Photo Credit: Preston Guinto

Just a word of advice
Go and clean out your mind
Unsure of what exactly
What it is you find will find
Rediscover a relic
Of a long forgotten time
And realize that tendencies
Often repeat as a rhyme

Photo Credit: Alexander Varela

We're all bound to fall.
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
Eight more than last time.

Here’s the problem with life
It’s not exactly fair
A complicated game
That can drag you by the hair

The unfairness you see every day
It almost makes you sick
And always it feels like you’re the one
With the short end of the stick

So what’s the point? You may ask
As I’m sure you’ve asked before
Well, maybe that point’s waiting for you
Through the final door

And as you open, you will see
Your house, your comfort, your home
And here’s your family who loves you so
No matter where you roam

For their love is present
Throughout your entire life
And losing that which holds you tight
Would only end in strife

I don’t have much more to say
So let me end with this:
A life without love
Is a life without bliss

Laughing faces, smiles
That hide hidden tears and fears
I watch hopelessly

Hoping for a glance
Will they notice me, or not?
Important to none

Third on the list
For all, just a passing thought
Faint and elusive

Intrusive, I fall
From one shadow to the next
Down, down, and unseen

The doubt of voices
Filled with mirth yet saying not
A word to the earth

Why listen at all?
If all they speak is of words
Like birds that don’t land

And if they asked me
How it feels to be a dream
Like they ever would

What could I then say?
A shadow in the fray
I'm fine I'm ok

While I looked outside, it was raining.
On the asphalt on the sidewalk,
On the windshield of my car.
I looked on and saw
That I was like the rain.
The harder I fall to the ground,
I keep rising again,
Hopeful for another rainbow
To look forward to.

Photo Credit: Danial Jamshidi

When the sunshine beats across your skin,
Do you blink or let the sense spin?
Are you weary of the attitudes of the day?
Or do you let them sway away: a ballet.

The unknown is when we refuse;
Granting our power to misuse.
Only when we are awake our minds are present.
Only in the grand illusion are we transparent.

When the door is open, all is fair.
Unlike the bricks we stare, nothing is bare,
When spared of everyday’s burdening despair,
I can finally sit down and play solitaire…

Only when conscious of where you are,
Does the past, present, and future seem nowhere afar.

In solitude she wanders on her own,
With a heavy heart, she walks alone,
Her footsteps echo in the empty streets,
As she longs for company, her heart beats.

She looks up at the starry sky above,
And wonders why she's not embraced by love, Her heart is filled with sadness and pain,
As she walks in the cold and pouring rain.

The world around her seems so bright,
But to her, it's all just shades of night,
For she's lost in her own lonely plight, And nothing seems to make it right.

She dreams of someone to hold her tight,
To take away the darkness and bring in light,
But for now, she'll just keep wandering on, Until the day she finds where she belongs.

Until then, she'll walk the lonely path,
With nothing but her thoughts to make her laugh, She'll find solace in the beauty of the night,
And hope that someday, things will be alright.

Comets burn brighter
Asteroids fly much higher
We can’t all be stars

Gallop, hop, skip, and peak,
Remembering moments past,
Over, under, hide and seek,
Wondering how the time went to fast,
I was five, then ten,
Now I'm sixteen,
Great days ahead, better than I've already seen.

Understanding wisdom and compassion,
Placing my faith in God as I pursue my passion.

With words like venom on her tongue,
She lashes out at her own young,
Her child, who trembles in fear,
Dreading the words he longs to hear.

With each harsh word, her heart does break,
As his mother's cruelty takes,
The love that she once freely gave,
And turns it into bitter hate.

The wounds she inflicts run deep,
And her child's spirit starts to weep,
As the pain consumes her soul,
And the hurt takes its toll.

She tries to hide the scars,
But they follow her like prison bars,
Her mother's words a constant chain,
That leave her trapped in endless pain.

And though she longs to break free,
She fears the price that it may be,
For the love that she craves so much,
Is in the hands of the mother's touch.

So she endures the endless strife,
And the constant emotional knife,
Hoping one day she'll be strong,
And escape her mother's cruel song.

For a child abused by a mother's hand,
The journey is long and hard to stand,
But know that you are strong and brave,
And one day, you'll find the love you crave.

Photo Credit: Brennan Lee

We start off as mere babes, innocent and small,
With little understanding of the world at all.
We learn to crawl, then walk, then run,
Discovering the world, exploring each one.

As we grow, we start to see,
The differences between you and me.
We learn to think, to reason, to decide,
To see the world with eyes open wide.

We build our lives, we find our way,
Discovering what we want each day.
We learn to be unique, to stand apart,
To find our voice, to speak from the heart.

It's not always easy, this path we tread,
We face challenges, both heart, and head.
But through it all, we learn and grow,
Becoming who we are, don't you know.

So let us strive, let us aim,
To be ourselves, to stake our claim.
To grow and flourish, to reach our goal,
To become whole, a unique soul.

Whose shoes are those? I think I know.
Their owner is quite sad though.
It is a tale of woe,
I watch him frown. I say hello.

He gives his shoes a shake.
And sobs until the tears make.
The only other sound’s the break,
Of the distant waves and birds that are awake.

The shoes are not flashy
They are dark and deep,
But he has a promise to keep,
And he will not sleep.
He lies in his bed with tear ducts that weep.

He rises from his bitter bed.
With the lingering sadness still in his head.
Sometimes he idolizes being dead.
Facing the day with never ending dread.

Amidst the busy bustle of our modern life,
We often forget to pause and take a breath,
To stop and ponder on our fleeting strife,
And cherish moments that we have left.

In a world that's filled with noise and haste,
We need to learn to find a moment's peace,
To seek the beauty in each passing taste,
And let our worries and our fears release.

For in the quiet stillness of our soul,
We find the strength to face the trials ahead,
To set our sights upon a greater goal,
And strive to reach the heights we've always said.

So let us take a moment to reflect,
On all the blessings that we have been given,
And cherish every memory and prospect,
As we journey through this life we're living.

For though our time on earth may be but brief,
We have the power to make our days sublime,
To find the beauty in the smallest leaf,
And leave behind a legacy that's truly divine.

In class, this poem,

Me, fifteen, on the football and lacrosse teams.

I want to be better than you, even me,

I guess that is my life’s major theme.

My dad, seeing me, varsity, makes him beam,

Who he, for years, used to coach me.


My parents, when I was three,

Divorced.

But, they still make me happy,

Of course.

My genes, means, themes, dreams, all come from,

My source.

Parents, so good, you could call them Gods,

Norse.

I guess there’s something that bonds us close, love,

A force.

Brains alike, linked together, a code,

Morse.

Scale 1-10, my love for them, numerical pound, more than

A horse.

I want to be better than you, even me,

Not worse.