Poetry

Annabel's Lament

by: Sammy Terres

Many and many a years ago

In a kingdom by the sea

I lived happily and known

By the name of Annabel Lee

And me and my Edwin

Would live for all eternity

We danced and we loved

In this kingdom by the sea

All day and all night

Sharing his love with me

But one night it changed

As disease struck me

It ate at my insides

Pain filled me to my knee

Many gave their blessing

In this kingdom by the sea

But the words weren't enough

And we held each other for my final glee

As they took me to my sepulcher

In this kingdom by the sea

You went mad with craze

About what happened to me

And sworn the angels for my kill

Not understanding what happened

To your Annabel Lee

And now I lie with the angels

Watching by the sea

Watching you fall more and more in a crazy

And now a thought strikes me

Please Edwin

Move on from me

Between Fire and Silence

by: Zaima Khan

I fell for you at first glance,

A spark ignited, a silent dance.

Just one day, yet hearts entwined,

In your eyes, my dreams aligned.

Your smile, a beacon, lit my soul,

With every word, you made me whole.

Yet yearning grew, a voice so loud,

For something more, I longed, I bowed.

I sought a love that matched my flame,

Not gifts, but laughter, the joy, the same.

I craved a bond where spirits blend,

But our paths diverged, we could not mend.

You were the calm, I was the storm,

Two different worlds, our hearts not warm.

In the mirror of us, reflections unclear,

I let you go, though it brought me fear.

Now I ponder what love truly means,

In the spaces between our dreams.

It's not just about the fire we ignite,

But the harmony is found in day and night.

So here I stand, with lessons learned,

In love's embrace, a heart once burned.

For every end, a chance to grow,

In the depths of loss, true love can flow.

Can’t “Bear” it Any Longer

by: Ariella Rosenwald

Hibernation almost over, the food stash running out.

The dark days getting lighter, and I am ready to sprout.

This winter has felt like four painful years

but somehow I’ve survived through the sweat and tears.

The long days of hard work are almost done

but the snow is melting, a new season has begun.

The sun shines longer and the birds sing louder.

I am close to my next adventure and couldn’t be prouder.

I have overstayed my welcome in this tiny, rocky cave

I am ready to bid it farewell and look back as I wave.

At times it was cozy, welcoming, and nice-

but with the winter freeze and shards of ice,

I am ready to trek down the river

The fresh snow-melt water makes me shiver.

The fish are bigger up the stream

I am excited to venture and fulfill my dream.

Not everything is known about what comes ahead

And some days I can’t seem to roll out of bed.

But I am ready for the spring as flowers bloom

I need a new space to stretch out with more room.

Outside of this place the world is great

I am ready for the fresh, warm air and all that awaits.

Comfort Food

by: Grace Anderson

Mashed potatoes mountain  

plates and plates of food  

made by mom with tons  

of love and effort and salted  

butter and Daisy sour cream.  

Mashed potatoes sit  

pillowing over the juiceless  

turkey cut by  

grandma who snacks our poor  

bird’s tail and discarded parts.  

Mashed potatoes that lay dormant  now in the stout bellies of  

aunties and uncles who cackle  

endlessly and rant continually  

on times of past.  

Mashed potatoes will welcome  every soft couch to the heavy  

heads of those full and  

those tired of how are yous or  

how have you been doings.  

Mashed potatoes packed up and  stressed in Tupperware to be  

eaten in days coming and  

to be tossed in weeks time  

gone long before the tree.  

Mashed potatoes defining  

family traditions and life  

memories bringing light  

to thankfulness so dear to:  

Anderson  

Davenport  

Sorenson  

Woodburn  

hearts. 

Cuddle Bug

by: Jessa Angelo-Willson

My cuddle bug

Is a great big leach. 

He’ll drain my soul

By way of teeth.

Long-Horn beetle,

He’ll drain my love.

When he comes clicking

I’ll rise above.

I’ll spray this time,

I’ll kick the coo,

I’ll cage my cuddle bug,

Come one, leave two.

When it comes time,

Emerge the shoe.

I know he’ll drain me.

I’ll kill him,

Cuddle bug stew. 

Dear Josh

by: Anvitha Devarapalli

Annabel Lee

Is me

For me, I know you're crazy

But I can't do this, I'm lazy

So in the meantime I'm rest

Because you're a damn pest

While you're having a meltdown

I'm dead in my ball gown

Your love was an obsession

But now you're in a depression

I loved what we had

Now you're becoming my dad

She's mine! She's mine!

You better run before I count to nine.

Stop blaming everything, you keep clinging

Get a life. Brring! Brring! Your phone is ringing

How old are you, a baby?

I mean I'd rather kiss one, maybe.

What are you doing by my grave?

Get up and go back to your cave.

Sob, sob.

I'd rather date Bob.

My rap is coming to an end

It has a blend

Honestly, when we dated

You need to be updated

Hopefully, you'll get someone

Before I have too much fun

Good bye, Josh

One last thing, you need a wash

Echoes of Desire

by: Zaima Khan

Beneath the weight of the world I tread,

School Books stacked high, dreams left unsaid.

Friends in the halls, but silence inside,

Yearning for love where my heart can confide.

I crave it, a fire that burns in my chest,

A longing so deep, it puts hope to the test.

With every new crush, a fleeting delight,

Yet shadows of loneliness haunt me at night.

Romantic tales whisper through pages I turn,

Each character’s passion ignites the deep yearn.

Am I lonely, or simply lost in the chase,

Searching for love in a cold, crowded space?

With every glance, I feel hope's gentle tug,

A dance in my heart, a soft, fleeting hug.

Yet grades slip away, like sand through my hands,

As visions of love pull me into their lands.

I dream of a partner, my other half found,

In laughter and solace, where joy knows no bound.

To weave our stories, interlaced like a vine,

In a world that feels heavy, your heart next to mine.

So I wander on paths where the heartaches reside,

Determined to find what I’ve sought deep inside.

For love is a journey, not just the end goal,

A beam of light that can heal the whole soul.

I won’t stop my search, I’ll hold on to the flame,

For the love that I crave is worth all of the pain.

And when it arrives, in its tender embrace,

I’ll finally know home in your warm, loving grace.

Forever Boy

by: Ruhaan Mehta

The angel I never see

A astronomical figment of my dreams

An attachment that has no love

But I daze still wanting a touch

On a different planet but still

My eyes possessed without my control

“I love you” the words felt not told

Ill rewind back to the days

Where we laughed in wicked ways

Your smile imprinted in my mind

Your gestures I still see in the night

I can’t move on from my own mind

I keep on seeing fake signs

Fireworks in my tears that show me your light

A love I thought of twisted and cruel

Is just love for fools

I’ll dance for ages in gardens of songs

Mimic birds to impress you and feel your warmth

Even now I trace your steps

Linger around rumors of your breath

Thinking that one day you’ll finally see me

We’ll go back to when we first met

Falling into stereotypes from all of our friends

The moment I knew I’d never put this to rest

My heart never left all the words that you said

I still think of how I made a pass on my friends

All the time spent memorizing your face

Predicting the ways you would move in the halls

A whisper would be all that was needed

For my heart to jump right into your arms

I saw you in a higher light

Someone that I would need my entire life

The hours spent thinking of what we could be

An eternity just you and me

It was never simple easy or true

As the roses withered and time moved on

I still waited one day for your call

A vision for me the same way I saw you

A reciprocal love that I envisioned my whole life

Waited for you to need me and embrace my sins

The weight of my heart wouldn’t be weighed on me

You would hold me and trace my skin

You would make me feel whole and find love again

I would be stained by your love

A love for the ages they’d all see

I thought you would be the one for me

My illusions of true love would blind me for years

Even now I sit pouring out my heart

My memories of us from the start

The good the bad the entire life of a shared heart

My eyes only see you in the dark

Even today I could only think of you

A ring I still have from the day we met

“I love you” I’ll say forever again

Until my wishes are met

I’ll renew my love again and again

I hope you’ll one day be mine and we’ll put this to rest

One day you’ll be my forever boy.

Let Go

by: Vahini Narra

I hold on to a colored leaf from fall. I love it, I try to protect it from harm, but it rots. I cry as it breaks in my hands; I ignore summer's beauty by holding on to fall’s. It gradually shrivels up and vanishes, my love turning to hurt instead of joy. It slowly fell apart, and there was nothing I could do about it. Fall returns and I see another beautiful leaf. 

But remembering the past stops me from ripping it off the tree and holding it so dear that when it shrivels up, a part of me vanishes. So, I appreciate its beauty, its vivid colors, and I walk away, leaving it on the tree, and walk away from the desire to reach out and hold it close, suffering as it suffers, wailing over its wilting form, until it vanishes to dust and leaves me to find another thing to hold.  

     “Don’t love something that once happened, and forget what’s happening. Don’t love what is lost so much that it hurts you. Love memories and live the future, not the past.”

Time moves only forward,

It erases what’s in the past, 

Time rushes on by,

Rushes far too fast.

Every moment that passes,

Cuts me like a knife, 

I want early childhood days, 

The easy childhood life.

But I also see joy,

If I look around, 

So my mind can stay 

Here and now.

Poem 79 Clouds And Their Cruelty

by: Sawyer Harvey

The fluff in the sky is not sweat,

It is violent and cruel

As it broke my home 

the fluff in the sky is not soft

it is sharp and angry

as I jumped through it

The fluff in the sky feels damp

It clings like drowning 

as I try to breath it

The fluff in the sky hates me

it turns grey and punches out

as I walk beneath it

the fluff in the sky haunts me

It makes me damp and alone

as I do nothing

The fluff in the sky greets me

it sits at my door and around

as it ends my peaceful morning

the fluff in the sky won't leave me

it follows me wherever I go

as I've given up on running

from the wind

Its rain

And the hail

Poem 80 Standardized Kindness

by: Sawyer Harvey

The world has grafted onto me

the gift of standard untoward

all i know or me or mine

they do not make us fine

state me wrong by the wrote divine

Or the unwrit book of right in action

set by the height of an olden faction

the standards they have forced on me

do not make me fine

Olden Europe, new America

set the scales of any and all

He saves the maiden, she is helpless

lies twofold, not fixed by sharing

the dominance, the helplessness

just help the hurting

no man, no woman

need play the savior

Despite their hurting

when the other is fine

to help them

the rules on kindness

do not make anyone fine

Raised by a Stranger

by: Zaima Khan

I grew up with the sound of war,

Yelling across the hall,

Marching feet, a door slammed shut,

A silence that said it all.

I learned to live with shadows,

To drown out the screams,

But lately, my heart is heavy,

Tears slipping through my dreams.

He’s never laid a hand on me,

But his words are cruel, sharp knives,

Each syllable a weight I carry,

A shadow on my life.

I tell myself I should be grateful,

For the roof that shields my head,

For the food I eat at morning’s light,

Though his love feels cold as lead.

He took me in, when I was lost,

He raised me, though I never asked,

But all I've ever wanted,

Is something from him—love, at last.

Just a scrap of respect, a sign,

That I’m more than just the girl

Who tiptoes 'round his every mood,

Afraid of causing a whirl.

He has his children—his own flesh,

They laugh and smile with him,

While I stand in the corner,

My hope growing thin.

I wish, just once, he could see me,

See the child in my eyes,

And hold me, like a daughter,

Not just another sigh.

I wish I didn't feel this way,

That I could just let go,

But the truth is, I've been fighting

For a love I'll never know.

I'll carry this pain inside of me,

And maybe I'll get strong,

But I'll always wish he'd see me,

And love me all along.

But the nights stretch long and cold,

As I weep myself to sleep,

Wishing that he'd love me,

Wishing he’d feel deep.

I’ll carry this heartache always,

Though I may never speak,

Hoping one day he’ll notice,

The daughter he has yet to reach.

Short Ham

by: Kellen MacLeod

Growing up an orphan in Saint Croix

There are a lot of people who just wanted to annoy me

My cousin committed suicide

In that instance my heart just died

I had to fight for what’s right

And in the end I died

The Gusts of Time

by: Vahini Narra

Death's door, mysterious and cold.   

Ever near, yet closer when old.   

If your thoughts ever wander down that corridor.  

Binding one to the fate to think of death more.    

The years fly by like a ticking clock,   

And the door grows larger waiting for a knock.   

The winds are now heavy and filled with hate, 

Laughing as you try to escape too late.  

The winds shove you out that door.

And then you vanish, you are no more.

You leave the world like you came in.

You fade before your rotting skin. 

Where Love Once Lingered

by: Zaima Khan

In the endless search for love, I walk through shadows,

Each step a reminder of dreams turned to sorrows.

Hope, once a star I could reach, now flickers and dies,

Leaving me lost beneath unforgiving skies.

Longing for attention, a hollow embrace,

Time slips away, an endless chase.

Love, a dagger that twists in the night,

Bleeds me slowly, extinguishing light.

God whispered warnings, yet I chose to fall,

Built up by affection, only to crawl.

There are no more tears left to shed,

No more screams in the depths of my soul.

The love I had has turned to dust,

What once burned bright now fades to gray,

I've given up on this endless game,

That chapter closed; I walk away.

You sparked a fire that turned to smoke,

What once felt real now feels like a joke.

Boys are like whispers, fading and cold,

Their empty promises leave me feeling old.

No more longing, no more pain,

For wanting love has led me here

It's the absence of warmth, the silence of care,

The longing for something that's never been there.

You Stink, Feargus

by: Caitlin Sjostrand

Man, you're creepy

Your words they make me sleepy

I live in a kingdom, you don't

You're cheapy

Blame it on the angels

You should be shameful

Angels, they love

Let me free of

Your dead sea

"I and my Annabel Lee"

Get your mind off of me

Loved me since fourteen

Think you're so keen?

Well, how about this:

You stink, Feargus

I can smell you a mile away

That's why I died on a Friday

Please put me out of my misery

I hate your poetry delivery

Writing about my eyes

Is just going to make me cry

You're right, I am beautiful

This obsession is a handful

My intelligence is high

While yours declines

Climb down to where I lie

Adios goodbye

Don't let me forget

Here's a secret:

My "highborn kinsman"

was my real husband.

Take this Literally, Take me Seriously

by: Galina Opletayev

I am in love with a mime,

I find her painted face 

alluring and her trademark 

silence all the more mysterious. She has a 

way with her deft, 

flying

hands and

a charm with her exclamation-point eyebrows. 

The trapezers all tell me I’m mad for falling

in love, the ringleader says to toss my hat

in anyways. Come to think of it, would she

prefer a beret? Wait, is she even French?

The other guys in the striped tent

tell me to “act natural, act natural,”

So I climb atop my Sunday best

unicycle and start to jump rope.

My buddies are laughing as the peppermint 

twist rope thwacks ‘cross pavement. Looking up

from her conversation with the caged lion,

the mime smiles at me. I fall flat on my face and 

grin like a dope. 

Whiplash

by: Galina Opletayev

I swear on

good God,

and better

linen, that

if she does

this dance

again I will

pack her in

cherrywood

and pawn

her off on

eBay for

free, coffin

included.