Jack

16

Summer Love
You make me feel complete
I’m so grateful that we could meet
It all started at a hockey game
All I wanted to know was your name
We started to talk and feelings grew
I realized it was the start of something new
The first night we hung out, I felt a connection
My emotions were filled with affection
It was the start of a new chapter
I wanted to be your protector
I wanted to call you mine
Your beautiful smile makes you shine
I made a great decision on Christmas day
I want you to stay
I want you forever and ever
You can come over to my house whenever
I can’t imagine my life without you
I imagine all the things that we will do
You always make me feel better
I hope you enjoy this love letter
I love you with all my heart Kiersten
If I could, I would do it all over again
And because of you, I never have to worry
I wish to continue our story
Look at the sun and you will see
The beauty that summer love gives you and me

Alaina

15

To me, you were the ghost
Of someone who had once been caramel
So fragrant, so ethereal, with my chocolate
To me you always smelled of nature, a sweet honeysuckle
And I would walk with you, barefoot,
Smelling your sweetness every night.

And you smiled at me each night.
The pale light from the kitchen windows shrouded the yard in a ghost,
As we walked through the dark, barefoot.
Your voice tasted like caramel
To my ears and your breath was honeysuckle
In my mouth and I was your bittersweet chocolate.

I had always been your too bitter, dark chocolate,
Or so you told me every night
When we hid amongst the honeysuckle
In my backyard. We were ghost
Children, and I stole my ma’s expensive caramel
To feed you as we sat, barefoot

In between the branches of the honeysuckle bush. My barefoot
Brushing yours, your skin like velvet chocolate
And mine appearing to be caramel.
You would talk and hold me every night
In a town that could only be described as a ghost
That constantly smelled of malicious souls and tasted like our sweet honeysuckle

Bush. The scent of one million honeysuckle
Flowers , their petals crushed under my barefoot.
The ones in my yard have always been the sweetest. Their scent fills me like a ghost
And you always said my lips tasted like honey and rich people chocolate
And that every time you kissed me it had to be at night
Because that was the only time they were sweeter than the expensive caramel.

I remember my mom yelled at me because her caramel
Had gone missing and she knew it was me because I was her sweet honeysuckle
Child that lived to devour all of the sweets, and she knew I snuck out each night
To see that boy, that troublesome barefoot
Boy. The boy who I had told her tasted like my favorite dark chocolate
So she turned you into a part of my past, a ghost.

A ghost that would never call me your caramel
Again or smell like chocolate when you kissed me under our hanging honeysuckles.
And every night I’ve dreamt of you, beautiful and barefoot.

Caroline

16

"estival affair"

cool Cambridge nights with Kansas City boys
whose feet rest crossed, centimeters from yours
he ignores your bruises and you nudge his arm
your laugh comes out in a rasp; you miss the AC but he misses

lightning bugs, the kind of glow that makes it all seem mythological
he wants to do a piece of art based on this night
he will paint your stars and your English tears
he says it smells weird, the perfume of barbecue and

earl grey; you’re glad there aren’t mosquitoes, you
say, but you swat around your thighs
you want to go back before curfew; he pulls you back
down and says you can wait a little longer

Stay, stay; don’t make your nows your should have beens
and everybody’s fighting tonight, he says—
Everybody’s got their own agenda
You can take your risks, you can kiss your New York girls

You laugh because he laughs
Frowns when he does
It’s a new art form, this kind of mirror play
You love him deeper, harder
with your mind, not your heart
Count your minutes out in your palm and let him make up the difference
You have days to kill, time to burn
Maybes and summer clouds in raucous duet.

Caroline

16

this kind of love has no promise
regrettable, forgettable;
you leave me at the stairs with an apple core in my
teeth

you say you learned a while ago that people don’t
change for the better

this kind of love blooms in bright
blue;
silently rages in a deadweight room
stains the words we regret and spells our names
all wrong

so you play off your celebrity lookalikes
you want there to be only one of you

you look up when she glides into the library
I absentmindedly scrape at the heat bubbles that
take shape on my fingernails

I’m reading the words and memorizing the
constellations your fingers draw on my arms
when your hand grazes my shoulder, we stick
from the sweat,

it’s okay to be careless, just once, just
this night
it’s okay to slouch in your
seat and forget to say thanks
you’re too grateful and I’m in shock
and time; time

peels, worst of all
routine
monotony
and one last dance, please
the discarded peach pit on the concrete, weathered
under the summer sun.

Iris

15

moments musicaux: a summer storm

thunder booms and echoes into the distance--
a timpanist's sforzando entrance and roll that diminuendos--
allowing the sound of rain to crescendo from the silence left behind;
fat drops patter against the roof and the porch and the leaves
in increasing tempo，
culminating in sheets pounding against the poor earth
and then--
subito pianissimo,
an impromptu calm.

Sandra

16

TOES KICK DAY TO NIGHT.

bare toes curled in white sand, the
smiling, shining sun hugging your bare
back, visions of sunscreen and
salt and smiles full of mirth, the
sounds of children shrieking and
teens competing and adults relaxing

(socked toes curled in soft fabric, the
purring, napping lightofyourlife clawing into your
lap, visions of buttered popcorn and
salted crisps and pursed lips of surprise, the
sounds of thunder cracking and
couples bantering and music harmonizing);

calming kicks as you hold your breath,
pulsing, arms out, fins apart,
a torpedo in the space beside you and you
push upward, propelling till you hit where
water ends and land-air meet, where you
shake your hair out and spit the water from your lips

(painful kicks as you exhale your breath,
pulsing, calfs strained, legs apart,
a flash in the horizon behind you and you
push forward, propelling till you hit where
water ends and shelter begins, where you
shake your hair out and spit the water from your lips);

lengthy days under the sun with a
word in your mind and a
love on your tongue;
late nights under the stars with a
six-pack of alcohol and
upbeat rhythms

(too-long days under a roof with a
love in your mind and a
word on your tongue;
bright nights under a television screen with a
six hundred-pack of show listings and
distressed violin choirs);

the things played up, normalities hammered
into the minds of onbreakoffschool
young adults

(the things never spoken of, comforts floating
amongst the thoughts of onbreakoffschool
old children).

Samantha

16

In my eyes the sun shines bright.
I hope and pray to never lose the light.
As I grow older and I see more.
The light starts to dim, as if closing a door.
In my eyes I can conquer the world.
I face my fears when my stomach is curled.
Getting complicated and more confused.
Life gets harder to face and I feel abused.
In my eyes everyone wears a smile.
I put one on my face and hold it for a while.
I smile on through every struggle.
Even when life gets hard to juggle.
In my eyes life is a test.
I could be failing but I'm doing my best.
Falling down and getting back up.
Taking life as a drink, I never empty my cup.
In my eyes evil does not exist.
I hold onto the good tightly in my fist.
But growing up, there is nothing I can do.
So I hold my head high and keep pulling through.

Juliana

16

"summer: before you left for college"

the months melted together
like popsicles left outside in the sunlight.
our hands went the same way.
we spent days apologizing to each other
for the lack of time,
hours pooled beneath apologetic fingers,
while we cupped and grasped at the minutes
like they were ripe grapes,
like if we squeezed hard enough
we could find more seconds to spend together. the future—well, we held our breaths and tiptoed around her.

it's easy to forget how to go from here, when you’re halfway across the world, and our secrets
of flashlight nights and dark roads
are nothing more
than fingerprint reminders
brushed over the inside of a jacket
you haven’t worn since you left.

but please know that I don’t regret you.
you were ephemeral, startling—like pressing my cheek
against a glass
of cold lemonade

Juliana

16

"Before you left for college"

the months melted together
like popsicles left outside in the sunlight.
our hands went the same way.
we spent days apologizing to each other
for the lack of time,
hours pooled beneath apologetic fingers,
while we cupped and grasped at the minutes
like they were ripe grapes,
like if we squeezed hard enough
we could find more seconds to spend together. the future—well, we held our breaths and tiptoed around her.

it's easy to forget how to go from here, when you’re halfway across the world, and our secrets
of flashlight nights and dark roads are nothing more than fingerprint reminders brushed over the inside of a jacket
you haven’t worn since you left.

but please know that I don’t regret you.
you were ephemeral, startling—like pressing my cheek
against a glass
of cold lemonade

alondra

17

Releasing every fraction of energy I put forth in a viente quarto hora dia…
I step in great staccato to my shower where I wash off the dirt and sweat accumulated by fun… and scrub the sin out of the memories I regret to think of
…often.
I grab a 5 or 6 hour sleep a time or two, and if not...I’m greeting the sun in great delight with a buzz of illegalness, all in good intention…
Maybe so…
But I like to reminisce on past summers and people I had brushed by…

…But...

lets not converse about bygones.

I care to think of summer as a past time to recover from the hate brought on by the school year. A time we’re pushed, over worked, and unbelievably under appreciated. Its sad to think it all is just a short 2 and half months. Inevitably it’s the time of your life… but listen to Lana when she says summertime sadness exist… (now that I got my pop culture reference out of the way)
…I admire the time we get to do nothing but, nothing and go out and party if you want to… or go and preach and learn the love of your religion…and in a perfect world..maybe you could incorporate both into your life.

The fact that I’m getting to in this piece is that summer is difficult to define. There’s something so bipolar to it, and it’s interesting to see what each day brings. I’m flattered to think it could be the best day of my life when I wake in the morning, but am content if all the day brings me is sour patch kids and the company of my lazy but astounding friends.

Jack

Summer Love
You make me feel complete
I’m so grateful that we could meet
It all started at a hockey game
All I wanted to know was your name
We started to talk and feelings grew
I realized it was the start of something new
The first night we hung out, I felt a connection
My emotions were filled with affection
It was the start of a new chapter
I wanted to be your protector
I wanted to call you mine
Your beautiful smile makes you shine
I made a great decision on Christmas day
I want you to stay
I want you forever and ever
You can come over to my house whenever
I can’t imagine my life without you
I imagine all the things that we will do
You always make me feel better
I hope you enjoy this love letter
I love you with all my heart Kiersten
If I could, I would do it all over again
And because of you, I never have to worry
I wish to continue our story
Look at the sun and you will see
The beauty that summer love gives you and me

Gillian

17

My mother used to tell me
To hold my breath when we crossed a bridge
That otherwise
I’d breath in all the bad luck in the world
As trolls and demons
And monsters clad in scales
Liked to live under bridges
I would close my eyes
And keep that breath in my lungs
Pure
Untainted
I’m older now
And I still find myself
Holding my breath

My life has a reset button
Set to go off every three years
It’s a bomb that obliterates
Eradicates
Everything it touches
Everything it can find
No matter how safely it’s tucked away
In cardboard boxes
And bubble wrap
It always manages to shatter

Some kids’ summers
Are filled with water fights
And ice cream
Mine is lacerated
With greasy drive throughs
Hotel rooms
And a split up family

my parents have been happily married
All my life
And to this day
Remain together
But my mother plays the part
Of the recent divorce
The single mom
Moving her three girls
From Texas to Ohio
From Ohio to Germany
Because my father
Every six months
leaves in his uniform
For some far off place
Weather it be training
or deployment
He fights a war
And cannot whisper a word
about and sends us chocolates melted in their wrappers

My summers are very much
Like crossing a bridge at times
It’s a season where I don’t breath
In hopes
That I do not topple the house of cards
That my home has become
So that I don’t fall into that pit
That sits gaping just behind me
Waiting for me to step back in fear
Summer is time of moving
Of leaving
It’s PCS season right
Everyone might as well
mark their calanders

you ask me where I’m from
I might as well reply
Homeless
I have no home town
I think I’ve spent more hours sleeping
In minivans
Between hotel sheets
And in cramped, military housing
Drowning in starch
Than my own bed
in a roome where I can recodnize
The celing

But don’t breath just yet
Don’t open your mouth to gasp
Or it’ll all come tumbling down
Once again

Because it’s still summer
you’re still crossing that bridge
The one that spans between one house
And one home
Oh the places I have seen
You would not imagine
I have had pizza in Paris
And warmed my hands
over fires in prague
I danced in Turkey
And lost a ski in the Alps

But there are repercussions
And heart concussions
That leave you dizzy for months
I cannot count
How many friends I have lost
In the tide that is leaving
How many teenage romances
I’ve had to cut short
Because short is better than some
Long distance disaster

And then
you at last take in that
Breath of fresh air
the bridge ending on solid ground
School starts and the season is over
That’s when I can look up
And take my hands from my ringing ears
the explosions have finished
The time bomb is being wound
But my home is rubble

And I am one of the things left behind
To be packed away
To be moved next summer
My forehead tattooed with a warning to all
The mark of cain in spray paint red
FRAGILE

Zofia

16

i trip my way onto
the screen porch,
mercury at my feet and a
tongue on my tooth;
half woman, half calamity.

it's 1am, the
sky is bleeding,
and my forehead is
leaking sweat.
my hands
are twisting around
each-other, searching
for their mediator.

[i cant find you.]

it's 1am and i am
turning over in my
double bed; the fan's air is
washing me, the broken clock
watches me, and every
sidewalk gap i've ever
waded through plays
behind my eyelids.

i remember that summer
time glows moist, that every
white sheet is born from
yellowing, wrinkled hands.

90 degrees can be
frigid if palms and kneecaps
and mouths,
pink flush grapefruit mouths,
are empty enough.

Imani

17

Why, Mother...

You were there at my lowest… so you thought
You held up my smile… when it was worth it
You called out to me frequently… was that supposed to be caring?
Why did you even come? If the only purpose was to ruin me?!
Why do you even pretend, when your purpose was selfish, to leave it basic.
Just turn around, there’s no right to make from all this wrong.
Why must I hurt everyday? Hide it for your self conscious eyes!
Cut the bull, they say don’t run with scissors? Well, I’m in a rush.
A rush to get away from you! No! Don’t follow me!
Stop saying please, mother! Stop saying sorry, mother!
I don’t wanna hurt anymore, mother!
Let me be, mother! Let me run, mother!
Where was this when it was necessary, mother…?
You’re so freakin’ bi-polar!
Don’t they have pills for that? But, you would know right?
You have millions…
IS there one for love? Maybe? A little heart shaped pill.
Description: To love, with no falsies.
But, there’s a side affect; me…

Miranda

18

BORN MAROON

We kept a bucket in our kitchen doorway
to catch each note from the window chimes.

They danced like tiny drooping petals
each one falling with the strength of an oar

slicing through the quiet morning speeches
we gave.

From Summer’s morning breath
came plumes of ancient shadow dust.

We caught it with our sticky tongues,
born maroon

and black from last nights coffee.
Tiny wilting pebbles

bounced from the bucket and splashed our heels
in ichor.

Sweet Chartreuse spilled from the wounds.

Bailey

14

A Perfect Summer Day

The trees will sway
And the birds will sing
Why can't this day much longer stay?

I kick off my shoes
And look up at the sky
A pallet of pretty blues
Every now and then a bird would fly by

Not a cloud to be seen
for miles away
The grass is a rich emerald green
I wish this day could stay

But at the end of every day
The sky will turn to a cold grey
And the light will succumb to shadows
And out come the crickets, away go the swallows
Oh how I wish this day could forever stay

Magdalena

14

The song

We scream it when we hear it

And act madly

As though we haven’t heard it millions of times

This song

Is overplayed

Overrated

Overbought

It’s a song

That we will soon roll our eyes at

Flip over

Forget

But a song

That we, for now, love

Swear our anthem to be

Praise like a child

Because it’s a song

That rhymes with wasted days

And ice cream

And Summer

Magdalena

14

Hourglass

The hourglass flips
And we’re in the sand

Heat scorching our backs
Salt licking our ankles

Bright sun glares down at us
Glittering through the glass

We slide away with the time
Not bothering to count

Ticks marked by laughs
And smacks of flip-flops
Unheard

We stall
Lounging in the center

Laying in wait
Cracking our necks

Pretending that we’re not wishing
To get on with things

And suddenly the last grain has moved
We’re spiraling downwards

A waterfall of nerves
And all of the things we’d thought we do

The bottom is approaching
Far too fast

And we grip, desperately
To this one

Hopeful

Disintegrating

Grain of summer

Magdalena

14

You wait for me
An old friend

The welcomed ache
Of bare, burnt feet

And the stretched lines
Of worn away bathing suits

Drops of warm,
Forgotten water

Pulling me
From winter’s sleep

I cry in relief
To your salty hug

Kiss your soft
Pillowed air

And let it carry me
Off

To your charred, clichéd
Sunset

Natavia

17

Oh Summer

The swaying of the colorful flowers
are in tune with the blowing wind
The sound of the singing birds
are like music to my ears
The laughter from the summer fun
makes me feel as if I'm floating on
a cloud
The rays from the bright yellow sun
makes my skin feel as soft as a newborn child
Oh Summer
Oh Summer
How could you bring about
such a feeling in me
That no one knows about
Oh Summer
Oh Summer
How could you possess
such a power like this
that's different from the rest