by JOSEPH

As I dash down these rigid steps,
lunging from one side to another, that this is not safe.
Midway through my thoughts I catch flight.
Well that’s what I’m meant to believe,
before I come crashing down practically
rolling out onto the platform.
I’ve relived this nightmare for four years now.
When will I realize that when I fall, I have to get back up.
When will I realize that life is like this.
We fall and get back up.
When will I realize that the dim lights fading down the platform will go out.
When will I realize that the fading lights will go out.
We live, we die, life goes on.

by VICTORIA

At 6:50 A.M. I arrive at an old building that smells like two weeks worth of garbage. The walls remind me of prison walls, the co-workers are like under-paid and possessed demons that also make messes I have to clean up. Oh, and also there are these little ill-mannered, rude, and disrespectful children, walking like disasters. Unorganized lockers, gym bags that are never washed, walking chat rooms. That I also have to clean after. I walk into bathrooms that have liquid covered floors, paper covered floors, walls that need to be painted. Toilets clogged with brown, odor-drenched monsters that’ll make you want to vomit but you can’t because than you’ll have more mess to clean. Stalls that are covered in secrets. After I clean the bathroom I move on to the scattered, noisy, big corridors of drama, the HALLWAY…I walk by some rude teenage girls. Loud and dramatic they gossip about boys. Teenage boys that are blind minded, egos bigger than Mount Everest, inappropriate and only ever worried about sports. Can you imagine cleaning stinking bathrooms and lockers? Picking up trash that has been stepped on? Waking up early just to leave late? I bet you can’t.

by TYRE

This is the city of dreams
Here there is no need for cars
There is no rush, no hurry
Nothing but clean, blue skies
Painted with cotton candy-like clouds
There is no cold or hot
Everyone is comfortable
Don’t worry about money
Your life is priceless, enjoy it
No one cares how you look
No one cares what you wear
Everyone just wants to relax
Be at peace
So grab a spot by a tree
Take a load off
Pet a puppy
Enjoy life the way it was meant to be
Completely care free

by JOSEPH

A subway station in Toronto
Dim lights fading
Slim platform to stand on

by VICTORIA

The winding walkway leading to me is success. There is a strange door and the first thing to see is my living room where I share through communication. If you go farther back you’ll see my kitchen that’s cold like ice cream and red like hot sauce. Upstairs to the right is my room where on the walls are revealed my secrets and my imagination. To the left is my bathroom where my most precarious items are. And if you go on top of the house you’ll see my dreams but you have to stand on top of the house to see my limit.

by MAE

Welcome to my body, my home composed of windows and wind-chimes, glass angels and aspirations. Be careful not to break anything, I’m sure it’s easy to do. My heart is a bedroom, tender and made of stagnant flesh. Despite its complications, I swear it’s a safe place to sleep. My stairs don’t creak, they twist in spiral steps around my ribs leading to a skylight. Beneath it are vines and flowers curling themselves around my mind reaching for the scattered stars. This is my favorite place. Despite my splintered stairwell and peeling paint walls, I’m built with brick bones and concrete. I’m stronger than I think.

by BRION

An Abecedarian Poem

Buying time to cry alone
consumed by my lack of confidence.
Denying that I could ever be wrong.
Everyday running closer than farther to my resolve.
Forgetting the hope I once had.
God, why have I forgotten my name.
Hallelujah, I’m pressure to shock through my obstacles.
Isolated from the world around me.
Jokingly you make me feel so weak.
Killing me slowly like poison.
Living up to your expectations must be something I can’t do.
My forgiving mother, my unaccepting father
never took it into account that I was trying,
openly humiliating me, cursing my name and the like.
Personally picking on my non-particular possessions
quite like the many posters I hang in my room:
Red, Blue, Pink, Yellow, all symbolizing emotion.
Still I fight as much as I can
to persuade you I’m still someone worth your favor.
Unlike other people, I’ve gotten stronger for you and you alone.
Victory will be bestowed upon those with my determination.
Wonder how I will win?
Xavier can tell you himself.
You just need to stay awake and not turn into a
zombie.

by STERLING

• 1 Goddess
• Infinite talent
• 0 flaws/blemishes
• 10 million haters/conspiracy theorists

by VERMEESHA

I pulled up to the Mcdonald’s drive-thru waiting on my Chicken Nuggets. Here’s your uh…60 chicken nuggets with a large iced tea.” I could hear the judgement in her voice as I snatched the bag from her. “Yeah, have a nice day man,” she replied.” I was hungry, what does she expect from me? I don’t know why she’s being so judgmental, she’s the one working at McDonald’s. And  I’m the one working with these musty little kids eating green paint and touching me all day.

When I got home, I sat down in my big comfy chair waiting for the Wheel of Fortune to come on. I picked up a chicken nugget, and then Wilmer ( a contestant on the show) couldn’t figure out the easiest word puzzle in history. I jumped up and yelled the answer out at Wilmer, and then I yelled out in pain. I looked down and a huge chunk of my finger was gone! And all the nuggets were running as fast as they could into my bedroom chanting, “Hu-man. Hu-man. Hu-man.” They carried me to a huge fire, and roasted me like a pig. Then they pecked off little pieces of me, like birds.

by BRION

Public service announcement from a Turkey on Thanksgiving

Dear fellow consumers, I would like to talk to you about something serious. Don’t eat me for Thanksgiving. For one, I’m filled with cancer giving hormones. Also, I’m really small and wouldn’t fill you up, but above all, Trump loves turkeys, so if you eat turkeys, you love him. You don’t love him, right? Okay.