Wordplay 2018

WORDPLAY

Writing f Student o y g lo o th l An lo’s Annua Just Buffa

2018

WORDPLAY

2018

Editors NOAH FALCK ROBIN JORDAN Book Design & Cover JOEL BRENDEN

Just Buffalo Administration Executive Director LAURIE DEAN TORRELL Artistic Director BARBARA COLE Education Director NOAH FALCK Writing Center Coordinator ROBIN JORDAN Executive Assistant LYNDA KASZUBSKI Communications Coordinator KEVIN THURSTON Grantwriter KATHLEEN KEARNAN Accountant LINDA FISCHER Wordplay, Vol. XIX 2018 Just Buffalo Literary Center 468 Washington Street • 2nd Floor Buffalo NY 14203

Just Buffalo Literary Leadership Circle Children’s Foundation of Erie County Cameron & Jane Baird Foundation Conable Family Foundation Eastern Hills Sunrise Rotary Foundation Robert J. & Martha B. Fierle Foundation Simple Gifts Fund

www.justbuffalo.org

Welcome to

WORDPLAY

At Just Buffalo Literary Center, we believe in the love of reading, the art of writing, and the power of the literary arts to transform individual lives and communities. Wordplay, our annual anthology featuring the writing of young people composed during our education programs, performs every part of this mission. It creates a platform for the community of young voices throughout Western New York to explore literature. It gives young people the time and space to look closely at the world and reflect upon what they see. It is in this exploration and attending to the world that a deeper understanding of the self is opened up.

It was exciting to read the range of work showcased in this collection. From New American high school students at International Preparatory School and Riverside High School to the elementary classrooms of Akron and Saints Peter & Paul in Williamsville, from students at Clarence High School to the young minds of the bilingual academy at Herman Badillo and North Park Academy, students engaged with poetry and literature and uncovered their imaginations in the process. The poems in this collection quake with light, with pain, and with hope. They are refreshingly wise, and often steeped in wonder.

So take a look inside; see what moves the young people of Western New York today. We are astonished by what is voiced inside these poems. We are sure you will be too.

Noah Falck Education Director Just Buffalo Literary Center

TABLE OF CONTENTS

7.

I’M FROM - Bimala Acharya

8.

I LIVE TO SEE THE DAY - Jacob Ackerman

9.

DIFFERENT - Kaitlyn Acquisto

10.

I’M FROM - Heyaam Ahmad

11.

SMALL MAP OF MINE - Husna Akter

12.

THE DARKNESS - Amilia

14.

EL REY DE LA SELVA - Ronelfi Alvarado-Polanco

15.

WILLING - Arletys Arrigo

16.

ORDINARY - Katie Attea

17.

FROM SLEEP - Phillip Attea

18.

I AM…MY WORDS - Aubreya

19.

THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY - Taimaa Awad

20.

NATURE AND FUN - Luis Ayende

21.

UNTITLED - Hamza Baroud

22.

PASSION FOR PEACE - Joe Bayer

23.

NEW YORK CITY - Courtney Beals

24.

WHERE I’M FROM - Zemenawit Berhe

25.

NIGHTMARE - Anjali Bista

26.

SUMMER - Alex Brandl

27.

CONGO, THE CITY THAT HOLDS MY HEART - Linda Byamungu

28.

LET’S RESPECT OUR WORLD - Nelson Camacho

29.

SOMETHING PEOPLE SHOULD TALK ABOUT - Chloe

30.

I AM FROM A PLACE I NO LONGER AM - Gabriel Cohen

31.

COTTONMOUTH - Tessa Davidson

32.

THE SHIFT BEINGS - Paul Dolce

33.

EDGE OF THE WORLD - Cassidy Elibol

34.

I AM - Sofia Estevez

35.

EARTH - Quinn Flaherty

36.

IT’S TIME - Elizabeth Foster

37.

YO ESTOY PREPARADO PARA LUCHAR LA VIOLENCIA Anthony Guadalupe

TABLE OF CONTENTS

38.

THE BEAUTIFUL TREE - Hannah Hutchinson

39.

SILENT - Kenadee Jonathan

40.

ALIVE - Henry Kish

41.

THE DREAM IN THE CLOUDS - Nevaeh Lopez

42.

THE LITTLE GIRL WHO WAS SCARED - Dinasti Lynch

43.

NOWHERE - Rebeca Manuel

44.

THINGS ARE TURNING TO THE BRIGHT SIDE - Kendra McConkey

45.

FIREFLY - Shantaliz Perez Medina

46.

WHERE IS IT SILENT - Nate Mekarski

47.

MOVE - Jacqueline Mest

48.

NON-PERFECT LITTLE GIRL - Mtenderwa Mganga

49.

BOOKS - Michael Middaugh

50.

FREEDOM - Musa Mohamed

51.

THE PERFECT STORM - Ryleigh Montasser

52.

THE WIND - Damiiano Montondo

53.

SOUL - Areej Mullick

54.

STAND UP - Charlotte Murphy

55.

SINGER - Ruby Nowak

56.

INVENTION DREAM - Luke Nowak

57.

WAR - Josef Ntanios

58.

NOT A SOUND - Lynn Ntanios

59.

MY MAGIC ROOM - Angel Diaz Peña

60.

BENJAMIN BANNEKER - Zuleanis Pizarro

61.

THE DAY WE WENT TO THE BEACH - Natalia Pratts

62.

SERENITY’S TOP FEARS - Serenity Raynor

63.

SPARE IN THE TRUNK - Charles Rebmann III

64.

UNITED WE STAND - Aaron Reeb

65.

MY TREE - Trinity Ritenburg

66.

IN MY IMAGINATION - Angel Villegas Rivera

67.

UNDER SEAWATER - Jaslene Rodriguez

TABLE OF CONTENTS

68.

WHERE I’M FROM - Luis Rojas

69.

LOUD - Drake Rosenberg

70.

ALL I HAD, ALL I KNOW - Nadine Sallaj

71.

DESPAIR - Aye San

72.

NOW I’M GROWN - Paw Boe Say

73.

CONCEPT - Annie Schmit

74.

UNTITLED - Shakila Shabani

75.

FEARS, GOOD THINGS, AND THINGS I NEVER KNEW ABOUT MYSELF - Shenaya

76.

PEACE AND IN PURPOSE - Brooklyn Shufran

78.

SECRET SPOT - Rilyn Snyder

79.

UNTITLED - Alexandria Staley

80.

THERE SHALL ALWAYS BE PEACE - Brennan Storey

81.

HEART BEAT - Danielle Taylor

82.

THE WRITER’S PEN - Claire Terhune

84.

THE HOUSE IN THE SKY - Tyler Tevens

85.

NIGHT FLIGHT - Gabriela Torres

86.

I’M A SWAN - Gabrielle Truglio

87.

MY ONE AND ONLY BIG WISH - Julia Voelkl

88.

SOUL OF THE BEAT - Madeleine Weeg

89.

HOME OF NATURE - Yu Welia

90.

AS NIGHT APPROACHES - Barbara Williams

91.

THE NEGATIVES OF BUFFALO - Nyesiah Woods

92.

VILLAGE OF FOOLS - Kati Zar

93.

MY HAPPY PLACE - Lily Zdon

94.

LOVE - Genevieve Zimmerman

95.

I WISH - Olivia Zon

7

Bimala Acharya

I’M FROM Where we keep the door open for the neighbors. They don’t party but they play music in the weddings. Where there are big poisonous snakes.

Where I’m from it only snows in the mountains. There were always car accidents. During the holidays there would be family gatherings with lots of food. I’m from where people always fight to get water.

I’m from where girls have to learn how to do everything before they get married. Where the wedding happens for the whole day.

I’m from where houses are made with bamboo. I’m from where we plant lots of fruits and vegetables.

Riverside High School, PS 205 Grade 10

8

Jacob Ackerman

I LIVE TO SEE THE DAY I live to see the day racism is gone I live to see the day when people aren’t getting shot for no reason I live to see no stereotypes I live to see all races gathering together peacefully I live to see equality I live to see all people seen equal not just pretended to be I live to see no sexist, racist, or homophobic problems I live to see the day world leaders are loving all people I live to see no discrimination between beliefs I live to see EVERYONE come together

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 7

9

Kaitlyn Acquisto

DIFFERENT Some call me different but I do not want to be I want people to think of me differently because I am the same as you I hope people will start to notice me because I’m in the shadows I want to be seen

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 6

10

Heyaam Ahmad

I’M FROM I’m from a country where everyone helps each other.

I’m from where the people wake up early to go to their jobs and schools.

I’m from the country where a lot of people die everyday.

I’m from where the people live in injustice.

I’m from the country that lives in war.

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 6

11

Husna Akter

SMALL MAP OF MINE I’m from a small map of tropical rainforest I’m from a land filled with blood I’m from a place where you fight to own language.

Bloody soil is all you see in the field.

I run to the wood to find my place Yet am afraid of losing my soul.

I’m from a place you wouldn’t want to be.

Where I’m from is a gloomy dark street.

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 9

Amilia

THE DARKNESS The darkness alone, nobody there sitting in a corner nowhere to stare how did I get here?

Oh, I remember I came home from school all the kids laughed at me cause I had tap dance shoes so I locked myself in my room.

It feels like I let myself down because I showed my stupid shoes to everyone.

I tap danced…but nobody thought it was funny.

Why, why would they attack somebody

for what they wear, say, or do?

Like don’t you ever do something embarrassing?

Why? Cause you don’t enjoy anything!

You don’t like it when people have fun!

Is it because of the shoes? Do they smell?

Do they look funny? Why do you have to do this?

Is it because you’re okay with being a bully?

Or are you just doing it to hurt my feelings?

12

13

Do you even have feelings?

If you do, why are you trying to break mine?

Why, why when I have something to say there’s nobody there?

It’s like I’m invisible in the darkness I reach my arm for help but when I want a hand or somebody to hear me there’s nobody there.

Why, why do you feel like you can be the boss?

Or be the hand and I’m the puppet you’re the controller and I’m the game I’m the TV and you’re the remote you’re trying to control me.

I don’t understand Please, tell me.

North Park Academy, PS 66 Grade 6

14

Ronelfi Alvarado-Polanco EL REY DE LA SELVA Fuerte Bueno Corre mucho y es bravo y es inteligente y está por piedra dibujada en el medio de dos arboles está por el rio está parado por piedras y tiene cuernos y el cielo es azul y rojo y ay montañas altas y él dice que es el rey de la selva.

KING OF THE FOREST Strong Good Runs a lot and he's tough and he's smart and he’s by a stone with a carving between two trees he's by the river standing by the rocks and he has horns and the sky is blue and red and mountains are tall and he says he is the king of the forest.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

15

Arletys Arrigo

WILLING I am the one thing in life I can control.

I was abrasive while they were succinct, persuasive.

They needed the strongest of defenses.

We’re the solution.

For the notion of a nation, take a stance with pride. I haven’t understood why we stood to the side.

You see: It took and It took and It took.

And we kept standing at their side.

We laugh, and we cry, and we break and we’ve made our mistakes.

As if there’s a reason they’ve seemed to thrive, but so many have died.

Then I’m willing to wait for it.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

16

Katie Attea

ORDINARY I look ordinary, Nothing extraordinary Just as normal As can be I don’t want To shout out I try to Fit in Afraid of Being left out I want to be As free as I can be I want to... be Extraordinary

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 6

17

Phillip Attea

FROM SLEEP Asleep I lay Only in the way Were the birds And their words Calling me But I don't see And so I stay Asleep I lay Until I wake To the drake In my sleep That makes me weep With its voice Giving me the choice A choice to stay But in the way Were the birds And their words.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 8

18

Aubreya

I AM…MY WORDS I am an example to those to come I wonder what possibilities live beyond the sun I hear the stories of my ancestors escape I see a hopeful future they’ve given me awake I want my taste of freedom, little or some I am an example to those to come I pretend my words will rise and dance upon the sky I feel the wind circulate as they fly I touch my hook and watch it turn I worry one day I won’t find the terms I cry at the idea of losing my rhythm I am chooser of my words and decisions I understand one day my pen will lose love I say my imagination will still sour as if a dove I dream of the opportunities still to come I try to be everything I am expected of I hope my creativity will rise above I am an example of those to come

North Park Academy, PS 66 Grade 6

19

Taimaa Awad THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY I’m from the beautiful country Make the beautiful country on the war I’m from the country where a billion people Die everyday I’m from the country who is the child Lost in their dreams I’m from where I saw hundreds Of people die every day around me I’m from where I heard every Child die crying because they lost Everything I’m from which I wake up over Bombs and sleep over bombs I’m from the people who go hungry Everyday I’m from the country which was The most beautiful in the world too I’m from the country who is a billion children who do not have schools food or houses I’m from a life which is difficult where you could die anytime

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 9

20

Luis Ayende

NATURE AND FUN I love my parents.

They are shooting stars.

Every time I look at nature It is peaceful as a koala on a tree.

And every time I play with my cousins and brother I become excited as a jumping bunny.

I am as fast as 10 tigers mixed together in one.

And if I was cold the sun and nature would be there for me.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

21

Hamza Baroud

UNTITLED I’m from Djibouti where every person speaks French but I speak Somali. Every body there dreams of becoming an athlete. The food we eat is rice with chicken pasta and small meat with sauce and ama corona and you will hear birds voices and adhan.

International Preparatory School, PS 198  Grade 9

22

Joe Bayer

PASSION FOR PEACE My most peaceful place is the only place where I have peace in my life.

The set of drums that make the most beautiful sound is my happy place.

A place beyond limits and rules where no one talks or complains about how loud it is.

They just listen.

Listen to me play and have fun It may not be quiet but, if anything, it’s my passion for peace.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 5

Buzzing traffic and bright neon signs Running from street to street Hopping to another store with hands full of things you convinced yourself you need Theatres made to draw you in With no sense of time With no peace and quiet No dwelling on the worst No fear Only buzzing life

NEW YORK CITY

23

Courtney Beals

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 8

24

Zemenawit Berhe

WHERE I’M FROM Where I’m from is dry and wet, kids playing soccer outside, loud noises being made by children.

Where I’m from, is nice and cultural, dancing and singing at every party.

Where I’m from, is next to the Red Sea, a beautiful place where you can do anything you wish.

Where I’m from, is now a messy place, it went from a beautiful to a horrible place.

Where I’m from I believe will be a great place again.

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 9

25

Anjali Bista

NIGHTMARE I don’t know why I feel like we are all dreaming.

Once we wake up from this dream all we have in our hands is a nightmare.

Oh heart tell me what should I do so later I don’t regret.

Oh mind tell me what direction I should go so it feels right where is your soul, oh soul where is your enlightenment

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 9

26

Alex Brandl

SUMMER Outside, I sit on a swing. I swing till I’m tired. I float in the pool and relax. I’m walking around the fire while the sun sets. I sleep in a tree under the stars. I sit on the porch with my dog by my side.

I jump and breathe in. I roll up and stay still.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

27

Linda Byamungu CONGO, THE CITY THAT HOLDS MY HEART Where I’m from there’s always happiness in the air even though outside there’s always pain and sadness.

Where I’m from you study hard to make your parents proud so they could buy your favorite food.

Where I’m from there’s always sounds of cries for help.

Where I’m from you feel the touch of your grandma helping you up and telling you to stop crying and telling you stories.

Where I’m from there’s always power outages and us seeing the blackness of the night and only candles and stars could light our view.

Where I’m from you work hard to have a good and earned meal that your grandma cooked and her praying before telling us stories Where I’m from there’s always the screaming of people selling things.

Where I’m from there’s sadness and happiness and that’s what makes it home.

I’m from Congo.

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 9

28

Nelson Camacho

LET’S RESPECT OUR WORLD I stand up for Puerto Rico because of all the people out there making the prices higher than they were.

People are suffering out there.

They don’t have food or water and what you guys do is raise the price!

I also stand up to president Donald Trump who does not want to help Puerto Rico just because of who they are, or because they think they are not from the United States.

So, I hope that from this day on, this does not happen again.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

29

Chloe

SOMETHING PEOPLE SHOULD TALK ABOUT people should talk about equal rights like children from ages 13 and higher should be taught how to cook and to babysit children should be able to have jobs and credit cards I should be able to drive a golf cart I wonder how many people think that adult rights are unfair and why they don’t have those rights I think that the government should only pick the responsible children (ya know); like me!

North Park Academy, PS 66  Grade 5

30

Gabriel Cohen

I AM FROM A PLACE I NO LONGER AM I am from crunchy rough pavement you discover when you drag your 9-year-old knees on the ground A true compliment to the sharp car smells and cheap architecture.

I am from the beggars you know by name, reputation and the corners they reside on.

I am from where the roads flood over and the street side garbage gets cast into the limelights.

I am from Ates, Kuyas, Manongs, Lola’s, fresh sinigang, with beaches a car ride away.

I am from a place that looks longingly at American’s handprint, wishing the callouses just didn’t fade.

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 9

31

Tessa Davidson

COTTONMOUTH A snake with a tongue like tissue Cotton and kind Clasps its teeth Onto the finger of an uncle A field untouched But by little boys Who like cats And pray for the Kool-Aid man A mother and a father Watch on the porch Call for dinner And kiss three sunburnt heads Three little boys come racing home Through corduroy mud And race back out an hour later To find another snake

Clarence High School Grade 10

32

Paul Dolce

THE SHIFT BEGINS Wind howls, Trees shudder.

The air, Thick as fur.

The world...

Begins to hide, Hide away.

The shift begins; More sudden Than the day; More subtle Than sleep; Yet quicker than both.

The sky opens up And the ocean falls.

A strike of light A clap of sound.

The world Is gone.

No more to be seen.

A sea of destruction And an ocean of reconstruction No more, No less...

Clarence High School Grade 11

33

Cassidy Elibol

EDGE OF THE WORLD On a throne at the edge of the world Legs dangle over the misty abyss.

Pines rise out of the shell of the place And make their happy threat.

On a throne at the edge of the world Even the hardest stone can crack And lose itself in the fog-Pebbles soar into dusty nonexistence.

Court jesters dance before the throne With mania in their broken wings And as they crack the dancing-stone The flashing lights absorb the king.

The throne at the edge of the world Hangs over the sacred place Empty of a ruler, of a song, of the sun.

But the jesters are still dancing.

Clarence High School Grade 12

34

Sofia Estevez

I AM I am everywhere.

I am here and I am there.

I have ears like a fox.

I am a fox.

I am a wolf.

I can appear to be there, but I can

also be here standing right next to you.

Always.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

35

Quinn Flaherty

EARTH Up in space, there is a ball of rock and ice and water.

Up in space there is a planet that is slowly melting.

There is a planet where the people that live on it are destroying natural beauty.

And on that same planet there are people who are trying to make the world a better place.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 6

36

Elizabeth Foster

IT’S TIME It's time to stop ignoring the signs whether on a pet, a girl, or a guy.

It is time to stop pretending it doesn't happen.

Abuse isn't just in the stories.

It’s a real life problem.

We need to use our power and our time to stop it for good.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 7

37

Anthony Guadalupe

YO ESTOY PREPARADO

PARA LUCHAR LA VIOLENCIA I AM READY TO FIGHT VIOLENCE I stand up to killings, Let’s respect human life.

I stand up to violence, Let’s respect human life.

I stand up to bullies, Let’s defend the victims.

I stand up for education, It’s the key to my success.

I stand up for people, We are all humans.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

38

Hannah Hutchinson

THAT BEAUTIFUL TREE Green The color of the leaves on the tree The tree in the neighbor’s yard Where we’d sit in the shade The bright shining sun would make the green grass sparkle Blue The light-colored sky was astonishing Where birds would be singing Mushrooms and flowers grew near the tree It was such a peaceful place Yellow Bumblebees flew around the small flowers near the tree My nephew and I loved that tree It was the most peaceful place that we knew of That beautiful tree

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 7

39

Kenadee Jonathan

SILENT I’m silent as a peacock spreading its wings.

Silent as an apple falling from a tree to the ground.

Silent as a mouse in a hole.

Silent as a whale in the ice-cold water.

Silent as a bug flying in the air.

Silent as a paper floating in the air.

Silent as a bird flying into the nest.

Silent as water falling down the hill.

Silent as a rose on the ground.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

40

Henry Kish

ALIVE

The people

all

over

the

earth

don’t

know

this

is

one

life.

They think their lives are so dull, agree. but will I I

don’t then quite ALIVE agree. you’re So, happy be

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

41

Nevaeh Lopez

THE DREAM IN THE CLOUDS It is night, it’s time to sleep, to dream beyond clouds like something sweet.

You could have a dream with hope. Leaves flowing in the wind.

Birds chirping at the shiny moon.

A deer in a forest. Dreams do not last long, but you can dream again tonight.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

42

Dinasti Lynch

THE LITTLE GIRL WHO WAS SCARED I am as mean as a lion in the wild as it growls at me.

I am as excited as a dog when it gets food.

I was in a moving earthquake in fast motion.

I am the little girl who sits by the storm afraid. Afraid when I feel alone.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

43

Rebeca Manuel

NOWHERE Boys are twinkling under branches before beaten by the dogs in the evening.

The girls are flooding in the river with the rabbits and the raccoons in the pool swim under the sunlight.

The mountains are coming close to the river and rabbits in the jungle are leaving to a willow woman.

International Preparatory School, PS 198  Grade 9

44

Kendra McConkey

THINGS ARE TURNING TO THE BRIGHT SIDE Kittens are a bright side I’m a bright side to my family like always Friends are always a very bright side Girls are bright sides Bullies are not Four-wheelers are a bright side to me So is Roblox with my friends I land right onto the bright side every day and every day.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

45

Shantaliz Perez Medina

FIREFLY A little light is going by is going up to see the sky. A little light with wings. I never could have thought of it, to have a little bug all lit and made to go on wings.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

46

Nate Mekarski

WHERE IS IT SILENT? Where is it silent?

Read this and you will know.

My friends are all silent.

Having a sleepover?

No. Everyone is writing.

School?

Close.

The place is at school, writing, writing this poem.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

47

Jacqueline Mest

MOVE It makes love go through my body, it makes my heart explode. Boom!

It goes through my body, it spreads like air, it comes to every body, it moves really quick. Move. Move. Make life go.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

48

Mtenderwa Mganga

THE NON-PERFECT LITTLE GIRL When you look at me you might say, oh, she’s so perfect. But, I’m not. No one’s perfect. Everyone has flaws. I’m not an elegant flower, nor fragile glass. I’m a little worm, but sometimes a messy animal.

When I’m mad or sad I go to my room, lock the door, and close my eyes. I can finally be free. Flying up high like the birds in the sky. I feel the breezy wind passing by. Warm clouds under my feet, I collapse on the floor and fall asleep.

I am the Non-Perfect Little Girl.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

49

Michael Middaugh

BOOKS When I feel free, I’m reading a book, whether it is heroes, adventures, space travel or a fairy tale. Reading brings me places I will never touch, people I will never see. But when I’m reading I see, reach, touch everything, like the tiniest heroes or the bravest adventurers, or even a cat in boots! All this we can see, feel, and meet until our eyes get heavy and we dream about the friends we make when we…. read.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

50

Musa Mohamed

FREEDOM I am from a dry bean place where there is no winter space bigger than a football stadium many different real life games like marbles while you’re playing them you make friends on the way and friend groups you happiness

International Preparatory School, PS 198   Grade 9

51

Ryleigh Montasser

THE PERFECT STORM I am the perfect storm; Enough wind to blow you away, Plenty of rain to wash away your doubts The kind of storm That clears paths And levels cities With its destruction But leaves you standing there Completely mesmerized Unable to move Or look away I am strong Yet weak I may start out fierce And die down Or start small And grow on you I always come back But not always the same Like waves in the ocean Bouncing up and down I am perfectly imperfect I am beautifully fierce I am just me The perfect storm

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 7

52

Damiiano Montondo

THE WIND a fortune cookie poem I’m flying above the school.

The wind is strong. I’m flying over Paris. The wind stops.

I land on top of the Eiffel Tower. I look at the pretty lights. I open my eyes.

I’m at home in bed.

You can’t control the wind, but you can adjust the sails.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

53

Areej Mullick

SOUL Seek into my mind and you’ll see nothing but darkness Look into my heart and you’ll see a pitch-black soul Don’t try to save me when I finally drown I might drown you with me into this deep, deep hole.

I’m not rude nor do I hate mankind It’s just that I don’t know how to confide Hurt, broken, crying alone I know how to smile with a pitch-black soul.

This soul is open for everyone But it can’t have that one girl it wants She came into my life like a summer breeze And in that breeze my whole life froze.

I know I can’t have you And I won’t hold you down I’ll save you even if I’m the one who drowns.

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 9

54

Charlotte Murphy

STAND UP Stand up to the ones that do wrong Stand up for The kids who don't get along Stand up to The ones hurting the land We stand up for The kids hurting inside Stand up to The ones who terrorize the homeless The poor The hungry All who can’t Stand up for themselves Stand up for The word of peace No hate No pain Just Peace Stand up to Evil Stand up for me

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 5

55

Ruby Nowak

SINGER Every note out of my mouth my nerves disappear I am one with the music I can’t feel the crowd’s presence I am moving a little to the beat of the music I am one with the music line by line I go The pitches, the timing it doesn’t have to be perfect I feel happy and passionate I can express myself I am one with the music If I’m sick I feel well If I’m stressed I feel relaxed If I’m overwhelmed I feel like I’m all by myself There is one stage And one person Me I am alone because I am a singer And I am one with the music

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 5

56

Luke Nowak

INVENTION DREAM I’m hoping that when I’m an Inventor/Scientist

I can make anything like a portal, a time machine, a hover board that actually hovers, or a jetpack that flies so high or an astronaut suit that can go on the sun, a watch that can project anything or a machine that can turn you into anything a room where your dreams become reality a flying car or a machine that can give you superpowers.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 3

57

Josef Ntanios

WAR War is not peace. Some people think it will change the world, but it really won’t.

I think it is hurting the country and instead people are getting hurt for no reason.

God created you for a reason, so get off that chair and help me change the world.

It may sound like war but it’s not.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 2

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Lynn Ntanios

NOT A SOUND I am a gymnast.

The one who loves gymnastics.

My tricks are as amazing as can be.

Run, run, run, the Lebanon sun.

My grandma watching me smiling and cheering.

I run and flip. I only hear the birds chirping.

I only feel my heartbeat as the sun pushes against my face.

I will never hear you if you call me when I do gymnastics because I am a gymnast as strong as can be and I will never hear you even if you call me.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 5

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Angel Diaz PeĂąa

MY MAGIC ROOM When I go to my room I fall into magic.

Magic is my happy place.

When my room is full of magic I love it.

And sleeping is my most peaceful place to be.

I think of the stars.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

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Zuleaniz Pizarro

BENJAMIN BANNEKER What would he say?

Some people think creativity doesn’t matter but I designed a whole city so don’t be afraid to show your creativity, it could help you in a lot of ways.

If I were shy and not able to show all my work, I would never be able to do what I did.

Don’t be scared to show your talent, no matter what they think of you, because there is someone out there that will like everything you do.

I mean, I taught myself math, history and I still didn’t give up and I never will.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

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Natalia Pratts

THE DAY WE WENT TO THE BEACH There we were, sitting on the beach eating peaches while building sand castles quiet it is down here when the waves roll in and out on the sand, and there we kept on finding shells and being selfish.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

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Serentity Raynor

[SERENITY’S TOP FEARS] My worst fear of all is alligators. Listen, alligators eat humans and other big animals like it’s nothing. Alligator are enormous predators and they are incredibly quiet. They are almost invisible to the naked eye because they blend in so well with their environment.

So I don’t go into swamps. EVER. My second greatest fear is almost as terrifying as alligators.

It’s my Mom. My Mom’s voice comes bellowing out of nowhere like a landmine, you never see it coming. The only way to escape is by hiding, but you can still hear her yelling at my sister downstairs.

The best way to avoid an angry parent is to HIDE. The third scariest thing for me is snakes. Snakes are wild, poisonous animals. They are vicious and dangerous. When I hear a snake coming I RUN. The moral of the story is to always RUN AWAY from scary things. If you can’t run away then HIDE and never ever go into swamps.

North Park Academy, PS 66 Grade 5

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Charles Rebmann III

SPARE IN THE TRUNK People think we have two worlds – please don’t litter and throw out your garbage. Not many people know that we have living things in the sea. There are coral reefs and no coral reefs, no seafood no seafood! People eat seafood every day and they’re gonna die because they have no food.

There are purple trees, juicy pineapples, blue birds, red crabs, and beautiful blue skies.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

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Aaron Reeb

UNITED WE STAND Bless those who believe in true representation, For we have 535 politicians who don’t.

Bless those who do not worship a party, For every man in the oval office has.

Bless those who listen to everyone's opinion For those people do not exist In our capitol.

Bless those local politicians who do what their people want, For they understand everyone needs a vote.

Bless those who are against partisanship, For they lost their partisan tilt for the sake of their people.

Bless those who believe in fair representation, Because only they can save the world.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 8

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Trinity Ritenburg

MY TREE I sit on a tree in the morning.

I hear the birds chirp.

It’s very endearing.

I swing off the tree by just one skinny branch.

I run to my trampoline and jump for the stars.

I sit on a star.

In the middle of the night they shine like the sun until it’s done.

I jump off the star.

I land on my tree.

That’s where I like to be.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

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Angel Villegas Rivera

IN MY IMAGINATION The silent place in my imagination could be the ocean with all the animals like the whale’s sound and being with different kinds of fish and the lovely water sounds.

It is so peaceful down here. I love the sound of the sea weed. I would like to explore the whole ocean, the sound of the birds up in the sky. The ocean is just like the sky. They are both peaceful.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

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Jaslene Rodriguez

UNDER SEAWATER I hear the waves, I hear bubbles I see fish scared to show how beautiful they are.

The seawater lives for love.

I see and see lots to see under the seawater.

I’m going up out of the water but the waves say stay down to see life under the seawater.

OK OK

I know how quiet works

under the sea waves.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

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Luis Rojas

WHERE I’M FROM I’m from the land rich with natural resources being taken by another country.

I’m from the country of beautiful beaches but ugly souls.

Where I’m from you wake up and smell the aroma of pure Cuban coffee.

Where I’m from you hide under your sheets while you hear nonstop gunshot rounds go off.

Where I’m from you hear the languages such as French and Spanish.

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 9

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Drake Rosenberg

LOUD I am loud I was born loud I am like an airhorn I’m loud as a volcano I’m louder than a roller coaster I’m louder than a girl can scream I’m louder than when my Mom gets Starbucks.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

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Nadine Sallaj

ALL I HAD, ALL I KNEW Broken branches, bent trees, foreshadowing the forefront of my childhood. The peace, quietness was my escape, it filled my vacant ears. Wind blasted through my blood rushing veins, the only way to help settle me down. The ivory mist smothered the air, dense and musty. It suffocated me, but it was the only thing keeping me sane. The humble scenery had clotted the views from my eyes of real life, made me forget all the problems that were around me.

This was it.

All I had.

All I knew.

My backyard.

Clarence High School Grade 11

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Aye San

DESPAIR Where I’m from, shortage Of everything.

No peace to be found Day and night.

No such wonderland Exists in my world.

There is peace in nature Not in humans.

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 9

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Paw Boe Say

NOW I’M GROWN Where I’m from, snowflakes are Nonexistent The only white I see either comes From the ground or is hung on Your wall.

Where I’m from, the pigs live As if they’re our neighbors.

Our alarm clocks have feathers And a beak.

Our water goes through a Process of earth to bucket to Pot. Where I’m from, our pools Have fishes and whirlpools.

We swim and we drown.

Where I’m from, your dog either Comes home or becomes someone Else’s dinner.

Where I’m from, it’s free but Also limited Where I’m from, I know nothing But to live life to the fullest And where I’m from, I am young

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 9

What a concept it is To find peace in the midst of chaos If only humans could understand how this is done We might acquire some of the unknown fire that these beautiful creatures desire The grass beneath me, so fragile and fresh The sunlight blazing down is shining on me, such a damsel in distress This makes me wonder what it must be like to live in a world where instead of just existing We live I will sit here and pray on the day that we all can find peace and serenity I wonder why a day like today would ever come to an end

CONCEPT

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Annie Schmit

Clarence High School Grade 11

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Shakila Shabani

UNTITLED I’m from the land that despises its own Religion.

From where many people asked me where I’m from because of the language I speak.

I’m from where I fear when waiting in The light and worse than in the dark.

I’m from where nature is a beautiful Morning where the flower makes the color Wanna pop out. Where roses are red and Sunflowers are yellow from the sun.

I’m from where I cook rice and Chicken where appetite for rice never ends I’m from where education is valued for Every gender.

Riverside High School, PS 205 Grade 9

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Shenaya

FEARS, GOOD THINGS, AND THINGS I NEVER KNEW ABOUT MYSELF 1 I am of African and Mexican descent.

Sometimes I wonder if my Mom will let me have a girlfriend.

At night I hear a dead little girl saying my name.

In my dreams I see scary things like a slender man and the same little girl that was saying my name.

I want the nightmares to stop.

I am of African and Mexican descent that is being harassed by a ghost.

2 I am of African and Mexican descent.

Sometimes I wonder if I will be able to meet Lilly Singh.

At night I hear unicorns in my ears.

In my dreams I see unicorns.

I want a pet husky.

I am of African and Mexican descent and I’m also a unicorn.

3 When I was 2 years old I wanted to be in the WNBA. I used to go outside and play basketball with my friend.

I used to feel like I could be in the WNBA but then I stopped going outside.

I used to be able to play with my friends until they moved away.

I thought I was destined to become a basketball player, but I was wrong.

I never was meant to be an athlete, I was always meant to be a comedian.

North Park Academy, PS 66  Grade 6

Brooklyn Shufran

PEACE AND ITS PURPOSE When I seek peace, I go to my bed.

While I lay, I think.

I think about almost, Everything!

My bed gives me a good vibe of peace.

Peace is an amazing thing.

All that peace, Makes me feel very grateful.

It feels amazing to just sit there.

Sit there and imagine.

Imagine what the world could be like one day.

Peace.

Don't hesitate. just, sit.

Be peaceful.

Don't move a muscle.

Be one with your bed.

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Feels good right?

You should try it sometime.

Feel the peace of the world move you spiritually.

Be a peaceful person.

You can even look at the clouds in a field.

Anything works.

It's not a competition.

Don't try to beat your friend at being peaceful.

It's a beautiful thing.

And that's not all, It is also a very, very generous gift from our heavenly father above.

God gave you a gift.

He gave us all a gift.

And listen to me when I say this, Use the gift God gave to you, But only if you use it Wisely!

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 4

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Rilyn Snyder

SECRET SPOT I go by my bed I’m squished between my bed and my wall nice fresh air I hear my movie playing, I sit there and wait till my sister comes upstairs When she comes in, I scare her. I lay there until I get tired All my troubles disappear.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

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Alexandria Staley

UNTITLED Long hands move on the surface of the keys black and white against a room of color contrasting like the parallel minor with notes that are far from similar but they dance with one another just like the girl’s fingertips trace along the back of the pianist’s neck lingering when the beat is legato tapping when it’s staccato but they never leave even in silence

Clarence High School Grade 10

80

Brennan Storey

THERE SHALL ALWAYS BE PEACE This is my poem and I hope you’re listening There shall be peace, not hurt.

If you hurt, you could destroy a country.

So help, do not destroy.

And here is another thing, do not hunt, that is still hurt Oh, I have another, do not cause pollution, that can kill trees and plants.

Here comes another, never throw things out that you can recycle.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 2

81

Danielle Taylor

HEART BEAT When I want peace I go to my stepdad’s studio. When he plays his own music, I feel like I could stay there all day. Once he plays that beat, I can feel my heart beat.

When he plays his music he plays it loud. When he has rehearsal his band goes to the studio to practice.

The people in this band are amazing. They all do amazing and different things, but the best one for me is him.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

Claire Terhune

THE WRITER’S PEN I go outside.

I hear the calming chirp

of the birds watching me.

I feel the darkness of the clouds in the sky above me.

I start to rock on my swing, back

and forth just like the old clock in my room.

Swinging back and

back again.

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I grasp my pen, and hold it tight, Dreaming of what would come tonight?

A dragon?

Wings wide, and colorful,

her eyes like the flames of a house fire.

She is a mother, a mother trying to protect her eggs

from the hunters who surrounded her, with nets and clubs.

A brother and sister?

Homeless, roaming the empty streets,

looking for just a piece or crumb of food.

I opened my eyes, as I drifted, back

to Earth.

Back to my swing.

I look at my journal, full of stories.

Me and my pen.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 5

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Tyler Tevens

THE HOUSE IN THE SKY High up in the sky a tree house I helped build.

All the trees and birds singing.

The slow wind breeze on my face.

Sitting on the net ladder to get up to the tree house watching all the cars go by.

To me they look like colors on wheels.

This my happy place.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 4

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Gabriela Torres

NIGHT FLIGHT I am an owl flying through the night I collect jewelry to give to the light I have no fear not even a bit but even great heroes have something that they hid I love sleeping under the stars I love flying through the dark

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

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Gabrielle Truglio

I’M A SWAN I’m a swan with roses in my hair and diamond wings.

I’m a crystal shining in the sea, reflecting off the moon.

I’m a rose made of light blowing in the wind to a flower forest where moons stay.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

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Julia Voelkl

MY ONE AND ONLY BIG WISH I wish for you to be the petals and me to be the stars that shine on the meadow Although the plants are dead We’ll give them life again The color will be alive again They’ll praise us for its life again Together we will be an arrow With no heart blocking us Will my wish come true one day?

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 2

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Madeleine Weeg

SOUL OF THE BEAT I dance in my backyard.

I don’t even notice the song is over.

Something touched me!

Then I figured out that it was the soul of the beat.

Say, what is your name?

But it didn’t talk because it was gone.

I’ll get it next time.

When I got back to my room it told me its name was… …The Beat.

And the next thing I knew it was gone.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

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Yu Welia

HOME OF NATURE Where I’m from so many green leaves surround me every morning the sunrise wakes me up.

Where I’m from everyone wakes up to work in grassland and gets sweaty from the sun.

Where I’m from people are lazy to wake up when it rains the rain smells like the love of nature.

Where I’m from kids love to eat green mango with spice and run around the trees.

Where I’m from the river is brown from far away but up close it’s crystal clear.

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 9

90

Barbara Williams

AS NIGHT APPROACHES shadows creep across the sky a panther on the prowl hunting the light pushes away the sun with its outstretched paw and drags the stars behind with its tail long and sleek it extends into the Milky Way itself

Clarence High School Grade 10

91

Nyesiah Woods

THE NEGATIVES OF BUFFALO I am from Buffalo where winter is bad and summer is cool and smells of grass. I am from where babies cry and there’s no one to hold them. I am from Buffalo where downtown tastes like pepperoni pizza and chicken wings.

I am from Buffalo where police see black men as criminals.

International Preparatory School, PS 198  Grade 9

92

Kati Zar

VILLAGE OF FOOLS Where I’m from, meadows are full of cows The sound of moo, the smell of grass couldn’t make my Day any better.

Where I’m from, the kids play with the rain and Mud because we don’t get snow, it was called Mudball fight.

Where I’m from, we hand catch fish We sit around the campfire and Grill fish Where I’m from, ages are just numbers because Everyone argues, kids and adults, it doesn’t matter.

Where I’m from, the waterfall is deep but we still Swim because we are fools, and drown Until someone rescues us.

International Preparatory School, PS 198 Grade 9

93

Lili Zdon

MY HAPPY PLACE When I want peace I go to my room.

I don’t always get peace because my brother is crying all the time.

I normally have my cat on top of me.

I watch tv on my bed but I hear lots of noises like my dogs barking.

Most of the time it’s peaceful especially when everyone’s tired.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 3

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Genevieve Zimmerman

LOVE Stop bullying start the friendship making.

Love and peace may rise.

Peace and love are strong.

War is not love War does not change the world.

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 2

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Olivia Zon

I WISH I wish for there to be a day where violence doesn’t exist I wish for a time where people don’t have to be afraid I wish terrorists wouldn’t hold people back from going places I wish for a time when there is peace throughout the world, when there is no war I wish for the day when we don’t have to be afraid of each other I wish for a time when we can walk freely, when fear doesn’t even cross one’s mind I wish for a time when there is nothing to fear but fear itself

Saints Peter & Paul School Grade 8

Just Buffalo Teaching Artists

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Meet the talented team of writers, artists, and educators who represent Just Buffalo Literary Center through the work they do with young writers throughout Western New York whether at the Just Buffalo Writing Center, in the community, or during our creative writing programs in the schools.

SUSAN HODGE ANNER is a poet, playwright,

and essayist whose work has been performed both locally and in New York, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Washington, D.C. She taught Theatre at the University of Buffalo for 22 years, and is now an Artist-in-Residence at Women Children’s Hospital through UB’s Center for the Arts Arts in Healthcare Initiative. She is the author of the blog “What I Know Right Now” and is a certified special education teacher who has taught workshops in improving written and verbal communication skills with students with physical, intellectual, and emotional disabilities.

JOEL BRENDEN is an artist and educator working within a broad range of disciplines including photography and bookmaking. A native of Washington State, he received his MFA in Visual Studies from University at Buffalo - SUNY in 2008. His art and research is focused on the relationships between regional identities, ecology, and the built environment. His work can be found at www.thelessyousee.com

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Just Buffalo Teaching Artists

BENJAMIN BRINDISE is the author of the chapbook ROTTEN KID (Ghost City Press, 2017), the full length collection of poetry Those Who Favor Fire, Those Who Pray to Fire (EMP Books, 2018), and the short fiction micro chap The Procession (Ghost City Press, 2018). He has represented Buffalo, NY in the National Poetry Slam in 2015, 2016, and 2018, helping Buffalo to place as high as 9th in the country. His poetry and fiction has been published widely online and in print including Maudlin House, Trailer Park Quarterly, and Philosophical Idiot.

MARQUIS “TEN THOUSAND” BURTON is a spoken word poet, educator and curator. Working with Shea’s Performing Arts, C.A.O.(Community Action Organization), Say Yes Buffalo and other non-profit and educational institutions he has taught young writers to discover their voice through poetry while celebrating their stories for more than a decade. He has represented Buffalo in National Poetry Slams for the past decade and has been the official team coach for two years. Marquis has also held the position of curator of poetry talent for the Music Is Art Festival for the past 6 years.

ADAM DRURY is a scholar, musician, activist, and sound/performance-based poet currently pursuing a PhD in English at SUNY, University at Buffalo. His writing has been published in The International Journal of Zizek Studies and Umbr(a): a journal of the unconscious.

Just Buffalo Teaching Artists

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ALEXIS DAVID is a fiction writer, poet, and illustrator. She holds an MFA in fiction from New England College and a MA in education from Canisius College.

MEGAN KEMPLE is a writer, actress, dancer,

and teaching artist based out of Buffalo, NY. In 2017 and 2018, she represented Buffalo at the National Poetry Slam with Pure Ink Poetry, ending in the top ten teams in the nation, and personally placing third in the NUPIC individual slam. Her first chapbook, American Blasphemies, was released through Ghost City Press in March 2017, and was subsequently staged as a fully realized immersive dance piece. Her poetry has also been published in Foundlings Magazine, Vending Machine Press, and Feminspire. Her plays have been produced by Buffalo United Artists, American Repertory Theatre of Western New York, Road Less Travelled Productions, and Niagara University. She is certified in Barter Theatre’s Project R.E.A.L.(Reinforcing Education through Artistic Learning), an innovative hands-on method that combines theatre tools, selfreflection, and peer interaction to teach classroom material and emotional health.

JAKE REBER is an artist, writer, and educator

living in Buffalo, NY, where he co-curates hystericallyreal.com.

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Just Buffalo Teaching Artists

SHERRY ROBBINS has conducted creative writing workshops throughout New York State and abroad for more than 30 years and works with hundreds of students each year. She has a Masters in the poetics of ecstasy and two books of poetry, Snapshots of Paradise and Or, the Whale. Sherry ran her own letterpress for years, is a certified yoga teacher, and a multi-year panelist for the NEA’s Art Works program.

AIDAN RYAN is a writer and educator based in Buffalo, NY, and co-founder and publisher of Foundlings Press. He graduated from the Canisius College Creative Writing Program and went on to study at the W.B. Yeats International Summer School in Sligo, Ireland and to earn his master’s at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of the cut-up poetry collection Organizing Isolation: Half-Lives of Love at Long Distance (Linoleum Press, 2017), as well as two educational children’s books on computer programming and news media literacy; notable essays and interviews have appeared on CNN and in The White Review, Rain Taxi, and Traffic East, and he is a regular music critic, travel writer, and cultural essayist for The Skinny. As an editor, he conceived and managed the production of My Next Heart: New Buffalo Poetry (BlazeVOX, 2017), and with Max Crinnin curated and co-edited Constant Stranger: After Frank Stanford (Foundlings Press, 2018). Janet McNally selected Aidan for the Judge’s Prize in the Just Buffalo Members Competition in 2017. He is currently at work on a short history of the Canisius College Hassett Reading.

Just Buffalo Teaching Artists

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TRAVIS SHARP is a teacher, writer, and book artist living in Buffalo. He co-edited Radio: 11.8.16 (Essay Press, 2017) with Aimee Harrison and Maria Anderson.

He’s an editor and designer at Essay Press and a PhD student in the Poetics Program at SUNY Buffalo. Poems and essays have appeared in Columbia Poetry Review, The Bombay Gin, The Operating System, LIT, Puerto del Sol, Big Lucks, Entropy, and in other things and places.

CHRISTINA VEGA-WESTHOFF is a poet,

translator, and aerialist. She is the author of Suelo Tide Cement, winner of the 2017 Nightboat Prize for Poetry.

Vega-Westhoff also works as a teaching artist with the Geneseo Migrant Center and Young Audiences of Western New York and as a movement instructor with The Bird’s Nest Circus Arts. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, most recently BAX 2018: Best American Experimental Writing and Words Without Borders.

She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Arizona and a BA in English and Latin American Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She choreographs and performs interdisciplinary works independently and for festivals and theatre, dance, and circus companies.

NEIL WECHSLER’s play Grenadine won the 2008

Yale Drama Award, selected by Edward Albee. Grenadine was published by Yale University Press and has been produced at Road Less Traveled Productions in Buffalo, SMU in Texas, and UNC-Chapel Hill. Neil’s adaptation of Ibsen’s Emperor and Galilean premiered at Torn Space

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Just Buffalo Teaching Artists

Theater. It was the American premiere of Emperor and Galilean. Neil’s play The Brown Bull of Cuailnge received its world premiere in Toronto, presented by The Room. Neil has spoken about playwriting and literature at high schools and colleges across the country. Neil is the Executive Director of Against the Grain Theater Festival in Buffalo.

MAX WEISS is a Buffalo native cartoonist and

songwriter, and vocalist of the off-kilter vibraphone pop band, Welks Mice. After receiving a BA in English Literature and Art Education from the University of Vermont in 2012, he has self-published two graphic novels and recorded the full-length album, Songs In C, to be released by One Percent Press this fall. His ongoing making-comics workshop “Masters of the Grid” has yielded three anthologies of JB student work to date.

JANNA WILLOUGHBY-LOHR has been writing

poetry since she was 5 and performing since age 12. She holds a B.A. in Entrepreneurial Creative Business Arts from Warren Wilson College. A Grand Slam finalist in 2005–2008 for the Nickel City Poetry Slam and a member of the 2006 Nickel City Slam team at the National Poetry Slam, Janna is also an editor for Earth’s Daughters literary magazine, the longest running women’s publication in the country. She has been performing with her band, The BloodThirsty Vegans, since 2008. They are currently at work on their second studio album. She also runs her own business making handmade paper and books.

PLAY

WORD

JUST BUFFALO WRITING CENTER

Welcome to the

Dear Reader, When environmental author and activist, Terry Tempest Williams, visited with young writers at the Just Buffalo Writing Center in October of 2017, she asked them what drives them to write. Their answers demonstrate why the Just Buffalo Writing Center (JBWC) continues to be such a crucial space for teens in our community.

I write to see.

I write because I need an outlet.

I write because I have a billion ideas in my head but I can’t make myself say them.

I write because it makes me feel powerful.

I write for the possibility of a good sentence.

I write to create new worlds.

I write to find my voice.

Read these poems, then, to see the world through the eyes of our future. Read them because someone was too scared to say it aloud. Read them to empower a teen that might not always feel so empowered. Read them to get a sneak peek into the new possibilities brewing in young minds. And read them to, quite simply, experience some really good sentences.

On the second floor of a window-filled room at 468 Washington in downtown Buffalo there are four wooden tables, some notebooks, some pens, and people who have things to say, and people who want to listen to what those people have to say. We invite any young writer (or soon-to-be-writer) to pull up a chair and join us there.

We hope to write with you soon,

Robin Jordan Writing Center Coordinator Just Buffalo Literary Center

The Just Buffalo Writing Center is a FREE creative writing center for teens (ages 12-18) located on the second floor of 468 Washington Street in downtown Buffalo. We’re open each Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30-6:00pm and certain Wednesdays. Beyond our workshop series, JBWC youth get to meet award-winning authors, are given platforms from which to share their work and talents, and are invited to take part in local arts and community events.

Visit www.justbuffalo.org to see what we’re up to.

Just Buffalo Writing Center

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ONCE WE SAVE US FROM OURSELVES - JBWC Collaboration UNAWARE - Elle Bader-Gregory NO PREMIUM TOPCOAT WILL FIX GENERATIONAL HATRED - Angel Barber THINGS THAT GIVE ME ANXIETY - Grace Becker SELF-PORTRAIT - Theo Bellavia-Frank FORGOTTEN - Elliott Borden TRUMPETS OF PASTRY - Sydney Capasso IN THE BEGINNING, - Darren Cameron-Turner IN THE NEXT LIFE - Bushraa Choudhury HE - Nora Collins PACIFIC NORTHWEST - Eden Donelli WE COME AND GO IN STRAIGHT JACKETS AND SILENCE Ates Dosluoglu WRITE ME SOMETHING THAT GIVES ME HOPE FOR THE FUTURE - Sage Enderton REFUGEE CAMP: JORDAN - Ryan Fortner TO BE FREE: COMPUTER PROGRAM POEM - Carson Feero AFTER TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS’ THE HOUR OF LAND Lucy Handman DREAM POEM - Kareem Haq BEGINNING PROSPECT FOR THE FUTURE - Vivian Hunt TO UNDERTAKE - Zanaya Hussain VERSE? - Kyli Hilaire THE ADVANCEMENT OF CREATIVE MALADJUSTMENT Aaron Lebediker ACCEPTANCE SHOULDN’T BE A SURREAL CONCEPT Hemingway Lovullo HE WISHES FOR UTOPIA - Ryan CHANGE THAT’S FOR THE BETTER - Hannah Nathanson ARS POETICA - Miles O’Brien NIGHTTIME SUMMER FOREST AESTHETIC - Cora Oldfield SETTING SAIL - London Patterson PUKE ROSE PETALS - Jahton Perry JIGSAW AS POET - Trinity Ridout HOME - Annie Rieman PEN - Josh Rogers DRAMATIC IRONY - Maya Simmons FRACTURE - Charlie Vriesen WHO ARE THE MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN? - Robin White

Just Buffalo Writing Center Collaboration

ONCE WE SAVE US FROM OURSELVES I will not miss the smog dark as the ocean infiltrating the black forest, the steel and rust.

I will not miss my face crammed into an oxygen mask.

I will not miss prairies collapsing into parking lots.

I will not miss hungry eyes.

I will not miss cries flooding the open mouths of empty stomachs in vacant alleyways.

I will not miss the greedy mouths of powerhouses that gobble up the good.

I will not miss factories filled with Bangladeshi workers surviving sweat, heat, 12 hour shifts, endless exploitation.

I will not miss my mother’s overworked hobble.

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Today, we no longer take our lefts and rights for granted.

Today we stand as equals on mountains and yell at the top of our lungs from the bottom of our heart, an eruption of greatness, and the wind whispers its thanks.

Today we lay on clean beaches and the grass grows green for miles beyond our house.

Tonight, we will see stars we never knew were born.

We will lay by the window in an ocean of starlight that will pass right through us like we are nothing, clear as a cloudless sky, clear as water rushing against the shore.

6

Elle Bader-Gregory

UNAWARE Raise your hand if you have ever been trapped In the middle of the Forest In the middle of the Night In the middle of Nowhere When the moon is anywhere but in the middle of the sky All you have is a half eaten granola bar Stale And a pocketknife to cut the vines Which come at you like snakes in the night Slithering slowly around your leg Your thoughts Dreaming peacefully You did not know You would never leave that tree in which you slept That looked so inviting When all the world was bathed in darkness And the fog clouded your vision You never knew how to use a knife anyway

The Park School of Buffalo Grade 9

7

Angel Barber

NO PREMIUM TOPCOAT WILL FIX GENERATIONAL HATRED Berate me for something I can’t change for hundreds of years Then whips turn into dust but do they really?

Your eyes still bleed with the hatred of your ancestors They, an icy blue drink locked up as I die of thirst And you change our names to fit your agenda Gut out anything that doesn’t look like you leaving us a shell of what we should be Inflate yourself with the most top-notch oxygen A recipe passed down from Aswad to Steven As Aswad becomes Adam because that’s easier to remember even though Adam only has one less letter And everything we say has one less the power and the ground we walk on suddenly means one less than it used to

Frederick Law Olmsted School, PS 156 Grade 10

8

Grace Becker

THINGS THAT GIVE ME ANXIETY • • • •

• • • • • • • • • •

When someone tells a joke and everyone else starts laughing but you don’t get it When all of your team is out in dodge ball except you When it’s your turn to order at McDonald’s and you haven’t rehearsed your order yet When you’ve been planning your answer in your head but when they call on you you forget everything you know except that the capital of Idaho is Boise Parties When you see a bug and run out of the room and come back and it’s gone Seeing people you know When you have to cough during a test but you’ve already coughed two times Seeing people you don’t know When you didn’t hear what someone said but they already repeated themselves twice Seeing people When your mom leaves the line at checkout to go get “one more thing” People Asking to borrow a pen from someone

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 9

9

Theo Bellavia-Frank

SELF-PORTRAIT There is a podium in a field.

In a field? On a field? In a field.

There is a podium in a field.

I am that podium. I am that field.

I’m a carefully tied shoe.

I’m one that’s missing its laces.

I am a local coffee shop and some faraway places.

I’m the voice in that coffee shop you can’t help but hear.

The voice talking about those faraway places and right now, right here.

The things I’m saying are, I would say, nice.

They’re things that you wish were true.

They’re things that you wish were true.

I’m saying this that you wish was true.

That voice in the coffee shop?

He says the things that are true.

They’re things that are true.

They’re things that are true.

They’re utterly and completely and atrociously and precociously and beautifully and hideously and happily and sadly and truly true.

It’s a podium on a field.

Amherst Middle School Grade 7

10

Elliott Borden

FORGOTTEN Nothing is forgotten like a star that stops glowing Nothing is like being bigger than smaller Blooming with pastures to our souls You’re beneath living when redeeming yourself Forgotten is what you call me I’ll be living until hateful things come my way Nothing is forgotten like a star that stops glowing Nothing is like being bigger than smaller Blooming with pastures to our souls

Amherst Central High School Grade 9

11

Sydney Capasso

TRUMPETS OF PASTRY written at The Historic Colored Musicians Club Mahalia Jackson’s voice, like velvet being tied to a cape on a kid with big dreams while he runs through the house, his imagination hemming.

The mother ices the cake to the silky sound of Doristine Tydus Blackwell’s wishes of courtesy.

She sprinkles the cake with trumpets.

The piano carries the cake to the fridge so its precise icing stays put.

Hamburg Middle School Grade 8

Darren Cameron-Turner

12

IN THE BEGINNING, There was a fish lawyer, a diet coke, and a rat.

The rat was a bricklayer.

This meant that he was quite good at building.

So when they got bored,

they tried to make artificial intelligence.

Because maybe it would be more creative than them and maybe it could use that creativity

to tell them how to fill this world.

What they got was Jackie Chan.

He was pretty good, but not quite it.

What they had made exceeded

their expectations but did not meet their goal.

They wanted something that could create life.

Jackie almost could.

When he spoke he created kung fu, karate, ninjas,

assassins, and other baddies to fight.

And while that was cool, they didn’t do much but fight.

So while Jackie took on the armies 1 vs 100, they tried again.

13

What they got was perfect: They got a Morgan Freeman.

When Morgan Freeman was created, he knew his purpose.

He took the diet coke gratefully from the fish lawyer.

He hated it.

So he spoke of plain coke and it became.

Next, he spoke of stairs so that he might view

this barren Earth in all his glory.

So, stairs were invented.

From atop these stairs, he spoke and spoke, and spoke, about the perfect creature.

One that would waddle around the Earth’s poles, marching as eternal guardians.

So became the penguins; and it continued, on and on, Freeman’s voice of golden silk weaving the Earth as we know it.

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 12

14

Bushraa Choudhury

IN THE NEXT LIFE In my next life I’ll be a pilot flying through an Amazon book review the words will be written backwards In my next life the world will be a place where Eminem is a pianist and architects are emperors In my next life I’ll awaken near my grandpa watching Bengali documentaries on the next life

SUNY Erie Community College First Year

15

Nora Collins

HE He grips a baseball as if it is his lifeline He throws the baseball into the nothingness He steps into the everything He is in the everything but he feels nothing He is empty He rides in a canoe He rides, alone, he drifts Twilight creeps towards him, he is surrounded Twilight approaches but never stays Nothing ever stays He leans over the canoe He leans over to find himself in the water He sees nothing

Buffalo Seminary Grade 9

16

Eden Donelli

PACIFIC NORTHWEST Sunlight speckles like ladybugs, boring into your eyes only when it sets Walk with me, turn your heart into a blackberry, your fingers into plums Catch apples in your shoulder blades as you trace the trees from roots to leaves Let your feet take you into the sea until you can no longer feel them and they are frightened by their numbness Retreat to where sea lion barks echo in their skeleton, pining at trees that out span colonialism as if 2 dead orcas are better than one

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 11

17

Ates Dosluoglu

WE COME AND GO IN STRAIGHT JACKETS AND SILENCE We come and go in straight jackets and silence, though we scream out best we can. Questions and curiosities and catastrophes in neighborhoods of dust.

Sore mouths move, sore hands move, all hearts move pumping our indignities in unison, as though we were never even away from each other. As though our hands

were intertwined, not confined.

Where are those black men you took for owning watches and talking to white women? Where are the Muslims you took for owning phones and oil deposits? Where are those indigenous people you took for being in the way of your wagons and bulldozers?

We know which dirt, which stone, which piles you threw them.

We scream ourselves in unison, glass bones and concrete lungs until our voices make you prisons a fraction the ones you put us in.

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 12

18

Sage Enderton

WRITE ME SOMETHING THAT GIVES ME HOPE FOR THE FUTURE the witches in my family burned flowers you didn’t know existed in houses you didn’t know were built my great grandmother drove to the coast in the dead of the night and sat upon the sand as the sun peaked over her lover’s waves and she did it for the spirits that insisted she must my grandmother cultivated fields of rose and daisy and sage and ended their lives to bless the death of another my mother let me into her world in a small bedroom and the hand of a midwife i burn flowers for my mothers and my sisters and my lovers and i watch them grow back under a moon we all witnessed

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 11

19

Ryan Fortner

REFUGEE CAMP: JORDAN After “These Kids Playing,” a photograph by Abdalghafar, taken while living in a Syrian refugee camp This place, built in a barren wasteland is not home. Home is a choice.

We did not choose to be here.

We were forced here by forces beyond our control. Imprisoned in this forbidden land between worlds.

We are trapped.

Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School Grade 10

20

Carson Feero

TO BE FREE: COMPUTER PROGRAM POEM “It takes what I’ve written and spits it back out at me.”

The door opens creaking It’s a new form of teaching The moment you were there when they said you were gone

Home School Grade 12

21

Lucy Handman

AFTER TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS’ THE HOUR OF LAND You are my face.

I am you.

Oxygen is sparse, like the yellow rubber cups that drop from overhead.

Don’t forget to put your mask on before helping someone else.

You hope for water.

You get a field.

One of vast rolling grasses, swaying golden wheat staffs that slowly smoke, the ashes blackening the azure sky.

Brown heads pop up like a 10-mile game of Whack-a-Mole.

Nervously, the prairie dogs hide themselves away as the plane steamrolls over their home, leaving only barren places behind it.

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 12

22

Kareem Haq

DREAM POEM I am in Times Square.

I am staring up at the tall digital billboards. Smiling, robotic faces look down on me. I find myself smiling back. As I breathe in I catch a whiff of cigarette smoke wafting towards me across the sunny, diverse street. It is coming from a very plain looking man, a little too plain looking.

His only noticeable feature is a large mole above his top lip. My eyes wander to the women on the crosswalk behind him. Walking briskly, they are having a heated argument. As I am busy studying the women behind me, I almost miss J.F. effing K. walking in my direction, against traffic, his brown eyes staring directly into mine. He reaches me and stretches his arm out in front of me.

Sitting in his palm is a plain black pen. Almost as plain as the man with the cigarette. I take it. Locking into my eyes, JFK says, “Do your homework. You need to do your homework.�

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 12

23

Vivian Hunt

BEGINNING PROSPECT FOR THE FUTURE There’s a lily tucked behind the ear of a girl sitting on a hard yellow subway seat. She taps her mary-jane Once Twice Three times against the floor. She reaches up, takes an apple earbud out of her left ear, turns it over in her hand.

Her hair falls like a sheet over her face. The lily slips to the floor. The girl’s iphone five buzzes softly.

She glances at it, smiles, turns it off.

The subway speakers ding. The girl stands, brushing her waterfall behind her ears with both hands, hands that have just placed her phone in her bag, hands that have held people, held lilies, held pens and cookie batter, salt and teabags, steering wheels and sand.

An arm reaches down. A lily is lifted from the floor.

A lily passes between.

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 12

24

Zanaya Hussain

TO UNDERTAKE I will wash my wounds off the home that is my body.

Memories of the future begin today.

Experiences will become faded like past scars, while more await for me.

Fresh faces, open minds, renewed self.

But when I look up at the night sky, the same stars surround me.

City Honors School Grade 11

25

Kyli Hilaire

VERSE? have you ever wondered where you crossed the line from orange blood to wasted time where passing jungles lasting blind this isn’t rhyme this isn’t rhyme

Frederick Law Olmsted School #156 Grade 12

26

Aaron Lebediker

THE ADVANCEMENT OF CREATIVE MALADJUSTMENT oppression school board racism director president country history repetition civil war secession confederacy oppression slavery president anger hatred fear sexuality love repression intolerance unanimity conversion invisibility prejudice oppression repulsion denial defeat depression loathing emptiness negativity downward voices people hope future visibility acceptance love triumph heart soul victory power people one body heart mind unity strength love love love

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 12

27

Hemingway Lovullo

ACCEPTANCE SHOULDN’T BE A SURREAL CONCEPT Who says butterfly wings cannot house galaxies?

I believe in the Universe over any Christian god.

There is more freedom there anyways.

Would we hunt each other so easily if we knew that everything was connected to everything else?

That everything could come back around to us?

In a world where fantasy stays fantasy, where not even Karma is held sacred, how can we believe in this perfect world we are all striving for?

There is no “we” in “I,” and I believe in an indiscriminate world.

Keep your excuses and justifications to yourself because I was born accepting, and I have learned to believe in what others call surreal, watch— Let the universe christen me and call me its messenger—for I can believe things we can’t even dream of.

Frederick Law Olmsted School, PS 156 Grade 12

28

Ryan

HE WISHES FOR UTOPIA. a utopia where he doesn’t have to wish for flowers where the flowers are already blooming under his feet where the buttons are on the right and not on the left where the abyss that stares at him isn’t judgmental but loving where his height does not determine the vines

coming out of his mouth as thorned or smooth but there will always be the people who rely on the binary 01000010 01001111 01011001 01000111 01001001 01010010 01001100 little robots corrupted with cherry flavored smoke sometimes, that smoke clouds his eyes

and he can’t see two feet in front of him he screams and screams for help until

the screen of smoke is gone, and he’s alone. he’s left in a blinding white room,

the colors of the walls causing him to squint the word ‘she’ plastered all around him the ‘s’ on each ‘she’ slither toward him,

each going towards his chest each going towards his heart, ready to squeeze it until it bursts.

Hamburg Middle School Grade 8

29

Hannah Nathanson

CHANGE THAT’S FOR THE BETTER The minute Adam named Eve was the minute she started telling him everything she put in her body. In the next eternity, in a different black hole, women would not have been torn from a ribcage, but purged from a mother’s throat, like all the words you never got to say. ___ You wake up and all the trees are pink. All the branches are connected. You spend every Monday staring at the sky. ___ Dinosaurs never died.

You have a pet dinosaur.

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 12

30

Miles O’Brien

ARS POETICA Miraculously, the sun still shines and the world did not end like I thought it would but the shadow at the end of my bed still weeps as the sun still shines past its shade It’s simply the most difficult thing to deal with not turning love into hate when every reminder of yesterday is here, today I steal little things to keep it off my mind like other people’s time Divulging into productivity (Yes! I’m actually productive now) I’ve gotten things done but the things I do are numb

Clarence High School Grade 12

31

Cora Oldfield

NIGHTTIME SUMMER FOREST AESTHETIC •

Small dots of light in the dark wood, fireflies like faeries showing you a path to some magical place

•

The final rays of pink and golden sunlight as nighttime falls over the forest

•

Moonlight reflecting off ripples on the water or bright white flowers in a field

Home School Grade 9

32

London Patterson

SETTING SAIL Setting sail into the sky one solid movement.

The sky turns to stars of space the sails stay open and then they’re gone. ~ A record made on a slab of steel telling another about something in a language no one speaks about a thing that doesn’t exist. ~ A lord named Battle Ready whose only word is peace. ~ A strange flower that doesn’t grow but only sits marking the end of one and the start of another. ~ Stay too long and it will drown.

Keep on moving and she will float. ~ Hardened hands are a delicate tool.

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 11

33

Jahton Perry

PUKE ROSE PETALS and then he was a satellite in orbit,

void of emotion, emotionless poised, and then he was a lover he drugged me with a heart of stone, heart sick in the doctor's room and then he was the doctor examining my body his hands wrapped around me, it haunts i still get sick about it puke rose petals i knew better you know better you were born with the teeth of poet, eager but hopeless a piece of the broken was hand crafted for you and then you were the doctor

examining my body your hands wrapped around me i still get sick about it puke rose petals i knew better you know better, momma never told me wear a coat in the cold weather now your soul's blacker than crow feathers i still get sick about it puke rose petals and then you were the doctor examining my heart arms around my body around my body i still get sick about it puke rose petals while your self-centered soul pretends you didn’t know better mr. doctor mr. lover am i still drunk off the taste of your lips i swear that it sticks i smell every kiss i still get sick about it puke rose petals

Frederick Law Olmsted School, PS 156 Grade 12

34

Trinity Ridout

JIGSAW AS POET crossing this bridge with brave steps, under or over or in between me and you. where she goes, I go & I am unafraid of houses falling forward or backward onto my disheveled body. these lanterns could go out at any second and the scraps left behind in the dirt will be illuminated by her fires, where oil spilled and was never cleaned up. if you venture far enough, the cave will close behind you, closing its maw and crushing your haunted limbs, eyes, or tongue. cold liquid seeps from white strings, it isn’t coffee but it could be, how many more years before we fall? metal bodies are not real bodies, but neither are the fleshy ones, they are compost and soon-to-be-ashes, they cannot remain much longer, but they will try. there is no space between earth and mars, it’s filled with crumbling building blocks, abandoned by small space infants. they cry, knowing they’ve lost the things they love most.

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 11

35

Annie Rieman

HOME When they ask me where home is they expect to hear about the grey house on the rural/suburban street full of memories Soon they are disappointed when I explain the coldness of that house I tell them home is someplace I rarely see Home is where hearts flutter Home is where there are no empty spaces

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 8

Josh Rogers

PEN nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing ALL Color twanged, color song Euphony crusted The newest new thing soon blinked like blue ink forming forming forming forming forming forming forming forming forming forming forming forming forming forming CREATED And so it bent and coalesced from an abstract thought of God to a far back root or cause from its birth down to earth

36

37

cold cold cold cold cold coldness coldness CARBON A form of twisted competition Committing contradictions on some mission Or some means to pass along The past to dawn Passing passing Passing passing passing Passing passing passing passing passing PASSION From an octopus tentacle to a tubular black modular packed ventricle From a past found in plants down packed in the ground Endowed in a dry hand To write in a dry stance He begins to scrawl something “Nothing nothing nothing nothing…”

Clarence High School Grade 11

Maya Simmons

38

DRAMATIC IRONY after Angela Davis Do I approve of violence? Oh is that the question?

I don't know that "approve" is the right word because that implies a choice a choice I, we, were never granted.

I didn't choose to wear this skin.

In a society that makes me guilty until proven innocent, I didn't choose to be barred from the privilege

of blissful ignorance.

Conversations on How Not To Die become as commonplace

as WikiHow pages.

I didn't choose a life full of

an abundance of don'ts and far fewer dos: don't: wear hoodies, even when it gets cold. don't: nap on the campus that your hard-earned money pays for. don't: kill time in Starbucks, America's dearly beloved coffee shop. Wait for your big, scary, business meeting somewhere else. don't: go to pool parties, don't host a hometown barbecue, don't bring coupons to CVS, and God forbid you forget to signal before taking that turn, because we all know what happened to her.

39

I didn't choose the sick, sinking feeling in my gut upon realizing I'm no different than Trayvon, Sandra, Tamir, Eric, Oscar, Rekia, Freddie, Mike. A person turned to pariah, a body so tragically bound, forever kept out of safety's arms.

Yet we're the violent ones, the "criminals," the "thugs," when it's our blood, black blood, that spills out over the pavement and drips from formidable fingertips.

Do I approve of violence?

A better question would be how do you cope?

Ask me again if I approve of violence, when at any moment I can expect to be attacked, shot, seized, shaken, shattered, bruised, battered.

So when you ask me if I approve of violence, I mean that just doesn't make any sense at all.

Buffalo Seminary Grade 12

40

Charlie Vriesen FRACTURE I look at trees The flight of birds Nightmarish beings I shatter Open your eyes Hide Leave her alone Smoke on water She is you Simple Glimpses I am real Stare at me Recite peace until it happens Whine like a mosquito Cut my hair Go up in smoke I am but a school boy Lancaster High School Grade 9

41

Robin White

WHO ARE THE MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN? Born into matrilineal societies it was our breath to tell our little girls that they are medicine a backbone to a culture Now we tell our little girls paint your feet red so you can run faster fill your lungs so you can scream louder you better, you better come home because I don’t know who will hear your cries outside the edges of the rez

Tapestry Charter Grade 12

W O R D P L AY