Table of Contents
Yellow - Anonymous
Yellow is
Lemon ginger tea,
Sand rolling under the sea,
A bird’s nest high in a tree.
Yellow is
the smiling sun,
Neon sneakers on a run,
Squirt guns firing having fun.
Yellow is
The perfect dream,
A walk on the balance beam,
Skipping rocks in the stream.
Dead at 16 - Kerri Huang
Dead at 16
And we all pretend to mourn her
always dancing, skipping classes to
Taunt us with the trills of her harmonica, staring
At leaves and people way too long
As if we were the aliens and not the opposite
She’ll be ashes tomorrow
But we see her today
kicking ankles laid limp and bare
hair woven with leaves dulled to brown
the beauty boys whispered about but never dared approach
Someone has closed the staring eyes, but forgotten
To pinch the parted lips
It was the dancing, they say,
She’s burnt herself to death from it
Their pitiful expressions do not hide
The relief they feel inside
Dead at 16, and I can’t help thinking
That she’s lived longer than any of us will
Lived more moments of her 16-year-old life
Than we will ever have the wisdom to cherish
And perhaps, now,
She laughs at us from upon the skies
Sacrifice - Oliver Donovan
Poem inspired by Salvo D’Acquisto
As I watched the men dig their own graves,
I felt guilt and pity come in spades,
What would those watching above think of me letting them die,
There was no sabotage,
they weren’t that sly.
Was there a way to save the innocent men,
If there were I’d do it then,
There was only one way,
To allow the 22 men to walk away,
More tears that I wish I cried,
More time till I’d want to die,
Everything was taken into account,
Is there any other way left to save them
Is this sacrifice or suicide?
Is this the only way to abide my morals;
I have assessed all solutions there only is one,
Admit to the crime I didn’t commit and let it be done
“It was me” I called out,
“ Please let them go free”,
“By the firing squad” their officer decreed.
Let my sacrifice not be for naught I silently plead
And then there was nothing but darkness for which I could see
There was Me - Oliver Donovan
I am from colorful hard covered books, from Nintendo and Switches. I am from the snow which looked as if it had been laid there by God himself oh so carefully treating the light and fluffy substance like a child. I am from the blackberry bushes, daisies, streams , the maple trees who’s beautiful leaves bless me with their presence during the autumn, wild flowers whose vibrant presence makes my day brighter than the sun, bright yellow beautiful buzzing bees whose only purpose is to bring food to their colony more selfless than any human I’ve ever known spending their lives feeding others with no recognition or thanks.
I am from Thanksgiving and brown eyes like chocolate and hazelnuts, from Zary and Jerre and James. I am from war and revolution. From no whining and family is always first.
I am from eid, halfsins and love. When the world starts to spiral out of control you can hang on to what you believe in. I’m from Iran, and lubia polo, and scallops. From the great uncle who went crazy after world war two, my mother's father who died when she was just a kid, and the great great aunt who hated Chinese food.
I am basements, bookshelves, albums which are worth the world to me. Photos are memories that can’t be forgotten and memories are history in just a few years. Our youth is fleeing almost gone and when I’m old beyond compare with wrinkly skin and beyond white hair. I want to remember the good old days when not every day might be my last and the only worry I had was for the future. Before work there was me, before college there was me, before death there was me. Until that day comes when I die, I’ll live my life to the fullest and my well of kindness will never run dry. I’ll persevere through the hardest events, I’ll laugh, I’ll love and I’ll live while I can.
America - Jordana Blankstein
I wake up and see our country
I see the peace and joy
I see children playing completely ignorant of their surroundings
I see people who just got into college
I see people that just got there first job
I see people having a picnic on the grassy field that is slightly damp
But then I close my eyes and see the dark side
I see protests
I see people fighting for their lives
I see racism and hate
I see people who are in danger
I see people that are clinging on to there last hope of life
I see people who just lost a life
But then I look to the other side
I see good change
I see the world becoming a better place
I see people who just resolved a big problem
I see people that just beat an illness
I see people who are ready for exciting adventures
I see people who are excited to see what their future brings for them
I see hope
Haikus - Jennifer Leung
The struggles and hate
assuming what others ate,
when they can’t relate.
Life is now different,
Wearing masks when we go out.
Everything online.
Normal school is gone.
Having school online is hard.
Sleep schedule. Ruined.
Priceless - Vicky Shadah-Alcade
She is a diamond.
Priceless
Elegant
Beautiful
Held with awe
Cherished
Appreciated
Priceless
(stop dreaming, little girl)
She does not
Want
To stop
Dreaming.
Because
She
Knows
That after dreaming
She has to wake up
And see that it was all in her head.
But it’s lovely while it lasts.
Priceless.
(get out of your head, darling)
She wants to stay in her head.
Her head is safe
Her world does not
Hurt.
She wishes the world was
Like
The one she’s made
in
her
Head.
Her world is
Priceless.
(out of the clouds too, sweetheart)
She wants to stay in the clouds.
In the clouds,
She is a diamond.
Priceless
Priceless
Priceless
Priceless
Priceless
Priceless
Price-
(she’d be ten cents at most.)
Not
Priceless.
(maybe five, for a thing like her.)
How does a ten-cent fish
Leave a sea of priceless coral?
It gets caught.
(come to the surface, love)
The surface is unforgiving
But she is caught
GET OUT
She doesn’t think she can
She doesn’t think she
Wants
To.
(???)
She’s been caught in her head
Where she is
Finally
Priceless.
Where I'm From - Jennifer Leung
I am from (the lucky candies), from (chopsticks) and (the rice cooker). I am from the (house filled with the redness of color). I am from the (the long green bamboos, to the black and white bear like creature), the (beautiful land of red like a rose).
I am from (the red, white, and green land of the north pole) and (the family who have charcoal hair), from (the ABC cousins) and (the aunts and uncles who don't live far) and (the grandparents who are all still alive). I am from the (pollen allergies) and (the family whom everyone has glasses). From (writing your name in pink or red is bad luck) and (the number 4 in chinese means death).
I am from (chinese new year)and (big family gatherings at chinatown). I’m from (Massachusetts(Boston)), and (the white rice which is for lunch and dinner everyday and the small swimming species of animals which go quack). From the (grandparents who don't know english but lives in America), the (brother who is really hyper), and the (parents who were born in China).
I am (family pictures with cousins and relatives and the pictures that are hanging on the walls, for every view you take, it will bring the memories and stories back in the future for your family to understand).
From a 7th grade assignment
Backyard Poem- Sarah Hemment
Breezy trees sway outside
A leaf begins to fall
Clouds in the sky puffy and full
Kicking over pebbles as you walk across the ground
Yellow sun radiant and round
A bird soars by with its feathery wings
Rustling branches from a big gust of wind
Daylight dwindles and it’s time to go in
Blackout Poem - Eliza Kane
Words - Maialen Alawam
Shadows of Hate - Misaki Imai
Slave ship, Atlantic Ocean, 1829
Rows of feet chained together
Urine mixing with vomit as the ship swings side to side
The moans joining a chorus of suffering
The stench trapped in the lower deck
And the tightened fist chained to a limp cold hand
Only to be sold
In a land where profit comes before
human decency
Auschwitz, Germany 1941
Marched into lines deprived of dignity
striped rags clothing emaciated bodies
Betrayed by people
Who once were their neighbors,
Friends,
Peers,
Their beliefs being their crimes
That put them behind barbed wire fences
Punished with torture and systematic extermination
By men whose hatred defined their morality
America, my life time
Slave plantations have become museums
Holocaust victims have memorials across the globe
And yet
Confederate and Nazi flags are still raised
Unarmed black men are still unjustly killed
And the gunshots that ring through a jewish temple
reminds us that hatred persists
We will end this cycle
right?
Seasons - "Anonymouse"
"Anonymouse" is a pseudonym used by a current Bigelow Middle School student
Summer was a locked room,
made of clear windows,
a million little views of the world,
a million little thin walls.
Fall was a hammer
smashing panes of glass,
a thousand windows broken,
a thousand new doors created.
Winter is a candle
illuminating a new path,
lighting the way,
through one window
I escape.
Spring will be freedom
letting me pick
my own path.
Out of the forest
I will run
free, not yet.
Life will be many
Forks in the road,
Locked doors,
Broken mirrors,
Shattered dreams.
Life is a long crumbled road,
but we walk only forward.
And forward I
walk until even
the ground
crumbles to
dust.
Middle School Vibes - Anonymous
Middle School Vibes (Part 1):
Middle school vibes
Making friends and living lives
All to the fullest
Middle School Vibes (Part 2):
Rapping in the halls
No more lines, no baby talk
We just be ourselves
Middle School Vibes (Part 3):
Friends talk happily
Surroundings will soon melt
Now they simply fade