by BRION

From the first day I came
And laid eyes to your face,
Only your mom was to blame
For such outstanding grace.

We didn’t talk much,
Although I wish we had.
I was always out of luck,
Which made me kinda mad.

You had your friends,
And I had mine.
I’d always pretend
To be in a bind.

Always afraid to approach you,
I sit back and watch.
For some reason I knew,
I’d have to turn it up a notch.

Then I got news that made me melt.
I should have known there was someone else.

by TYRE

Ugh your brown hair
I don’t really get it
It looks as if a bear
Has been dropped in a mud pit
And don’t get me started on your smile
With that horrid bad breath
A gap that stretches a mile
It scares everyone to death
You can’t really walk straight
Got two left feet
People stared on our date
When you pushed me in the street
But there’s nowhere I’d rather be
Than when you next to me

by TYLYN

Imagine the ivory in the painting cry its soul out
So blank
Fighting the rust and the silver, piercing
The sea isolating it from the mainland
A figure of rust comes to mind
A song that’s yet to be sung,
And the texture in the dying silver paints a town
Left all my tears unshed,
But no river came for me
“So there ain’t no Jordan for ye”
A flag is rightly by thee, torn and defaced
Ohoooh the sea’s blood tainted white,
And the cold blade sliced away…
At the scarlet us go!
Light tastes of a bitter air, so soft.
The pennant’s stripes are dead in the wind,
The colors coming together seamlessly,
Kinda like Heaven—and a Hell…
A purgatory in-between…
I’m broken. Unbalanced. Unstable—Hey!
So grayscale…
Where hath our time together gone?
And what have I… I wrought?

by ALTON

Welcome to America, Home of the free.
Better develop quick so you live and see
The wonders of the world, like dependents of trees
But don’t worry about people screaming they aren’t free.

You knew the truth, flag painted with racism.
Chains and shackles restraining, that’s the system,
Standing blankly, powerful so they get him.

by JOSEPH

They were sweeter than candy
Sweet lines and views
But the horizon is changed now

It’s reversed
Separate from the group and call yourself the truth
Bobby

Brown and proud
Apparently some people got the keys
Three vibes down the line and the middle keeps the peace

Why do fools judge what they can’t see?
Chains & shackles
Keep you strapped in

And enjoy the ride

by VERMEESHA

I don’t have much.
I don’t have a very well thought out life plan.
I don’t have very many friends.
I don’t have very good reason.
I don’t have very much money.
I don’t have very good logic.
I don’t have a nice personality.
I don’t have long hair or nice skin or bright beautiful blue eyes.
But I have beautiful curly hair and insightful brown eyes.
I have compassion.
I have understanding.
I have love.
I have a conscience.
I have once-in-a-lifetime friends
I have goals.
I have you.

by CHRISTIAN

Out of a building
I pulled out fire
Out of fire I pulled out
The Secret of Life
from The Secret of Life
I pulled out an owl
The owl told me ow ow okay damn
apparently I’m not supposed
to tell anyone
I guess it’s for the
best
It’s probably safer if held
closer the chest
but it’s almost too much
for me to hold
and as far as stories
are told
this one is too deep to be left
in the cold
I can feel it compressing
my chest
It starts to bleed through
my vest
This is one secret to confess.

by CHRISTIAN

What does paper say?
Well I don’t know
about any other paper
but this paper wants
to borrow my voice
so that it may voice
its own opinion.
This paper wants to know
why people take paper
like this one for granted.
This paper wants to know
why it has been cut
from the roots of his home.
This paper wants to know
where his family has gone.
This paper wants me to
cry and shout for him,
wants me to curse the heavens
for denying him his freedom.
This single piece of paper
wants all of mankind
to know how he feels.
This paper wants
to live through me.
This paper has accepted his fate.
This paper wants purpose
so he is using me to let
his feelings surface.

by JAYELYNN

I am a poem.
No like or as
Needed to explain it.

I​ am a poem.
With hidden meanings
And secrets.

I​ am a poem.
You have to be open‐minded
To understand me.

I​ am a poem.
My stanzas separate
Me from my past.

I​ am a poem.
With romanticized sadness
And love, and trust.

I​ am a poem.
I lean you one way,
And I lean you back the other.

I​ am a poem.
You will never
Forget about me.

I​ am a poem.
I am forever.

by TYLYN

Isolated raindrops throw themselves down, bitter
Through mist that mingles after millennia of loneliness
This motionless space saw shadows scatter throughout…
A hushed spirit walks,
Summoned by a witch that no longer cackles,
Encased in a deep, soothing slumber.
The clock strikes midnight,
And the moon turned dim to clean,
Clean to dim
Perhaps as things should be…