National Poetry Month Community Project Posts

by Sarah Mlyn, 2022

A small lapse in our dark void of stillness

Was all I needed to ease the heartache.

Or should I be asking for forgiveness?

Was I blind to our own little earthquake?

Too many questions within our blank miles

That only contain our missing pieces.

Black and white covering our fading smiles,

As the bare distance only increases.

We are nothing but an echo of love,

Which I so selfishly thought to be real.

With our lies, I thought we could rise above.

But we crumbled, and I made a big deal.

Why did we crumble, lifeless to the ground

When I didn’t make a single small sound?

by Julia Feit, 2022

The Earth forever rotates

creating golden mornings

and shimmering nights

It never gets a break

spinning, spinning, spinning

day after day

night after night

creating beautiful phenomes

Yet she feels so motionless

by Michella Paggy, 2022

Where bees buzz and rivers row

Where frogs leap and sheep roam

Where the breeze is like coming up for air, and the smell of flowers is ripe

Where the goats gloat and fireflies fly

Where stars shine and the moon moves

Where rabbits hop and horses run

Where your alarm beeps and disturbs your sleep

Where you groan and moan

Where you get ready for school

Where you hope you’ll have the same dream tonight.

by Julianna Lanze, 2022

Sometimes I remember, waking up in a chilly, air-conditioned room,

Rushing to get my stuff in my backpack for the day ahead,

Driving 20 minutes to the parks

My escape from the mean people at school.

Screaming my little heart out on all the rollercoasters, no cares in the world

My best and only friend surprising me while looking out at the lake of Universal

Dancing around with her until my feet hurt.

“I wish there was a way to know you are in the good ole days before you leave them”

Often I think back on getting ready for a long day at school,

Drained as I finish up the school day happy to be out on a Thursday afternoon

Doing my homework when my mom walks through the door,

She seems different

I go to hug her, but I can tell she’s forcing a smile

She sits me and my little brother on the couch, I knew something was wrong

She tells me my aunt passed away, I get mad at her for lying about something like that

Why is she crying?

Oh.

“I wish there was a way to know you are in the good ole days before you leave them”

Two more years of highschool,

I’m starting to finally realize that nothing lasts forever

I’m getting older and there is no stopping it.

I’m scared, what do I do with my life?

Shouldn’t I be happy?

I don’t want to lose sight of who made me who I am today… my family

I could move away and live a separate life, and forget about the pain in the past

But, I don’t want to lose my best friends.

Choices are hard, LIFE is hard,

I’m not a kid anymore, I have to live up to expectations and provide for my family.

“I wish there was a way to know you are in the good ole days before you leave them”

by Evelyn Miller, 2022

Are they pulled out

Like a tooth at the dentist?

Could they be torn off

Like a Band-Aid, pulling every hair with it?

Maybe they are eagerly ripped apart,

Like a present on Christmas morning?

Or maybe they just disappear,

Like the leaves on a tree in Autumn,

Not realizing they’re leaving until they all are gone.