Natavia

17

The Season Summer

A season that has so much to offer
It brings happiness, peace, and joy
Love, comfort, kindness, and beauty
is its major
Mesmerizing scenes and amazing sights
comes with it also
The warming sun, blue cloudless sky, and amazing shades of greens brings a calming aura over anyone in its path
The chirping of the birds and the
buzzing of the bees
is like a musical melody to one's ears
This is a season like no other
Because this season is Summer
The best season of them all

Natavia

17

Summer is My Best Friend

No other season does the things to me
like Summer does
When Summer is here that's when I no
longer feel alone
because Summer is my best friend
yet I know that she can't stay long
Every time she comes
She brings with her so many wonderful
things
It is always a delight to see the warm sun, the blue sky, and the greenery all
around me
She also brings me comfort and a sound
mind
Summer has so many things to offer me
when she comes
That I become very mesmerized
Because Summer is my best friend
Yet she still leaves me behind

Natavia

17

Summer's Healing Power

I was once a little girl that was lost
in a world of sadness
Swamped with many dark things of my past
Burdened to capacity with many problems
But then came summer and its healing
power
It comforted me beyond measure
It showed me love through all its beauty
No longer sad or burdened
I ventured out to explore more of summer
to see what gave it its healing power
That's when I saw the beautiful rays of
the sun
I felt the powerful yet comforting
breeze
And I heard the melodious sounds of the chirping birds and the buzz of the bees
At that instance I realized that summer's beauty gave it its healing
power
And no other season possessed this power
to heal

Maryann

17

Cømmên Plaçe

Everyday I come this way
And hear the music gaily play
Or do my fingers hit the notes
And run them till they're burning smote?

Alas, my dear, it is not so!
For every single time I go
I seem to run amuck in leer
And even so it is unclear

Why my head is in disguise
Or does my brain veil my demise?
I haven't known my fault in here
And now must deal with my fear

Of failure of my farthest dreams
A list that may fill many reams
And though I knew naught such deep faults
I still have time to clear my thoughts.

Throw away those smitten lies
Break the fake and lowly ties
Alleviate my broken spirit
Destroy the rest with wizened wit

For then there shall in moment's time
Be some company sublime;
Arrival of a faerie fair
Shall lift my worries beyond the air.

Natavia

17

The Feel of Summer

I am surrounded by summer sunlight
streaming from every direction
It feels as if I am one with the green
grass, the blue sky, and the chirping
birds
I can hear nothing other than the sounds
of summer
And I hear nothing other than its
inviting embrace
I am comforted by the many sounds
of summer
Yet I know summer only lasts for a
season
And when summer is gone
so is my comfort

Natavia

17

The Exploration of Summer

Summer feels as if its a fairytale
It's full of joy and happiness
and it makes me feel as if I'm on top
of the world
Summer seems as if it encourages me
to explore all the breath taking sights
that it has to offer
My heart is filled to capacity with joy
as I see the blue sky with the beautiful
white clouds
I am eager to explore more
To see more green grass, amazing creatures, and everything else summer
has to offer
For summer is the best season out of
the year

Maryann

17

The Nefarious Glitter Conspiracy

It was but a summer day
Yet cool just for the
Fine coat,
Bringing all the boys from the yard
Down the steps and
Into the great hall.
Sat around a many-sided
Polygonal motionless table
Arms set, hands clasped, all eyes set intended.
Ask me, what we wear.
What do we all wear?
Anything we'd like,
As long as it sparkles.
Also take notice of the hats,
The brims,
But the veils.
Ah yes, the lovely veil that covers
At least your eyes,
Lending mysterioum and reverence in some respects,
And playfulness, and a tentative shyness.
Don't ask what we are;
We'll sprinkle you with glitter,
The pixie dust of the queens.
Start off with the tapping of feet,
Beat out the rhythm,
Add in the hands.
It looks like it's snowing
Within a rainbow iridescent.
The colours are changing,
They switch and switch and switch and switch
With the hard beats of the limbs,
Standing up and beating around the bush;
I don't know what they're getting at,
What with all their shenanigans,
Eyes cast once in a while in my direction,
Beckoning,
Seducing-
I rise from the cushions and
Join in the celebration
Only to fall at the feet
Of my brother-in-law..

Natavia

17

Summer is Here
The smell of summer
penetrates deep within me
giving me a fresh breath of air
The amazingly tall trees
and the leaves that have returned
to their beautiful shades of green
makes me feel as if I am the only
girl in the world
because of the signs that summer is here
The sky and its pure blue beauty
makes me dream sweet dreams of happiness
The summer creatures buzzing here and there makes my mind wander endlessly
How loving summer makes me feel
How at ease I am with summer and its
amazing sights
Oh how summer makes me feel like
I'm taking my very first flight

Ellie

17

Keep Your Love Notes

You were a magic wanderer,
ambling through space.
“You were one who licked the horizon and took gulps of the sky,
swilling the stars and heavens around in your mouth
You said it tasted like incense and love letters left unread. “

You wafted into our realm
of the ordinary, the banal, the vanilla.
Your arrival needed no announcement,
because the air turned electric
and the ocean became still.

Listeners swam in the richness of your voice,
and drank your body by the quart
hoping to distill you too an elixer (nectar)
saying:
“She sounds like velvet and looks like secrets, let’s keep her and make her dance.”

So you evaporated on a Thursday afternoon,
disappearing as seamlessly as you came.
The weight of Expectation was a guillotine blade,
which you could not take, it drove you away.

We put you in chains for our own awe and shame.

Once gone, I scoured the earth for scraps of you
needing to prove that I had not just imagined you.
Happening upon dried flowers and wrinkled love notes
you kept to get you through the winter.

Sister, sister. I still reach out for your cheek
in the nighttime when Sleep
has slipped out my window and into the night
leaving me wide eyed and stirred
enveloped in empty space and robbed of sight,

I miss you
I miss you

So here I sit on the floor of my coffee roasted kitchen
and I read your diaries in the summertime,
sitting in a puddle of nauseating silence
in that same place where you
once you told me what it was to taste the sky and swallow stars.

In equal parts sinner and equal measure sage
here are my vices,
take them all away.

But catch these words before they slip down the drain,
before they are rendered worthless by a magic-less brain.

Natavia

17

The Amazing Sights of Summer
I feel as if I am the only one on Earth
as the sun warms me with its revealing
power
The green grass wraps its self around me
and holds me tight as if it doesn't
want to let me go
The summer critters are out once again
bringing music to my ears
My summer smile is back once more as
I see the beautiful flowers dancing to
all the sounds of summer around us
Even though I know summer won't last
forever
I still marvel at summer and all its
amazing sights

Lilliana

15

Paddle boarding
As I soared along the blood of the Earth, the surface looked as smooth as glass. I felt tempted to step on it and walk, but I knew that my foot would break right through and would be swallowed by the water. The afternoon heat beat down on my head and shoulders mercilessly. The sun sent down rays that danced across the waves in a series of sparkles. The light ricocheted off the water and into my eyes. The only thing defending me against the harsh rays beaming into my eyes were the sunglasses given to me by my mom for protection. The air smelled of sea salt and algae mixed with the sunscreen now melting off my face. There was a weak breeze that blew warm air on my back and moved the water along. This ruined the glassy effect, though every now and then the wind died and the canal returned to its still state. And when I breathed in the ocean air, the salt got to my tongue and I could almost taste the sea itself. My board rocked when the wakes hit up against it. The wakes made by the passing motorboat. The captain on the ship nodded to me, as if to say, “Good afternoon,” to his fellow nautical adventurer. The roar of his boat’s engine faded into the distance as the ship drove further and further away. The paddle grew heavier in my hands, desiring to be pushed through the water again. But I was content with just floating, and drifting wherever the sea wanted to take me. I trusted the ocean, because it was my friend. The water was my only companion. The only company for anyone who sets out to sea alone, except for the occasional visit of a traveling boat. So I sat there, on my board- with my paddle lying still. Going with the tide, I allowed my friend to take me away…

Emma

16

In the mist I hear trains,
clench my fist I am drained,
of the anger I'm gone,
turn the page and read on.

Naomi

16

I wonder if the wind ever weeps,
in his long, searching journey for a home.
it must be the epitome of loneliness
to sweep the corners of the earth
and embrace every living thing with a forced tenderness
while they frolic on,
imagining themselves to be dancing with the summer breeze.

to give part of yourself away with every breath,
until nothing remains but the ghost of an exhale
upon sun blessed skin
makes
a shiver pass through my lips,
carelessly opened to the soft caress of your gentle,
uncaring touch.
you brush through me
and leave,
‘till all that’s left is for me to wonder,
does the wind
ever
weep?

Alex

16

Two Sides to Every Story

You need one

Hot and fiery
Bright and radiant
Humid air
Cloudless sky

To have the other

Sophia

14

Origin:

From the fleshy folds
stretching out
contracting
a deep crevice wide
I came
from the earth,
from the warm dirt,
When the green strands
of my beanstalk
twist together they
reach the sky.

From the stars,
I leapt off the glowing edge
when I had gathered my courage.
Saddened by departing,
watching as the star grew smaller in the sky.

I flew
as a wisp before I was brought down by
words

Until I was falling too fast
to care that the star grew smaller,
no longer did it engulf me
it was just a point of light,
stars cluttering the night sky
in little towns

From the fragile smelling countryside
it was difficult to find my own star
I had hoped that it would guide me
when I was in the wrong world.

Sophia

14

For Me, Every Summer has 7 parts:
1:

I sing of
summer rains.
kicking up dust on the pavement,
the steadiness,
echoing my beating heart,
it’s cadence,
etching it’s way
across my mind,
the tin roof,
alive again,
dreaming, reborn,
the rythym of the their
rain,
has uttered its comforting
syllables
“all that is drowsy,
all that is safe”

2:

cups of moonlight strewn
across the wider lawn,
pockets of laughter,
and billowing smoke,
no cars whirring
down the avenue this
late,
so the world is ours,
shared only with the
lone star,
illuminating the
smooth edges of
our faces,
in that
last night,
forever the darkest.

3:
He drapes his
arms- willowy and sunbrowned,
over the edge of the
chair, cradling
your child and says
that
he had hoped that he would
have found
a job by now,
and we know he was thinking,
what kind of father
cannot provide for his child,
and what kind of husband
cannot apologize to
his wife?

4.
muscle-stretched
paper thin,
iridescent and
bare to the extreme,
the rawest,
realest
specimen,
it is dead,
you are told,
but the current is delivered,
and you can swear that
you can see it ripple, and
the cells lapse in
and out of living,
as a creature
reborn.

5.

Long shadows etched their
way across the channel,
the moon swaying in
the sky mechanically,
a pendulum,
it’s user whispering
in hypnotic tone
-hush, morning shall come
for you, too-
The river, my moat,
The harbor,
my castle,
The stars my subjects,
and you, my queen.

6.

Rest your feet
on a bough that
I can’t reach

Rest your mind,
your tired thoughts
will soon align.

So seal your heart,
for a dreamer and
her dreams are soon
to part.

And open your eyes,
for quickly you will
realize that
all we are is a mass of
flesh stretched over bone,

and we’re really all alone.

7.
In these sunlit last
moments,
you might have formed one
last word on broken lips,
from a broken mind,
halved,
pithed,
diced,
doused in iodine antiseptic
sold by the ounce.

but I saw no spark in your
unwavering open eyes,
and no whisper or sharp cry of one
last word,
(cueing the instrumentalists, who
weep into their violas)
echoed in these hospice
hallways.
It would have been perfect -
-punctuating
this silenced
decade of your life,
ironic,
sweet,
with close-ups of both of our roman noses,
silhouetted by
fluorescent bulbs,
and white noise,
you would be
silent again for the last
time,
and just as the
music crescendo
ed,
you would shut your
eyes, and I would
rest assured that you had
lived the right life and died
the right death,
and our performance would be given 5 stars
by the LA Times.

But you didn’t, instead staying
silent
until the end,
where the only sound was the incessant
bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
of the heart monitor,
leaving be no
movie cameras to continue the
struggle for.

For the life of me,
I can’t remember
what your last words were because
I always assumed
there would be more.

Annie

16

To Atlantis

I mourn my past self
Butter seeped through cold pancake
To porcelain plate

The person whom once was a main ingredient
Barely passes my mind

Pedaling my bike through a graveyard of
Once was
And never weres
Seeing her as coconut lotion
Soft pink lipgloss
A ghost

My sister was named for the soft
Purple
Blossoms of
Summer

And we have fallen into forever winter
At the glimpse of pale green peering at me through lenses of earth
The eye blinks and then fades away
And a pirates patch of worms and leaves trod on ability

You cannot rekindle a fire that stood
On shaky ground giving their first speech
Knees wobbling
Hands wavering
Like an opinion or a belief
Except the flower of summer has beliefs that are stand still
At least they were
Solid as concrete
In the years of missing teeth and trick or treating

So the trees have grown like fingernails
Fast, quick, and unnoticed
And my sisterhood faded to friendship
Kinship
And now some random hug
As much obligatory as awkward
My arms don’t reach the way they did
Her arms are toned and there is soft plush where bone once was

I shouldn’t be surprised
Summer flower has grown tall like the tips of Russian sage that decorate my yard
But unlike the buds I craft into antique jars
She is foreign
Unidentifiable except for the gap in her teeth

I thought once I could only be defined within this other person
But now I look in the mirror
And kiss my reflection
For my main ingredient is pure annie
With perhaps a dash of the impossibilities created by a lost friendship
under the sea
Crushed by the waves
There is my atlantis.

Tongyu

16

Town of Water

the wooden replica of the Golden Hind, dated 1576
did not travel around the world enough to find
the Atlantis beneath you, a small place with
pastel cottages and ivory roofs dangling daintily
between your fishing boats and my breeze:
a light air that sweeps up the sand, still
vainly glowing from the sun's
disloyal embrace.

a quiet backdrop where nothing ever occurs, but
it's strange how the seas never
look the same; who can really claim that
they have seen your countenance, slyly
concealed under the congregation
of human lethargy?
a smart maneuver indeed but upon
closer perusal, I discover you are just a shy one.

they say you have treasures buried deep but to me
you are but an old man with a child's heart, frightened
yet willing for those who listen closely
to unravel the layers of rust that constitute your melancholy.

come, the wind chimes are starting to cease their fickle
melodies, but I suppose you are a fickle
one as well; I will forgive you for they say
all that remains constant is a changing heart.

after I pass, the currents that
sweep up my remains will carry me far
from you, and you will have to wait once more
for all the time to revolve around the seasons and
to bring a droplet of water back to your oasis again.

Grace

16

Stitches

Pneumatic fire engine baseballs
Flying above my head like
Meteors
Crashing
Down to the plastic grass
Stitches in my chest, in my hands
On the surface of a white apple
That sinks, gracefully weighted,
Into the meat of my palms
It looks delicious
I take a bite.
Leather crust with a crunchy plaster filling
Swallow, pick the stitches from my gums,
Toss the crimson baseball
In the air
And catch it before it crumbles

Nathan

17

Fireflys and Stars
A sonnet

When fireflys emerge to light the dark,
and little twinkles shining to and fro,
They blink and light the grass within the park,
Their shining sheckles dancing high and low.
And many men have tried to match their song,
And many men have tried their daring dance,
But still the lights outshine them all along,
Though men still try without a shining chance.
So far away they fly above the sky,
Those shining sheckles dancing in the night,
The stars above until at last they die,
And dying doom the world of men to light.
But men have tried, and men have failed to fly,
Caught gazing up into the lighted sky.