by NIAYA

My Pops is the most well-rounded, amazingly understanding, best dancer Kenosha, Wisconsin has ever witnessed. No, he is not always the kindest. He is a parent and 100% will and always will be. Very strict. Very well put-together, with his beautiful wife right by his side. Even when he seems grumpy and edgy, Pops is always there for his children and grandchildren regardless of what they have said and what they have done to each other.

The most keen and heartfelt moment I can remember: I was about to enter my first year of high school. “14 year old Niaya, growing up so fast. You know it don’t mean s**t, right? Friends, I mean. One thing you’ve got to remember, people come and go. People will slap you around, people will hurt you, people will support you; the people you call friends. I guarantee you the people who you think are your friends right at this moment, you won’t think about when you have that cap and gown. Thing only thing you need to remember is Focus on achieving as much as you can, these high schoolers will just distract you. Friends come and go, Niaya. Do Not be surprised and do not cry, if they, some day, are gone. Don’t be foolin’ around, Niaya. Enjoy high school, but don’t forget what I told you.”

Those wise words have stuck with me all the way up until now, my third year in high school. And he was right.

by MIKE

It stings. Pain erupting through my skull. The bleach leaving my short brown hair stark white. I arrive at school with a smile as confident as my walk.

Stares and looks of surprise. A teacher, “whoa there, Q-tip.” Smile wavering only bit. I move on.

A friend laughing, “what the hell? Damn, you’re a bleachy! Smile small now, I continue.

Gym. “Pay attention, bleachy! You’re making us lose! Smile gone now, I hang my head low.

Friend: “Bleachy.”

Teacher: “Bleachy.”

I look in the mirror and say, “Bleachy.”

At the end of the day my head still stings.

by KENY

Drunk days, alcohol flowing in my veins.
He said, “This life don’t suit you.”

Smoking vibes — blunts filled with green herb.
She said, “You have to be good, this life don’t suit you.”

Tardy to most places, so many problems.
They claimed, “Last time! This life don’t suit you.”

That’s not productive! “This life don’t suit you.”
You can’t do anything.

Heaven will one day throw you out, foreigner.
“Stay focused,” he said, “this life don’t suit you”

I live by my own rules!
Even as the world says, “You’re going to hell, this life don’t suit you.”

by MAEVE

When my birthday came I cut off the bow
Then the sides
My brother yelled, said he just wanted to see inside
I don’t remember why or if I’d asked, but my sister put on a play of every time I’d run with scissors around the house

Show and tell at school made my mom unsure because the kids at school had better scissors than I did
She had obsessions too and she didn’t want to ruin mine
Dad would keep me home those days
And I would make snowflakes out of folded up pieces of paper
Just until show and tell was over
But I doubt they went to school the same way I did
Because kids carried their scissors around all day
They put them in my face!

And my mom was right
It broke my 5 year old heart

I think anger came next

Yeah, I would organize.
Blue can belong to you
Give me orange (THAT’S MINE, IT’S JUST MINE)
My mom can have green so she can cut the grass

By the time I was six, mary jane had ruined scissors for me I had ruined her hair
That’s when my mom saw that scissors were not good for me

I told her my room still looks like a snowglobe / She said I was wrong and that she was afraid of an earthquake / it would shake up our whole house and we wouldn’t be able to see for dayz / and once the snow would fall we’d have nowhere to walk.

Give me your pair!

I must’ve lost mine [I didn’t, mine are right here]

by MAEVE

Reputation

U have had my heart,
But no one can know, for this
Secret will ruin me.

Thanks Tim!

I was told advice:
Make it work! I have never ever
Forgotten to work.

by OWEN

ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!
ZIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!!
West to East North to South
Large rods of explosives
Creating a wasteland
VROOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!
WHIIIISSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
NYYYYYEEEEEEAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!
Whistling through the sky
Heading towards a target
Seeing it in through the sky
Flying through the atmosphere
PPPSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
WOOOOOOOMMMMMPHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
VVVVSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Zooming through a cloud
Breaking the sound barrier
Closing in on the town
Ready to decimate the population below
FFFFFFFFFFSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!
NNNNEEEEEEAAAAAWWWWWW!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Missile only feet away
The humans screeching in fear
The missile looking at the people like ants
And the people staring at the missile as death
POOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

…

America and Japan
America and Russia
America and Cuba
America and North Korea
When will it end?
When will they learn?
That rods of explosives
Only end in calamity

by MAEVE

On my walks home,
The flowers like to scream at me.
They would tell me things like, “This will end, count the cracks!”

So I cut them and put them in a vase and sat them on my kitchen island.
Just as a reminder that this will end.
I will end. Us will end.

So I went and walked away from my home
Because I wanted to stay forever
Forever in your arms — whatever that meant.

But in your kitchen- I found the same flowers.
I think you had them there because you think they’re pretty.
And they are, until they remind you that this will end.

When I asked you why you put pretty flowers in a pretty vase/ you asked what I meant/ you told me that there was no vase no flowers, no end.

SO GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

On my walk home I made up hallucinations to make myself seem crazy.
My head felt on fire, and time wasn’t a concept worth exploring.
Flowers grew and died, and I had outlasted them.
I keep outlasting my flowers,
And I keep replacing them
So I can pick them
And place them in a vase
At home.

At home
On my kitchen table / my vase was cracked (10) / water on the floor / flowers losing their shape.
I laughed and went to replace the vase.
I poured more water and gave the flowers a new arrangement.

The flowers forgot to scream at me this time.
They didn’t tell me this was the end.
But the noise of my computer finding out the news that this was the end
Sounded like another pretty vase breaking.

by MAEVE

My parent’s friends are welcomed into my house.
When I didn’t say hi, my dad said, “Sorry, she’s a very shy girl.”

I played the role and hid behind his legs
Later, I learned that no one wants to meet a shy girl.

Once, I didn’t raise my hand in class.
My teacher asked, “why don’t you have anything to say, shy girl?”

I had something to say. It was the answer I had rehearsed in my head.
After school, I sobbed at home. I knew this is why no one likes a shy girl.

My boyfriend always tells me he wants to know what I have to say.
Is he pretending not to mind? I hate being a burden. Hate being a shy girl.

Mom told me to break out of my shell even though she knew she was the same.
I’ve wanted to pretend to not be myself. But even today, I’m still a shy girl.

by MAEVE

My mom didn’t keep secrets, I knew everything.
She doesn’t know how to spell,
Always been bad at math. Just
Medium. I thought I would inherit that.

My mom kept secrets, she didn’t share.
I found out from yearbooks from the past
About who she used to be. I didn’t know I had
Inherited that.

by VIOLET

Too many already, but don’t worry, it’s fine.
Florida’s next in the game of guns, it’s fine.

Running out of schools to target, when’s the end.
It doesn’t matter, maybe next time, it’s fine.

Mental illnesses, no one tells.
Government fights, nothing gets done, it’s fine.

Authorities blaming each other instead of guns.
People are mad, parents are sad, it’s fine.

How many times should it happen
Before they take action, it’s fine.

We wonder who’s to come — no help coming soon.
But don’t worry, it’s fine.