Poems of My Life By Jenna Faulconer
Together We always swim together My friends and I Because we like the company “Friendly” competition building Between us Cold water Slick suits Wet hair raw toes Even in September We swim in the last warmth of summer Muscled arms Breaking the water Even when it rains (Without the lighting and thunder) We lurk in the shallows Watching the rain from above Bubbles of air Gradually escaping our noses Some people think We are a little crazy Staying under Longer than above But it doesn’t fell crazy to us It feels like we’ve escaped To a whole different world And It’s the main thing I love about summer That we all can just Swim Together
The Orange Otters Splash-splash, splash-splash Raw feet pushing off the concrete As I breathe, dive, swim Through the water, become one with the water Bubbles streaming from my nose Gliding through the water Hitting the turn Swish-swish, splash-splash 25-50 50-75 75-100 Racing through the water Splash-splash, swish-swish Knowing I could go go go But letting myself Swish-swish, swish-swish Smacking the walls With my raw hands
The Cat Before dinner My father disappeared Out to the car And drove away Oh Jenna! Mom squealed Oh Jenna! She’s being extra chatty And doing a bad job Of hiding her excitement What is it? I ask My mother grabbed my hand and calmed herself down a bit You will see… She answered I wasn’t quite sure What to think Of this So I let myself Be excited with her
An hour later We heard the cat door Slam And Dad’s voice Call for me Mom and I burst Through the door And we all stood there On the Patio Waiting for something To happen
Mom laughs while Dad tells us To keep our voices Down As he undoes The latch The door slowly creaks open And whiskers and nose Poke out Tentatively sniffing the air
Then like a rocket Mom closes all the gates He’s gone While Dad pulls a small Running about Cage from behind Terrified His back My heart sinks Soft mewing Comes from the cage Don’t worry Barley audible They say My eyes grow wide He will take some time It’s the cat, the cat! I picked out! I scream
Fast-Forward 1 week And he’s dubbed “Waffle” Looking back at Those days Is always a joy And even now My cat “Waffle” Is my Companion
Changes I never truly liked my little brother For the first few weeks when he came home He got Moms hugs He got the presents He got all my toys He was a pest in my eyes And I was upset Because I was sure Mom was gonna have puppies Like I had asked Instead of a twerp So I was stuck In a world That revolved around him But I dealt with it Year 1 Year 5 Year 10 Year 13 And it was all good Once he understood I was in charge
Talking to Pets I speak to my cats In whole sentences Without the high voice (most of the time) Hey Waffle, I’ll be in my room I often say If you need me I adopted Waffle when I was 3 Tabby get out of the chair You’ve been there all morning You’re gonna get fat Mr. Tabby We found Mr. Tabby on the streets He and Waffle are practically brothers Waffle don’t hit Mr. Tabby If you don’t want to be hit back Cats are weird My father looks worried My mother looks proud My brother couldn’t care less And myself? I smile
How come there aren’t Many people out there Who treat their pets Like family? Sometimes I rake my mind For a possibility But every time I come up Empty And I think of others I know Taylor-”Hey Tooty girl!” Alden-”Thtupid Thabean!” Claire-”Come here Ruby!” Caroline-”Bokshil! Give me the tennis ball!” Elanra-”You’re such a bad dog!” Conway-”Shut up Fat Boy!” Tammy-”Stop biting, Malcolm Potato!” Even Claudia talks to her deranged cat “Get out of my closet Or I’ll beat you with a Clothes hanger !” What can I say? We all have our ways To get through To our pets.
Soccer Twice a week at school I have soccer practice with Mrs. Nelson On a field under construction With CATS Mrs. Nelson asked us And dirt to quit complaining And holes And hay It was by far And tractors the most pain And Port-a-Johns I have experienced And people in orange vests In my life My hands Two days ago First red We had a game Then white Then purple It’s Freezing! We scream Do we really have to play? The blanket Our last hope My hands were read Of warmth With white patches Did nothing Before I even played To stop the wind In the game
Neither did the jackets Pants or gloves Nothing could stop Jack Frost’s brother, Wind Form eating our warmth And leaving nothing But upset Behind
Heartbeat My heart is pounding My head throbbing Underwater
Thump-Throb, ThumpThrob As another bubble Leaves me Hitting the corner I kick and pull Hitting the third corner Kick pull, kick pull, kick My lungs are screaming Starved of air Once more kick And I will Make it But I want to go Farther My lungs however Disagree I hit the last wall And break the surface Gasping
Dad claps Though I know He is not As impressed As I’d like Him to be So I practice And practice Holding my breath I know I am good I just want to be Better
Until finally The day comes Where I can do I whole lap And quarter
A Gift I bought a tablecloth For my Grandma “Nanny” It was made in a lace shop In Venice It had flowers along the edges And flowers in the middle When she saw it Her eyes lit up As she did a little hop And baby claps She hugged me And I hugged her As she said “Thank You” Repeatedly And now Every time I walk in The dinning room I see the tablecloth Under the glass to keep it clean And every time I tell her How good it looks And she Smiles
Ribs
Rollercoaster's Fast rollercoaster’s Fast spinning rollercoaster’s Bush Gardens The Lochness Monster Apollo’s Chariot Alpengiest Griffin Verboten Roman Rapids
Soft on the inside A swig of tea To wash it all down And I’m in heavan
I’ve ridden them all Favorite: Alpengiest Best for “No Hands”: Apollo’s Chariot Adrenaline Rusher: Verboten Wet: Roman Rapids Jerkiest: Lochness Monster Best with friends: Griffin
All this makes lunch Lunch
Claudia and Dad My rollercoaster buddies But on of the best parts of the day Is lunch The steak house The ribs The biscuit The fresh rolls
I get the ribs And that’s what I’ll write about The meat come off the bone With ease The fries: crispy on the outside
The Griffin roars past People screaming The squirrels come out Taking bits of bread
And it’s safe to say The ribs are Tasty Savory Good Appetizing Choice Well-seasoned Well-done Spicy Sweet Rich Delectable Exquisite Dainty Luscious Tempting Yummy Fit for a King
Isabella D’este By Jenna Faulconer, Skyler Guengerich, Alden Carter, & Taylor Coppa (Con also be sung to the tune of “Hey There, Delilah”)
Hey Isabella What’s it like in History You stood up for women’s rights And now the world’s a better place for you and me You would agree Oh how you loved the arts Oh Patron of the Arts Oh how you loved the arts Oh Patron of the Art Patron of the Arts 500 years seems pretty long But we’ve got pens And books And proof We read about you We have no other way So thank you from the boys and girls For bringing knowledge to the world The world will never ever Be the same And you’re to blame
Oh how you loved the arts Oh Patron of the Arts Oh how you loved the arts Oh Patron of the Arts Patron of the Arts
A Secret I often catch myself Feeling Overwhelmed By the world And what’s Going on inside it Not understanding The materials in class Or ripping a favorite shirt So on So forth And what have you And I cope With the help Of a nice Hot Shower And I scream And wail like a banshee Or sometimes I just sit And cry
But I talk to myself too Tell myself I will be okay And I will live through it I make a plan For the evening And I do it I find my Peace of mind And look forward To things in the future Sometimes I meditate And sometime I read I live through the dark And into the light Of my life Like an endless rollercoaster But I do make it Past the greedy trolls I do skip over the rainbows And I will find my pot of gold But that won’t be For quite A few years To come