Infected
Janelle Carr
As a country we may be developed,
But as a society we are still developing.
Bigotry and hate spread through this world like a disease.
“Ugly.” Two people infected.
“Fat.” Four people infected.
“Stupid.” Eight people infected.
Begging,
Pleading,
And crying for it to stop.
“Worthless.” Sixteen people infected.
“Useless.” Thirty-two people infected.
The number continues to rise as the hate continues to happen.
Eagle
Chase Arthur
You are like an eagle, soaring above noble and strong,
A beauty admired by all, but known by few—
Flying above the world, a free spirit,
A loving soul.
I lie below you a humble man, a simple man,
I know not the freedoms of the skies above,
I know not but what I am,
I watch from afar, your beauty soaring.
As a war rages, my heart reaches and my mind pulls away—
Fear consumes as the war batters on,
But yet I still watch, from afar my war unseen,
I speak, yet I do not say, I do not know how to say—
I must not say, I cannot say,
My lips held by the war, a captive—
The heart losing the battle,
The mind winning the war.
Yet I still manage to say the words, the words of love.
The Permanence of Words
Meagan Webb
When people speak a word aloud,
They think it just dissipates into the crowd—
but it doesn’t.
Every word ever said,
Is as permanent as a word read,
As words written with pencil on paper.
A soft greeting, a hello,
Is written softly, easily it can go—
Away. In can be erased completely.
But a word spoken that is harsh and mean,
Written hard and easily seen-
It never truly goes away.
Sure, it can still be erased,
Written over and replaced—
But it still remains.
It leaves a scar on paper white,
Ugly gray where once was light.
Faded and broken, it still remains.
Kind words are used to hide the mistake,
Erasers toil to try to make—
It go away. But it won’t.
An ugly scar still remains,
Along with the eraser stains,
And the paper can never be pure again.
Significance
Allyson Dayton
Have you ever felt
Small?
So irrelevant,
So trivial?
Knowing you are just a simple fraction
Of your neighborhood,
The community population
Knowing you’re an even smaller fraction
In your state population.
And that feeling,
Of insignificance,
Only grows larger
When you see from the perspective
Of the whole world.
As the ideas and concepts
Get bigger,
You feel
Smaller.
But why?
Why is that?
Shouldn’t you feel better?
Shouldn’t you feel
Worth it?
That in the full community,
In the whole state,
In the entire world,
You are still different.
Still have a different opinion.
Still have an identity.
No matter how many people
Are in your neighborhood
In your state
In the world,
There is only
One
You.
You are not worthless.
You are not disposable.
You are no replica.
You are no measurement.
You are no jersey number.
or bra size.
You are no IQ level
Or GPA.
You are not defined by the size of your waist,
Or the number of pull ups you can do.
You are not the number of goals or points
Made in a game.
You are not a mile time.
You are not seen
For only the color of your skin,
Or the culture of your family.
You are not your mistakes.
You are not a mistake.
You are not your parents’ mistakes.
You are not a bad grade.
You are not the number of followers
On social media,
Or the number of likes on a picture—
That’s not even really you.
You are no filter.
You are not the number of times you go to church,
Or don’t go to church.
You are not your parents,
Or grandparents
Or aunts
Uncles
Or siblings,
Or friends.
You are you,
Nobody else
You have feelings,
Thoughts,
Ideas,
Imagination.
You are a combination of things
Greater than just a number.
You are your integrity.
You are your kindness and compassion
Toward other people.
You are not the problems you have in life,
But instead the will that got you through them.
You are not the physical strength it takes to pick up a weight,
But instead the heart and power it takes to throw it.
You are no body shape or size,
But instead the confidence you show for it.
You are unique.
You are different.
You are a mix of colors,
All shades and tints
That make a beautiful
Masterpiece.
You are worth the time,
The struggle,
The tears,
The pain,
The suffering,
The madness,
The unjustness,
And the anger.
Do not become the things
That put you in difficult situations.
Become the thing that changes it.
Become better.
Make changes.
Take control.
And perfect your life.
So when you start to think
About how small you feel,
Remember—
In that neighborhood,
That’s in that community,
That falls in that state,
That lives in that country,
That is planted in that world;
Remember—
There you are
And without you,
There is no world,
No country,
No state,
No community,
That will ever be the same.
The Andes
Mrs. B Martin
Christy Baldwin
A Holy Beginning
Allyson Dayton
The Red Building
Phillip Hedrick
Yellow Leaves of Fall
Danielle Haldran
Back in Black
Emily Hash