging my

Blue patterned kitty whos

Sitting atop a pink flying squirrel pillow with blue feet close to my

mom’s old blond creepy doll who stares at me unblinkingly and she’s leaning against

My mom’s huge raggedy Ann doll who’s three times bigger than my 3 year old cousin

And all that and more is sitting on a pink comforter decorated with multicolor hearts

Which is on a light blue sheet tucked into my mattress

And that is my busy bed.

MY SMOOTH BLACK GLASSES CASE

I have a smooth black glasses case

That lays on my pine wood windowsill

Next to my light brown notebook with a silver strap

That’s propped up against the screen.

My glasses case

has a bumpy Nike check in the middle

And my light blue name sticker

On the right bottom corner.

When I open it

I see it’s home to

A translucent pair of bright green and blue

Sports glasses.

The inside,

Is black and is smooth and velvety

And to my pleasure and satisfaction,

It closes with a loud

Snap!

MY LAYERED POEM

CRASH Soft background noises:

Cold water splattering my

Freezing feet

Leaving deep footsteps

On the beaches wet sand

Hearing the roar of the wind

Tousling my knottie hair

And I listen to the chirping of the wide awake crickets “Chirp chirp”

I see my sisters outline

Against the starry sky

Holding the leash

Attached to the tiny dog

When it starts to rain

Feeling the drizzle (Lightly drumming fingers against wood) ⬇️

We slowly, reluctantly,

Make our way to our house

Now slick with rain

As the drizzle

Turned from drops to a light shower (Finger drumming gets harder) ⬇️

And our walk turns into a run

With as much power as we can

Muster

I hear a

BOOM

in the distance

And a flash of white light (Foot stomp)

As rain battles down on my head

Soaking me to the core.

NORTH CAROLINA & NEW YORK

North Carolina is very different from New York

In North Carolina, ​ ​Mountain top home

Lots and lots of

Swaying trees

Giving shade to the

Older people and their dogs

Sitting on rocking chairs

On their porch with a couple stairs

The trees protect them from

the Burning sun

As they rock

Back and forth

And back and forth.

Little fury black moles

With pink noses,

Tunneling in their yard

And howling coyotes

At midnight.

That is North Carolina and

North Carolina is very different from New York.

In New York, Home in New York

A bustling city

Honking traffic

Slow bikers

On bike paths

Waving neighbors

Small neat brown stone houses

And big shiny high rise buildings

People eating in restaurants,

Chatting in small stores

Round every corner

In my neighborhood.

That’s New York,

Sure is different from North Carolina.

Climate change is

It's the

Melting icebergs and the

Habitat losing polar bears

It's the

Animals who have to survive major habitat changes

It’s the

Tons of climate change refugees

Running from

More frequent and dangerous

Fires,

Storms,

Extreme flooding,

And more.

We are the cause of this

What? Why?

Fossil fuels:

Engines,

The fossil fuel energy powering our home

Also

Some animals like:

Cows

2nd Question,

How can we fix this problem?

Morning on the beach

I wake up to the loud

​Crashing

Noise

Of the sparkling waves

And the quiet

Chirping

Of the crickets

But nothing can compete with

The

Mad screeches

They’re like howler monkeys

The squeaking

“Gimme that”

The

​“Hey stop that!”

And I find myself

Wishing

For a quiet house Where I can wake

To the peace of the Tumbling

Waves

Crashing on the shore

And the musical

Chirp

Of the crickets

Were I can lie

On my warm bed

With nothing disturbing

My thoughts