Littering


                            Waves crash and roll  reaching for dry land
my heart pounding to the rhythm
of feet hitting the sand. My face stands
out in the crowd of smiles as sadness roams the luminous ocean
trying to hide beneath screams of joy.
Hundreds of seagulls rip up the beach, their

ravenous minds searching for food.

Kids bury their used wrappers and cans

in the beautiful sand in which provides

for animals as their parents watch

carelessly because they too throw trash

to the ground like earth is their garbage

can. Suddenly the ocean turns into

a place of regret, animals still holding onto

the hope that someday their

home that was once beautiful and strong becomes

more beautiful and stronger than ever

Somehow I know that we won’t change no

matter how big the consequences are,

so I sit and watch hundreds of people

from miles away knowing that

change is thousands of miles away too.

-Malana Linendoll

In a Split Second

Warm ruby blood

Trickled down my face

My body lay numb

My heart stayed pounding

Tire marks streaked the road

Glass covered the ground

She lay feet away from me

Like a

Stone

Cold

Lifeless

Statue

We didn’t know what was coming

Partying with no end

Music blaring

Like a siren

But now here we were

Two young best friends

Two young roommates

Two young sisters

The car swerved

Then all was black

Like a fragile piece of glass

Our lives shattered

In a moment

In a heartbeat

In a split second

-Hannah Kovelman

Fire

It’s mesmerizing, isn't it

Dancing in the wind

Just by looking at its flame

All forget of its pain

It consumes,

Never ceasing,

Eating away at all it touches

With its talons opened wide,

With the faintest of sounds,

Engulfs the world in a pillar of fire

Never slowing  to realize what it has done

Its lust for consumption never sways

As its towering flames brush against the sky

And after it consumes it all

The city of fire will crumble

Until a singular flame is left

Standing in the ashes

As it flickers out in the wind

It leaves behind nothing but scorched land

Which will only ever serve as one large brand

-Evan Cresanti

Do you hear it?

boom, crack, rata-ta-ta

Far from us, but still looming,

boom, crack, rata-ta-ta,

The sound of Death’s instruments echoing across the fields of red,

the forests of ash,

the hills of mud,

and into the trenches,

boom, crack, rata-ta-ta,

Nowhere to run, no hope in sight,

boom, crack, rata-ta-ta,

Like flowers sitting in a storm,

boom, crack, rata-ta-ta,

No sun, covered in mud and rain, waiting for lightning to strike,

boom, crack, rata-ta-ta,

But we’re not flowers,

We are soldiers,

boom, crack, rata-ta-ta,

We will charge through,

Past the bodies, past their guns

Past the mud, and through the walls,  

boom, crack, rata-ta-ta,

Because past all the mud,

All the guns,

All the blood,

All the death,

All we’ve lost,

boom, crack, rata-ta-ta,

The sun is hidden away,

Just waiting to be found.

-Aiden  Clark

Echoing laughter

Rings in my head

The loud guffaws

Muffled

Pitifully petty problems

Plague my peers

And my ears

The sound

Is a shadow

Always there

In the background

My soul is numb

To this world

And its issues

However grievous they may be

My heart aches

With the affliction

Of the thoughts

That remind me

This moment

This month

This year

This future of mine

Are meaningless.

A century from now

The present

Is the past

And this culture

Is history

Forgotten.

We keep

Moving forward

Failing to remember

The mundane of the past

The people who simply were

Like you,

And me.

The people who never lived extraordinary lives

Of fame and accomplishment

But lived to the full

And enjoyed it

Their names

Have long been swept away

Lost

In the shifting sands

Of time.

It would be foolish

To expect a different fate

For ourselves

It is inevitable

That even our wisps of memories

Will be gone

From this mortal place

-Joanna Chen

Pompeii

The silence was like glass; it shattered as the earth roared.

Gray smoke stained the sunrise; dark ash like raindrops poured.

The mountain shook and groaned, releasing bursts of heat.

Buildings quaked and shattered; walls fell in defeat.

Screams pierced the silence, spreading through the air.

The mountain spat out rocks; they hurtled everywhere.

Flames devoured the streets, spitting sparks into the sky.

The city was a prison of flames, trapping many inside to die.

Nature wasn’t to blame; our ignorance was our murderer.

If only we’d glimpsed the sand in Nature’s hourglass, dripping further.

Past eruptions cried their warning, a plea we chose to ignore.

We chose our city over safety, a careless decision that we’d pay for.

We ignored an earthquake, with its fervent rumbling,

though it tried to signal that something worse was coming.

Destruction was at our doorstep; our demise crept from behind.

Death was a shadow at our heels, but it never crossed our minds.

Our legacies go up in smoke, as does the city of our pride.

Both hopes and dreams are burned to ash as we who are left die.

Now we lie forgotten, our futures and buildings crushed.

Now we burn with the city, becoming ash among the dust.

-Joanna Andrews

Time ticks by

Plates polished like illuminated moons

Silverware shined till they sparkle

The table is set for dinner

China lined up in a row

The spoons set on the left

And forks resting on the right

Sparkling like the morning dew

Then all at once

Suppose the ground beneath you drops away

Boom

Everything falls and flails and flies

Spiraling down

wherever gravity leads

The sugar soars through the air

The spoon slipping through the clouds

The tea is pouring in a bowl

And the fork falls on the right

Crash

Finally the table lands

It touches the ground with a jolt

A few things crash and break

But some stay aloft

Clink

There's some sugar in the salt

Tea soaking on my toast

Butter in the syrup

And a knife in the pudding

I could cry and wail and stomp my feet

Mourning in my misfortune

Carefully set it up all again

Counting every second

But it seems the more careful I am

Measuring every inch

The table seems to laugh at me

And fall harder every time.  

-Jessica Andrews