Wordplay 2019

Just Buffalo’s Annual Anthology of Student Writing

2019

WORDPLAY

2019

Editors NOAH FALCK ROBIN JORDAN Book Design & Cover JOEL BRENDEN Just Buffalo Administration Executive Director LAURIE DEAN TORRELL Artistic & Associate Executive Director BARBARA COLE Education Director NOAH FALCK Writing Center Coordinator ROBIN JORDAN Executive Assistant LYNDA KASZUBSKI

Wordplay, Vol. XX 2019 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 Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Conable Family Foundation Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation Robert J. & Martha B. Fierle Foundation Simple Gifts Fund Theodore and Pauline Cohen Charitable Trust The Whitten Arts Foundation

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. All of our programs take the imagination very seriously. We believe writers are born when their imaginations are given time to develop, and a chance to play.

The imagination is on full display in this annual publication of Wordplay. You will read poems by 3rd graders from Akron meditating on the idea of peace, 5th graders from Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy proclaiming poems of equality, and 7th graders from Orchard Park rediscovering beauty in the silence of nature. All of these poems were composed with attention and awe, letting the quiet storm of the mind rush forward and wash through in imaginative ways.

There’s nothing more important to us than providing opportunities for these students to be themselves, to explore new ideas, and to be heard. Their voices are singular and necessary, a snapshot of hope in a time when we couldn’t need it more.

Noah Falck Education Director Just Buffalo Literary Center

TABLE OF CONTENTS

7.

TIGERS IN THE FOREST – Zarni Aung

8.

GOODBYE BEACH – Zoe Aylsworth

9.

TRUST – Josh Baksa

10.

SPRING – Edie Baldon

11.

MY PEACE – Hunter Bilicki

12.

A RAINY DAY – Camilla Caballero

13.

A VERY QUIET PLACE – Aaden Cholnik

14.

I STAND UP FOR PEOPLE’S SEXUALITY – Cathyuska Colon

15.

PUERTO RICO – Ahdriana Cruz

16.

THE GARDEN OF PEACE – Lilyana Dean

17.

MY GRANDMA – Ahdiel Delgado Sepulveda

18.

I LOVE EVERYTHING – Gabrielle Dispenza

19.

WOODEN CHAIR AND THE STEPS – Yana Fedorishina

20.

GIRLS CAN PLAY SPORTS – Josmairy Felix

21.

IN MY MIND – Fabiola Figueroa

22.

STARING AHEAD – Abby Gerstung

23.

4-WHEELING – Brooklyn Gerstung

24.

BEYOND MY WINDOW – Gianna Gioia

25.

THE DARK SHADOW DANCING – Caleb Hansen

26.

THE SMILE IN THE DEAD DOE – Annie Henrich

27.

QUIET PLACE – Cade Jagielo

28.

THE CABIN – Olivio Johnson

29.

THE WOODS – Elsie Kain

30.

WHEN I’M WITH MY NONA – Gabe King

31.

MY QUIET PLACE – Alice Kish

32.

THE BEAT OF THE SONG – Ashley Koziej

33.

THE COW – Althea Kreher

34.

MY SOCCER TEAM RED BULLS! – Camryn Laude-Binder

35.

SUMMER NIGHT – Sofia Lazzaro

36.

THE MORNING – Catherine Lesh

37.

SILENCE IS PEACEFUL – Reagan Luck

TABLE OF CONTENTS

38.

SINGING EMOTIONS – Alison Mapes

39.

MY FATHER – Gabriel Maysonet

40.

SILENCE – Lucy McGreevy

42.

THE LIGHT OF MY SOUL – Kelsey McIntyre

43.

I STAND UP FOR GIRLS – Lah Cha Plah Moo

44.

RED HERRING EXPLOSION – Shannon Murphy

45.

MY PLACE – Ayan Noor

46.

THE ACT – Kendra Niewczyk

48.

ANGEL – Sabrin Noor

49.

MY BAD DAY – Alberto Oquendo

50.

SHADOWS, BUT A BOY – Alexander Padilla

51.

FORGOTTEN WORDS – Josh Pearl

52.

THE GARDEN – Samuel Pingitore

53.

NATURE’S BEAUTIFUL – Zuleaniz Pizarro

54.

SLEEPY DREAMS – Reagan Polkowski

55.

MY PERSONALITY – Rae’Jalise Ramos

56.

FEELING PEACE AT THE BEACH – Normarieliz Santiago Reyes

57.

SAFE – Lily Rieman

58.

THE OUTSIDE RIVERS – Orlianys Rivera-Pagan

59.

BRAZIL IS A CRAZY PLACE – Kieran Roeser

60.

CAMPFIRE – Victoria Sanchez

61.

CATCH ME FIRST – Danielle Taylor

62.

THE MASTER HAWK – Nilson Rivera Torres

63.

DO YOUR DANCE – Myah Rodriguez

64.

I DAYDREAM – Jaemeir Smith

65.

ABOUT ME – Jose Vega III

66.

I AM THE ANIMAL – Liam Wedgewood

67.

I AM – Evan Winter

68.

GRATIFYING – Ella Wittmeyer

69.

I DON’T HAVE SILENCE – Evan Yang

70.

I AM AN ARTIST – Ava Zellner

7

Zarni Aung

TIGERS IN THE FOREST I am a tiger sleeping in the rainforest when I wake up I camouflage in leaves I’m preying on an animal also hungry and thirsty

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 3

8

Zoe Aylsworth

GOODBYE BEACH Goodbye to the sound of the crashing waves

Goodbye to the feel of the blowing breeze

Goodbye to the warmth of the sun beaming on my face Missing the feeling of my feet in the warm sand

Missing the splashes as I jump into the water

Missing the walks and finding treasures of seashells along the way Before leaving I wave to the shore with a sad smile

Knowing that was my final goodbye

Leaving, I could still see the golden sand, and the crystal blue waves

But soon, the full picture got smaller And smaller Until it was too far In the distance To see The day had passed on But the day at the beach will always be in my memories

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

9

Josh Baksa

TRUST So much trust Is put into life Sometimes we don’t know It also has life We make it so big And give it so much Yet sometimes we give up We try so hard but don’t believe Yet maybe if we try We will succeed

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

10

Edie Baldon

SPRING The trees twist and turn during the spring.

Maybe one day that could be me.

In the meadow there are fish saying how to do this.

Maybe sharks, they light up in the dark.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

11

Hunter Bilicki

MY PEACE I love to go outside and listen to the birds chirp, and I love to close my eyes and listen to those noises and meditate, but when someone comes outside my peace is gone.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

12

Camilla Caballero

A RAINY DAY It is raining on the bridge.

It is raining on the lake.

It is raining on the people as they flee.

There might be a shake or a rumble.

It might be thunder and the bridge could go down, tumble.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

13

Aaden Cholnik

A VERY QUIET PLACE Do you know a quiet place?

I do. There are thousands: trees a library or bedroom but you now are a Quiet meditator so you could be as Quiet as a mouse.

So, grab a stuffie and get 3 books and a flashlight and think like the wind.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

14

Cathyuska Colon

I STAND UP FOR PEOPLE’S SEXUALITY I stand up for people’s sexuality.

People nowadays commit suicide because people laugh at them for that and I’m just gonna say to you you shouldn’t try to take your life because of other people.

Love yourself the way you are and how you are because I am one of your friends and I won’t care if you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, etc.

Just count on me.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 6

15

Abdriana Cruz

PUERTO RICO I’m in a place that’s hot and peaceful. I ride my bike across the moon, the wind on my face, a good breeze. I like to sing and dance. I wiggle like a snake. I sing like a bird until a big breeze came after me and blew everything away. It took my heart.

It took my soul. I have nothing left, but my family.

We hold hands and fight back. We will never let go of the ones we love.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 3

16

Lilyana Dean

THE GARDEN OF PEACE Where I go is my garden.

I can smell the beautiful flowers and the bees buzzing and the sky so blue and trees so green and the lovely view of everything. Sometimes I’ll even see butterflies. I calm down and all my thoughts will too and I dream I’m in the biggest garden ever. Sometimes my gramma gives me grapes and strawberries and it takes me back to my garden of peace.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

17

Abdiel Delgado Sepulveda

MY GRANDMA My grandma My best friend My friend that passed away My friend that I saw for only two years My friend that helped me with everything My friend that I cuddled with My friend that I helped with the wheelchair My friend that was in bed I miss my best grandma My best friend

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

18

Gabrielle Dispenza

I LOVE EVERYTHING As I swim in the ocean I think of myself as a flower with gorgeous petals flowing through the wind or a bear cub waiting for the warmth of her mother and oh if I was the sun, I’d shine bright just like my mother with all the bright colors in sight with the sun rising every day like me waking up in the morning like a Grizzly Bear

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

19

Yana Fedorishina

WOODEN CHAIR AND THE STEPS Sitting in the world One lonely chair Stable through the years Giving rest to those near The steps near the trees Leading to nowhere Covered in moss So many memories walk upon them The forest so green Containing the old Giving them life A place where they can fall

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

20

Josmairy Felix

GIRLS CAN PLAY SPORTS Girls can help, girls are the new faces of sports.

Girls can stop the bullying.

We have the right to play sports. We are more than beauty, we’re more than make-up.

We’re full of surprises.

We’re waiting to share.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 6

21

Fabiola Figueroa

IN MY MIND When I want peace in my mind I think of beaches. I think in waves, the sweet sun on my head. I always love the sand in my hands. These things make me feel peace in my whole body.

I want to be in the water, the water on my head and in my hair.

It feels so good to see the fish swimming.

When birds are singing the beautiful sound relaxes me, at the beach, feeling the sun on my body is peace for my head.

The air hot and fresh on my face makes me happy all my days.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 6

22

Abby Gerstung

STARING AHEAD What you see ahead of you is ahead of you.

What is behind you is behind you. When that special someone or something is coming, don’t be afraid, go for it, do it. A new face approaches you. It is good to say hello but it is hard to say goodbye.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

23

Brooklyn Gerstung

4-WHEELING I love it Riding in the summer breeze Just saying go faster and faster Seeing the deer scampering away From the loud noise I love riding around a campfire Riding in the summer breeze Riding through muddy fields All I need is 4-Wheeling, I love it!

I love to ride and ride all day long!

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

24

Gianna Gioia

BEYOND MY WINDOW Nature encircles you like vines to a tree The smell, the sound, the feel Runs a shiver down my spine The flowers bloom to life The color splatters the grass like raindrops Those green, green leaves atop the trees Look just like a puffy cloud The bramble blows in the wind blowing, blowing, blowing The birds cooing About to be blown away Just to hear the animal life Means something’s there Waiting, waiting, waiting To be uncovered The sun beams light That makes everything glow What a sight to see What a sight

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

25

Caleb Hansen

THE DARK SHADOW DANCING I am riding my bike in the wind. I feel the shadow of my bike. I feel like the Dark Knight.

I am dancing in my yard as I remember my grandma holding me in her arms.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

26

Annie Henrich

THE SMILE IN THE DEAD DOE Exploring the forest, my cousins and I, They were afraid, but not I The sun was shining, the breeze blowing The smell of the wet ground from an earlier spring shower The chestnut trees shading my eyes The stream rolled so freely, not a care in the world, The leaves falling loosely On the forest floor The silence so deep you could hear a leaf fall, When! Crunch!

I look down, The backbone of a smiley-faced vertebrae I had stepped on a peaceful skeleton

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

27

Cade Jagielo

QUIET PLACE I have a quiet place, the horse barn, so quiet and peaceful and silent. I hear the horses, voices. It is a peaceful place to read a book. Silent, silent, silent, feels so good. I love to hear the birds chirp and go into the nest. I love reading there so quiet, so peaceful and silent.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

28

Olivio Johnson

THE CABIN The ferns rustling in the wind Careful not to get wet I sit by the creek watching time go by And rocks getting pulled in the stream The little newt sitting next to me Almost taken by the rushing water The cabin far behind by now Sitting in the sun For when the monarchs fly by dawn I will be gone for the day

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

29

Elsie Kain

THE WOODS No laughter No voices No sounds but the pair of bare feet hitting the ground Step after step, after step, after step Limbs of bark sweep to the ground as their bodies stand tall Layers of moss hide the ground below No rain has fallen yet the grass and flowers show the tiny droplets yearning for the company of another The wood was silent The wood was full of life Yet the wood was loud Toads croak their melancholy song in a way of harmony As birds flutter and gossip under the morning sun No sounds could be heard Languages surround the forest But the languages fell on deaf ears Not needing the noise only the beauty and with it the silence

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

30

Gabe King

WHEN I’M WITH MY NONA I love being with my Nona, snuggling with her going to church with her having dinner with her going places with her watching movies with her decorating her house with her.

She’s always there for me.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

31

Alice Kish

MY QUIET PLACE My quiet place is in my bedroom.

I read books and draw pictures.

I can hear birds singing.

My guinea pig sometimes makes noises.

My watch chimes.

I hear my brothers playing hockey and I hear music playing.

I sometimes bring a snack with me. My little sister is watching my Mom’s phone. My brother plays his French horn.

In my room, my wallpaper is purple.

My neighbors are sometimes playing outside.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

32

Ashley Koziej

THE BEAT OF THE SONG I love to sing, I can sing all day long.

When the song stops I still sing. Nothing can stop me. I love to sing all different songs. At times I say I will stop, but then you hear me singing again.

Even when I’m reading, I still sing in my head. The beat comes to me, I can’t stop it.

The beat sings. I do, too.

Even when I’m sleeping, you can hear me whispering.

Even when there is something that scares me, you hear me SINGING!

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

33

Althea Kreher

THE COW I am a cow eating green grass, breathing life. I am about 99-years-old. Talking to my friends. I am confused. What should I do? Life is hard for me as a cow. In the night, I am sleeping with dreams everywhere around me. I love to rest in the night. The next day, I do it over and over again.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

34

Camryn Laude-Binder

MY SOCCER TEAM RED BULLS! Run! Run! Run! I use my feet to kick the ball!

I love soccer!

That’s my favorite sport!

We scrimmage!

We get hit in the face sometimes.

Quick! Put ice on it!

Be quick!

Get the ball!

Score!

We won! Yay! We get our snacks, share with the team.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

35

Sofia Lazzaro

SUMMER NIGHT The sun is setting in the west Taking the hard heat of summer with it Leaving me in the cool night Looking up into the clear night time sky Dark as a raven’s feathers Stars like souls of loved ones Looking down on me Nothing but the song of crickets Playing long into the night And wind blowing through the willow tree If only the entire world could be at peace Just as much as I am this very moment

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

36

Catherine Lesh

THE MORNING The sun bright in the bluebell sky over the willow besides the brook.

Next to the hazel with the nesting wren, who sang her song to the morning.

From over the brook where the minnows swam, the starling listened from his perch.

And taking flight from the sycamore tree, He joined her song for the morning.

From further down the river’s path, the call was heard throughout the wood.

As if as one they joined her song.

They joined her song for the morning.

The doe stood still beside the brook between the ferns and holly trees.

And though she had no voice to sing, she listened to the morning.

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

37

Reagan Luck

SILENCE IS PEACEFUL What’s silent?

Are you quiet?

Do you know where my quiet spot is?

My quiet spot is like a dark bear’s den!

I’m like a peacock when its tail feathers open.

No one is always silent.

Wind is silent as can be.

I sometimes don’t know when to be silent.

Is it when I read about silence?

Silence is peaceful like yoga.

Silence needs to be released to everyone in the world.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

38

Alison Mapes

SINGING EMOTIONS It was a day ago when there was a concert.

I was in it. Something started singing but it wasn’t my voice, it was my joy my passion my love my anger and my sadness and it was also my thoughts and it felt good.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

39

Lucy McGreevy

SILENCE Outside in spring in the woods daydreaming the crunchy sound of branches swaying the smell of the sap on the trees the beautiful green leaves so bright I’m as quiet as a deer running through the woods I’m as quiet as a turtle treading the water around me it’s peace just peace it’s quiet as the mountains a great place to be peaceful peace peace peace peace is what I like outside, I can meditate without my siblings annoying me.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

Gabriel Maysonet

MY FATHER This poem is about my dad He was funny and he had a sunny personality I attended a wedding with him, it went fine He was skilled with building out of wood He built me a thing or two

40

41

My dad had a hat which I still have It’s a memory of him Along with the things he built me I was almost his size And as time went by I had to say goodbye

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

42

Kelsey McIntyre

THE LIGHT OF MY SOUL The wind was blowing a peaceful breeze, the sounds of a howling owl.

The wolves were howling. My body never wanted to leave. When I woke up at dawn the sun was a peaceful wave of light. There’s one thing that calms the whole world down.

This wave of light in my soul.

The meditation took me to such a peaceful place, the wind was clear.

All I thought of was the breeze in my face. The feeling of freedom will be there in my heart and soul.

It will never leave, just one more deep breath. It all goes to the colors that were meant to be the light of the day.

My body was a bright light of wind. I was a beautiful butterfly inside my soul.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

43

Lah Cha Plah Moo

I STAND UP FOR GIRLS I stand up for girls’ rights like Malala did for herself and to warn other girls just like her.

I stand up for poor people who don’t have homes to live in or food to eat but one day everything is going to change.

I stand up for the people who don’t have family or have no one to love, but you can stay happy and don’t give up on what you still have.

I stand up for dogs and cats because they get more hurt than the people do; people love cats and dogs but don’t act like it, but I want to have a good place for animals and people.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

44

Shannon Murphy

RED HERRING EXPLOSION Nightly chill But the sand hasn’t completely lost its heat Neither have the ashes of the fire Walking through the water You try to not step on any minnows In the shallows As you turn and see the blooming, violet,

potted flowers on the rocks BOOM The sky explodes in the color of liquorice and bluebells You know today signifies freedom and bravery So you ignore your sister’s warnings and you dive in Lake Erie A red herring wearing shorts Distracts your sister from the sky exploding once again in all glory

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

45

Ayan Noor

MY PLACE The winds are blowing the trees are dancing the sun is glowing the rivers are gleaming and the birds are chirping I feel like I’m dreaming I pinch myself once, then twice it doesn’t work but I say to myself this place is actually nice I look around and see flowers roses, tulips, and even daisies in my mind this place will never be a maybe

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

Kendra Niewczyk

THE ACT Sitting at the table Acting as one Wider than the sky And a bright colorful day With one act of kindness Of love and gold One act could change a life Multiple acts could change many lives Gone with the wind wider than the sky Raising money for Oshei Wearing PJ’s to school To give the joy and happiness to others Using my time To care for others Shining high for all to see I walked through the door Sparkles in my eye Handing out gift cards one by one Family by my side Wider than the sky Bringing joy to other hearts Smiles so big Joy level so high

46

47

Getting Paula’s donuts was the best part Being on the news Getting in the newspaper Having support from family, teachers, and staff Loving the kind young lady right before their eyes Wider than the sky Cozy warm feelings always warm my heart Stepping in and out of places Getting high fives Compliments Thumbs up And warm thoughts wider than the sky The day flashed by Gone with the wind But I am still recognized up to this day I will always remember what I am taught And I will always be a generous girl For all to see Loving all And being an example for younger ones To open up and spread their wings Some just need a push while others need a shove Either way everyone is different And expresses themselves in a unique way.

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

48

Sabrin Noor

ANGEL I am the beat of your music The sound of your voice The movement of your dance I am the angel of your heart waiting for your move to start in the bright light sky Watching you sing in the dark night sky Shine in the shimmering sun.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 3

49

Alberto Oquendo

MY BAD DAY On my first day in school I missed, missed my island and my grandmother and my family. Everyone in the class was helping me but one day they started bullying me, called me a snitch and didn’t want to help me. Then I went home and told my mom and we solved that problem with Miss Caras, and Mrs. Peek and Mrs. Kuras who helped me with everything.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 6

50

Alexander Padilla

SHADOWS, BUT A BOY I am a wolf haunting your dreams! You don’t want to get on my bad side. I don’t like to do much. My good side shines bright like a star. My bad side is dark and shadowy like the night sky. Call me Shadow Boy.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 3

51

Josh Pearl

FORGOTTEN WORDS The adder moves toward the field of brambles it is the color of chestnuts and mud it turns direction toward the tree of ivy and heads toward the next pasture

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

52

Samuel Pingitore

THE GARDEN I sit and watch the birds fly by and it’s quiet around here I’m all alone looking at the flowers grow there’s no more noise or stress no listening to my sister I lay back on the rocks and relax.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

53

Zuleaniz Pizarro

NATURE’S BEAUTIFUL I love nature so one place I would go

to is a hill or a valley with trees all around

me and I’d pick one tree the most special one and just sit there

reading a book that makes me imagine

word for word

or I would go on adventures with my sister

on a hot summer day and just take pictures

of the trees or the animals or maybe just sit there for a second and

enjoy life.

One thing that truly gives me

peace is sitting in my room looking through the window at the beautiful trees

and watching the birds chirp or maybe just draw everything so I wouldn’t forget it.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 6

54

Reagan Polkowski

SLEEPY DREAMS I am a star that falls into your dreams to make you go crazy to stay asleep.

I am the moon bouncing with the stars around your mind to make you spin around.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

55

Rae’Jalise Ramos

MY PERSONALITY a fortune cookie poem It was a beautiful day.

I was a polar bear skating across the ice, struggling not to fall. I was saying to myself “Act as if it was impossible to fail.” I encouraged myself to win. When I got it, I felt like I was an angel flying in the sky. I felt like I would never fail.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 3

Normarieliz Santiago Reyes

56

FEELING PEACE AT THE BEACH What I want to do is go to the beach because there I feel the peace I want to swim with a lot of peace because the beach is the place I want to be, with the dolphins, feeling like a mermaid the clouds feeling proud.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 6

57

Lily Rieman

SAFE the soft lady always gentle with life her voice hypnotizes you drops you into a pit of slumber her soft face crescents gently bringing you back even though you want to stay

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

58

Orlianys Rivera-Pagan

THE OUTSIDE RIVERS I like to go to the beautiful rivers. I like when birds sing.

There are a lot of flowers.

I love the trees. There’s a lot of green.

And there’s a cat in the sea. I go rescue him and he goes free. The beautiful sky is so blue, I imagine I am up there and with you, too.

I see a monkey, it is funny and cool. It never gives up just like my mom.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 3

59

Kieran Roeser

BRAZIL IS A CRAZY PLACE Brazil is a crazy place.

Once I saw a cow trying to get a taxi, but the driver said “No animals allowed!”

And then the cow said “But I need a ride!” Maybe you saw it, too, when you were riding your bike or when you were walking.

I don’t know, but it sure was a crazy sight.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

60

Victoria Sรกnchez

CAMPFIRE I set out my chair by the fire watching its smoke float into the clear sky.

Trees engulf that sky.

I can only see small streaks of light where I still sit near the warm fire, with the smoke.

Birds fly to each other, in the peace of the afternoon.

They chirp into the silence.

Cicadas are in the grass around me.

They rub their feet for a soft, and low humming sound.

And the squirrels.

Oh the squirrels, you can hear them, running around looking and looking for the perfect place to lay their acorn to rest for the upcoming winter.

But here I am still next to the fire, with the smoke.

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

61

Danielle Taylor

CATCH ME FIRST People know me as funny, weird, and smart. But what the people don’t know is I love to sing and dance. I sing more and dance when I feel like dancing, especially when I’m happy.

I don’t care about what people think of me because it never gets to me and it never will. Hopefully, one day you’ll hear me sing or see me dance but you’ll have to catch me first.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 6

62

Nilson Rivera Torres

THE MASTER HAWK hawks in the sky hawks in the branches hawks see prey hawks eat prey fire on fire off hawks can hunt no matter what green hills grey hills rocks pollution nothing can stop the hawk sharp beak sharp nails sharp everything what about you water flowing on a beach hawks eyes wide look out for the master bird hunter

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 3

63

Myah Rodriguez

DO YOUR DANCE I dance like the wind on a windy day.

So cool and breezy and sometimes I dance like a flower when the wind blows it back and forth.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 3

64

Jaemeir Smith

I DAYDREAM I daydream about going to space I daydream about me I daydream about what we do when we die I daydream about life I daydream about helping disabled kids/people I daydream about me helping homeless kids/people I daydream about my family

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 5

65

Jose Vega III

ABOUT ME Hi, my name is Jose Vega III. I am nine years old. I was born July 2nd, 2009, just two days before the fourth of July. I am a viper in the ground, vicious and cool. I am the water in the pool, so warm and fun. I am Einstein, so smart and ready. I am not scared of Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, PS 76 Grade 3

66

Liam Wedgewood

I AM THE ANIMAL I am a sloth moving s-l-o-w-l-y.

I am a hawk who’s watching through the night.

I am a dragon who flies around the castle.

I am a tornado who sucks up houses.

I am a rabbit who runs around the world.

I am an iguana who likes to be lazy like me.

I am a T-Rex who is king of the dinosaurs.

I am a child who cannot be taken from my family.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

67

Evan Winter

I AM I am the great Arctic Sea never stopping.

I am a cheetah never giving up on myself.

I am a blue whale, old and wise.

I am strong like the Rock.

I am hard as obsidian.

I am Harry Potter, big and brave.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

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Ella Wittmeyer GRATIFYING In the dark, everything is slow When it is bright, nothing moves slow enough to perceive The dark is all consuming and catches its surroundings

entirely, like hot tar Searching the dark is going on an adventure

without a map nor compass It becomes a torturous and scary residence

with no aid whatsoever The only thing to do in the dark is wait There are two things possible in the dark: Grief and freedom Silence consumes and converts to grief It travels from the inside out, resulting in slow

and unsure panic Freedom presents difficult journey for its discovery The freedom of peaceful silence and created worlds The freedom of traveling your mind

and coming upon new familiar faces you know but you still do not know entirely There are two possible ends to freedom The grief of a monster, or the floor, stopping you like a wall Or the gratifying light

Orchard Park Middle School Grade 7

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Evan Yang

I DON’T HAVE SILENCE You can ask me do I have a time of silence in my life but I would say no because of my noisy sister who always yells my name and looks everywhere for me. So, I have no spot for a time of silence. When her friend came over, I would still not have a place of silence.

Know why? Because they would laugh so loud like the window’s going to break. So, don’t ask me ever again, please don’t ask me ever again from now on.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

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Ava Zellner

I AM AN ARTIST I am an artist painting on canvas after canvas, one doodle after another.

I paint tiny stars in a big galaxy, blue, purple, pink, black in the Milky Way. I am an artist.

Akron Elementary School Grade 3

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 the University at Buffalo SUNY in 2008. Recently, work from his series Bad Medicine was included in the exhibition Rust Belt Bienniel.

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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 ofthe unconscious.

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.

Just Buffalo Teaching Artists

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LAURA MARRIS’ poems appear or are forthcoming in The Yale Review, The North American Review, The Cortland Review, The Volta, Washington Square Review, and elsewhere. Recent translations include Paol Keineg’s Triste Tristan and Other Poems (co-translated with Rosmarie Waldrop for Burning Deck Press), and she is currently at work on a new translation of Albert Camus’ The Plague. Her work has been supported by a MacDowell Colony Fellowship and a Daniel Varoujan Award from the New England Poetry Club.

She teaches creative writing at the University at Buffalo.

JAKE REBER is an artist, writer, and educator living in Buffalo, NY, where he co-curates hystericallyreal.com.

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

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Just Buffalo Teaching Artists

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.

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.

RACHELLE TOARMINO is a writer and editor from Niagara Falls, New York. She is the author of the poetry collection That Ex (Big Lucks Books, 2020) and the chapbooks Feel Royal (b l u s h lit, 2019) and Personal & Generic (PressBoardPress, 2016). Her writing has appeared in Cosmonauts Avenue, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Metatron, and Shabby Doll House, and has been anthologized in The Cosmonauts Avenue Anthology and My Next Heart: New Buffalo Poetry. She is the founding editor in chief of Peach Mag and the editor of the anthology With You: Withdrawn

Just Buffalo Teaching Artists

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Poetry of the #MeToo Movement. She lives in Buffalo, where she works as the communications and development manager of Arts Services Initiative of Western New York.

BEE WALSH is a poet born and raised in New York City. Her book, Manning Up is forthcoming from West44 Books. She is the poetry editor for UK-based Synaesthesia Magazine and a freelance editor for-hire. Her work has appeared in Wyvern Lit, Velvet Tail, Vagabond Lit, Riggwelter, and The Vagina Zine. She is currently living in Buffalo, NY where she is a poetry advocate all over the city.

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 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

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and Galilean premiered at Torn Space 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.

JUST BUFFALO WRITING CENTER

Welcome to the

Dear Reader, All of the pieces in this section of Wordplay were written by writers that attend Just Buffalo’s Writing Center, an afterschool “incubator for creativity” for teens passionate about words. As JBWC Youth Ambassador, Danny, so eloquently describes: There’s a feeling that some writers get, the feeling of having words just trapped inside you. You curl your fingers in need of a pen and paper, your heart pounds with adrenaline but you keep it bottled up. I would get that feeling all the time. But, at the JBWC, whenever I step into the welcoming, book-covered walls, my motivation comes rushing back to me. It’s almost like the walls are filled with magic, telling me, “Write!

Write like the world depends on it!”

Maybe these poems were written quietly in a notebook on a simple wood table to help someone process a feeling of panic.

Maybe they were written collaboratively in Sharpie on a giant scroll of paper mounted to the wall during the unending dregs of winter. Maybe they were written in Bidwell Park at a picnic while playing a Simon Says-inspired language experiment.

Maybe they were written in response to a prompt from a National Book Award-winning poet who sat across from us at

that same, simple wood table and encouraged us to consider the deeper meanings of the words we’ve taken for granted.

No matter how or when these pieces were created, there’s no doubt: the poems you are about to read were written like the world depends on it. Because it does.

Sincerely,

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 every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 3:30–6:00pm.

Beyond our workshop series, JBWC youth get to meet awardwinning authors, are given platforms from which to share their work and talents, and are invited to take part in local arts and community events.

Just Buffalo Writing Center

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"TODAY YOU WEAR THE COLD”: SURVIVING BUFFALO WINTER — JBWC Collaboration MAKE YOUR OWN LEMONADE, WITHOUT ANY OF THOSE UNNERVING PRESERVATIVES — Elle Bader-Gregory THE GAY BLACK MEN WHO DIDN’T MAKE IT — Angel Barber STARING INTO THE SUN — Matt Beebe SOFT AND SENSIBLE — Theo Bellavia-Frank POSTCARD — Jhordyn Brown BOOM THE CONNECTION — Bushraa Choudhury WOMANIST — Sage Enderton HORROR STORY — Juliette Falzone IN THE END, WE KNEW THERE WOULD BE A DEBT TO PAY — Autumn Giordano DULL EYES AND BRIGHT LIPS — Zanaya Hussain SPACE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT ME — Birch Kinsey BEHIND THE SCENES — Rinn Kress MOURNING THE LOSS OF A WELL-SPENT SUMMER — Ayden Link SEASONS — Eden Lowinger and Danny Merlino NEWBORN — Eden Lowinger REVENGE — Carol McGuire CRYING IN A COFFEE SHOP (EDIT: IN FRONT OF MY MOM): Danny Merlino MY GODDESS — Jahton Perry ROADS — Marissa Morris I KNOW A POISON YOU DO NOT — LC Rachuna THE FURTHEST POINT — Trinity Ridout PHOTOGRAPH — Katie Rooney THE JOY OF TOGETHERNESS — Taylor Yarns

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Just Buffalo Writing Center Collaboration

"TODAY YOU WEAR THE COLD�: SURVIVING BUFFALO WINTER inspired by Emily Jungmin Moon & Jill Osier Frost and crusted snot.

As familiar, as fanatic as chicken wings, as footballs flattened to dust.

I'll tell you this: today you are trapped in the snow globe of an excitable 8 year old.

Her eyelashes the maestro of snowflakes and her curiosity turns you upside down.

Her face is protected by a damp knit scarf, and she reaches out to you. Tells you to stick out your tongue. Borrow from the past.

Let the wind play a role. The role of the hero dancing through all the streets forever, and forever.

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Elle Bader-Gregory

MAKE YOUR OWN LEMONADE, WITHOUT ANY OF THOSE UNNERVING PRESERVATIVES In a storage room having a panic attack halfway through the July heat Hand me your favorite tap shoes the pine-sol we’ll clean the floors and organize the coat hangers together (by size, color, strength, and general friendliness) Bathe the whole world in citrus neck craned like a sunflower in search of a stolen light and eating silence like the hearts of lemons Zest in between my teeth That’s today’s problem

The Park School of Buffalo Grade 9

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Angel Barber

THE GAY BLACK MEN WHO DIDN’T MAKE IT how will I feel about ghosts come morning time will the weight of my brothers sink past my shoulders into shallow end if I drown in footsteps was his pain worth a swim did he ever think about me probably not too busy running from cops or bruised up in cold air too poor and sick to sustain too young and free to care not free at all chained and institutionalized or locked inside his own mind breaking apart was status quo living in these horrors so eloquently I wanna know his intentions but is there ever intention in oppression choking up while dead staring the beast wasn’t an option back then midst of tragedy it’s safe to say he wasn’t thinking about me the product of his labors and I do not think about him or the homeless on the street the men and women in pain I turn a blind guilty eye

Frederick Law Olmsted School, PS 156 Grade 11

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Matt Beebe

STARING INTO THE SUN I see his face and shudder. His hair too silky and ginger to resist. His eyes an endless pool of caramel joy I could drown myself in and thank him for the experience. But when I touch his slender jaw, when my fingertips brush his ginger hair, it burns.

His eyes are a small girl under the age of six. She holds her ice cream cone in one hand until it drops onto the cement blocks beneath her feet. Against her father’s wishes, who stands to her right, she stares directly into the sun. Unable to look away.

To stare into the eyes of the sun— it is agony.

To embrace the beauty of our Earth’s light is impossible for the girl, though it pains her so.

Such is my agony. To stare directly into the sun is to look into his eyes.

And to feel his body is to feel my eyes burn against the light.

The Park School of Buffalo Grade 9

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Theo Bellavia-Frank

SOFT AND SENSIBLE with lines from Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost Love’s feeling is more soft and sensible Than fear, who bends them to his will Love guides from hate and dark to light It ends the endless moonless night Still climbing trees in the Hesperides?

As the sun sets, the clear voice sings One burden for another, and Heracles Takes the earth upon his holy wings To fast, to study, and to see no woman Men say it’s too much to bear But if Hercules could Hera’s apples summon Does that combat Aphrodite, kind and fair?

As bright as Apollo's lute, strung with his hair, the god sees another nymph standing there Why does he make effort, why does he care?

For love is soft and sensible, and does not err.

Amherst Middle School Grade 8

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Jhordyn Brown

POSTCARD How blue are you?

Are you dying to live?

Tied up like the laces of a shoe?

Could you ever reap to give?

Do you ever wonder about an unheard sound?

Maybe an ego slain?

Or the weightlessness of ground?

Amherst Central High School Grade 10

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Bushraa Choudhury

BOOM THE CONNECTION Cubes slip beneath the table.

Save the butterflies from flames.

(Boom the connection) of crumble leaves.

Return to the ground. I didn't want it but it had to happen. Sorry for tearing your life line apart. It was better the second time. After, I had my honey med and returned to the rigged grass crying regret in sync with the wind. Sorry I've eaten you. But you made my head spin.

SUNY Erie Community College 2nd Year

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Sage Enderton

WOMANIST I wish I had been told

that being a woman means being

image means

made of rust. Growing in Venus’

you learn to be unraveled by the color red.

You will always find yourself

folded over and rotted a broken wine crate

at the foot of Dionysus A ghost waiting to grasp the sky.

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 12

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Juliette Falzone

HORROR STORY They say the outcome depends on the beginning. Although, somehow, something tells me that’s not true. It seems to be the opposite. Although, it’s kind of hard to tell when the only thing you can see with the one eye that isn’t perpetually swinging from its socket is what little blood you have left dripping down from your wrists because the chains you bear in the basement are too tight. Everything is covered in dust down here. Bookshelves cluttered with dust, tables filled with trays full of dust, bags full of dust. Some of the bags are filled with rotten fruit. Everything smells the same. It smells like being buried six-feet-deep. I can feel somehow too. I can feel all around the room and I don’t understand why I can feel everything and yet it all feels the same. It’s soft and delicate like lace. I’ve never liked the way lace feels but I guess that is what this is supposed to be. Everything I hate.

Kenmore West High School Grade 10

Autumn Giordano

IN THE END, WE KNEW THERE WOULD BE A DEBT TO PAY How is it that my heart ties itself into a tight untie-able knot right when someone knocks to get in How is it that some people can listen and believe everything they hear How is it that when my heart is in a knot the one sliver of doubt in my head is bombed And every limb on my body goes numb Every thought in my brain goes dumb

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And every answer I say seems to wrap itself around me and make me regret the honest words that seem to come out of my mouth in a rhythm It seems people like to talk more than listen You realize you knew there was a wrinkle in the shirt the whole time that you couldn’t iron out

Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, PS 192 Grade 9

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Zanaya Hussain

DULL EYES AND BRIGHT LIPS Her eyes are dull, but her lipstick is always bright.

Hair styled and breasts out.

Smooth skin covered her thumping heart.

She was everything they wanted, though she never knew what she needed herself.

Stilettos made the edges of her feet ache, but she always seemed to make due.

She exclaimed at a constant how much they all wanted her, though she never told us whether she wanted them.

But everyone knows that bruises can be covered up with makeup, and how easily blood dries, and how often screams are muffled before the bed is even made.

Her body belonged to society. Her voice? Stolen.

How would she know what love felt like if she was never taught? Instead we blame sexism on history and culture.

When really screeching fathers and complacent mothers bloom insecure girls.

But it’s alright, because there are always more eyes to look at and more lips to kiss.

City Honors School, PS 95 Grade 11

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Birch Kinsey

SPACE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT ME and it's impossible to disappoint the sun You'll live and die looking up at the stars Seasons will churn on and my children will join me All we made of ourselves will turn to mud and soil From under the ground we’ll wonder

if the stars know they meet an end too Oblivious? Or unbothered…they’ll just keep on burning

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 12

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Rinn Kress

BEHIND THE SCENES Do you cry in contact lenses?

Are you numb in tailored costumes?

Is there anyone out there who truly knows you anymore?

Has your personality become a character to be?

Does our applause tear through your nightmares as a painful memory?

Do your routines feel robotic?

Is this really what you wanted?

If you could go back now and change it would you change it and be free?

Does your head ache every day with all the things you couldn’t say?

Do you look out at all the faces and wish that they’d just go away?

In our eyes you fake perfection.

Go home and stare at your reflection.

Everything you do always watched through a magnifying glass.

The thoughts are raging in your mind.

You have no choice but to be “fine.”

Why do they blame you? It’s impossible to keep it all inside.

Home School Grade 10

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Ayden Link

MOURNING THE LOSS OF A WELL-SPENT SUMMER an early august evening keeps me awake with unknown faces that I see in my dreams twenty years from now laughing with an unknown boy getting my ears pierced by an unnamed girl with a face as pure as the moon and eyes green as moss-covered logs late nights yelling at an old wooden chapel cool mountain air floating off the lake my first breath and I rise this place has my heart rooted like the massive oaks that surround us

Hamburg High School Grade 9

Eden Lowinger and Danny Merlino

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SEASONS I’m angry at the mucus frozen in my throat waiting for the beginning I never asked to believe in but you made me After the equinox she woke with the sun nestled into the whites of her eyes like the chickadees that started to build their raptures of twig.

What made a bird’s nest a home, she wondered, and why did garlic start to grow before the last frost? an angry sunlight streams down, melting the snow in my eyes. icicles on my back ripping the fabric of the school bus seats you’re always the same, aren’t you?

Her daffodils, so hasty after their hibernation, had the vestiges of winter killed.

She planted them late fall and already they seemed to crave sunny cataracts.

Still, the awakening of nature’s mouth made her skip when no one was watching.

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death, rebirth of what? people and leaves leaves that you created where did they go?

And when the snow had lost its fury and the first few bright days had passed, the leaves of autumn soon became compost - and as her garden woke she remembered twelve. On the year’s first hike she had fallen into stinging nettle, how like embroidery her tights were pierced. crack my knuckles like the stems of the leaves blood making the snow cherry-flavored a disgusting rebirth i don’t even remember but the birth is all we look forward to And she remembered that somehow this pain was artful, as it carried her home on her father’s shoulders and seemed to harbor warmth. who are you rebirthing?

City Honors School, PS 195 (Grade 12) Hamburg High School (Grade 9)

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Eden Lowinger

NEWBORN You have crafted a bale of bone and skin for nine months, and here her crowned head is with the musk of muted wildflowers.

You sit and know that you are sterile, because as you nurse you stare at the hospital pink vomit bucket on your bed counter.

She’s pulling away, yet you dig your fingers into her soft spots and somewhere between the plates of her skull you remember the eighth month. How your skin stretched into ribbons and her limbs like rolling veins had crowded your intestines. You recall how the five men waiting for the outbound train had frightened you, as they jumped on the mattress you left for trash. The seventh month saw you wide eyed while she slept, how like a briefcase you started to dread her and the prenatal gummies your boss offered you turned colorless on your windowsill. And now you recall six months, how the sparrows began to crowd your fire escape — they sang past your fingers while your daughter held your bladder in her own. The fifth month had you gnawing at stock bones and ordering marrow at restaurants — how in the fourth, you knew your fetus was soon to form fingernails while your placenta fed the keratin.

And you felt a fool — of course you had been warned against her but it was all too soon. You’d not known until the third month that it was possible for something to call you mother.

How quiet the first two had been, how autumn settled as dust and the trees reached bare in the wind. You preferred the emptiness you housed then to the milk.

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 12

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Carol McGuire

REVENGE I am in a large shipping port. The beeping of various machinery is almost deafening.

I wish I could see the water but the boats are too close to the dock. There are seagulls perched atop the shipping crates. It’s oddly relaxing. Igor, servant to Victor Frankenstein, taps me on the shoulder and hands me a microphone. He nods to me, telling me I already know what to do. I yell into the microphone, controlling the seagulls around the port. Igor and I stand together with our new seagull army.

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 11

Danny Merlino

CRYING IN A COFFEE SHOP (EDIT: IN FRONT OF MY MOM) you let me in my body an empty shell a candy wrapper of compost my veins and arteries pumping with anger you let me in a cavern of a house that didn’t exist and you gave me a skeleton you gave me muscles you gave me myself you stitched our skin together until we became one person a mess of extra limbs and too many eyes but the thread was made of metal and the metal began to rust because i poured the water

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you stared at me as my skin began to wilt becoming the color of your worst enemy i was the half of your whole a leech that sewed herself on a bud on your coral but i could only see the red in your blue the bitterness in your sweet i filled my lungs with oxygen oxygen that belongs to you you cracked my knuckles for me and i cracked your neck in return

Hamburg High School Grade 9

Jahton Perry

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MY GODDESS draw your sword and fight for her/ her is life/ strife stored in/ psyche wards and/ I found in/ my bones it’s/ biologic/ my thoughts are just bi-products/ of thy goddess/ thy goodness/ my goodness/ I’m just psychotic/ I guess I oughta/ die/ but if I must why not diabolic/ I find thy goddess/ quite ironic/ wise wise goddess/ I cry out blind why thou hide thy knowledge/ like I believe you’re love/ I mean… I believe you’re lovely/ I believe you’re to me/ like the bee to honey/ why do you treat me funny/ I perceive that I’m receiving some sort of slightest treatment from thee/ you tell me “go write a speech about it”/ so I proceed to write and speak about it/ I’m petite finite perhaps even obsolete without you/ All I think about is how I think about you/ tell myself to stop with all the pity partying/ pouting

cause it’s really/ started/ piling/ on me/

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like sides upon a/ polygon/ god I call upon thee/ god I saw your opposite and I’m the carbon copy/ is this why I desire props and paparazzi/ why I’m repulsive by default and ultimately faulty/ there’s a frightening mighty hungry/ parasite inside my tummy/ maybe I should try and fight it lipo/suction style/

grab a knife/ and cut it out/ sell it online at least try and get some money/ for this vile creature that has stolen my childhood from me/ I believe that even Jesus might proceed to judge me/ I have seen the heebee jeebees/

there are mighty creatures coming/ I must be quiet hide or else they find me! but if by the Goddess I was not constructed/ how my words mighty strong cometh/ in onslaughts like the old comets/ that wiped the dinosaurs off the earth

and made ice become of the dust from them/ I exist because of them/ I come from the jungle!/

Villa Maria College First Year

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Marissa Morris

ROADS Like “all roads lead to Rome” and “country roads take me home” you can go down long roads like the I-90 and end up in a different town.

I’m not sure where that one goes.

Rochester? Niagara Falls?

You can use roads to go to New York to tall buildings.

Like a downtown that never ends.

So full and the lights are so bright it’s like the sun never sets.

It must never be calm?

Like when it’s 3am in Buffalo and it’s so quiet and empty that it feels like the world has gone still.

City Honors School, PS 95 Grade 11

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LC Rachuna

I KNOW A POISON YOU DO NOT My breath is lost in the color of these veins Corroded The heart’s cage is brittle Set free the murder of crows Who are you?

Bitter saliva A question returned in silence Duly noted

Grade 11

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Trinity Ridout THE FURTHEST POINT inspired by “The Waves” by Diana Goetsch How long does it take to say I was wrong? There are too many words between yes and no, and too many mistakes between the poles.

People always complain about the water, but never the waves.

We say it’s too cold, too deep, too all-encompassing. I embrace the water.

Sometimes I run into the lake making splashes in the murkiness.

I feel mud in my toes like the squelching gurgle of a hungry stomach, like when I eat dinner at 5 o’clock and stay up too late, feeling empty at dawn, realizing my own humanity. But when I don’t feel mud, when I stand on dry land, it feels fuller than bursting suitcases strapped to car roofs. Where do sin and sinner meet?

Drowning in the lake I am absolved by dark eyes wearied by regret.

Blood in murky water, it’s hard to find my way home.

City Honors School, PS 195 Grade 12

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Katie Rooney

PHOTOGRAPH I smell the leaves, their musty scent lingering in the air.

I smell a certain freshness. Signaling new beginnings, an end to the old.

I smell the wind —how so, it is impossible to pinpoint — carrying everything on its back.

I smell the nearby construction, I hear the buzz of construction.

I feel exhilarated.

Something good is going to happen.

I will grow up.

I won’t hold back.

Stop tripping over myself.

Nardin Academy 7th Grade

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Taylor Yarns

THE JOY OF TOGETHERNESS with lines from Jaime Joyce’s “Let’s Make It Easier for Kids to Visit Incarcerated Parents”

I sit in a classroom of 2.7 million future tragedies.

Boys that carry their parents’ hope that their son will be the one to win a war that has never seen a victor and girls that skip lunch to practice their smiles in the bathroom mirror for their inevitable appearance on the milk carton.

All the toothy smiles I have loved since third grade— nothing but collateral damage in the eyes of the law.

The boy next to me hasn’t stopped fidgeting all day.

Exactly a year ago, his mama poked fun at his restlessness, told him that she would tie a bell around his neck so that she would hear him whenever he moved and no one would ever take him away.

Now he wishes that he had done the same to her.

The boy’s mother was in prison and that is what he said when the teacher asked what had been troubling him.

Note: This poem won first prize in the Pulitzer Center’s Fighting Words Poetry Contest City Honors School, PS 95 Grade 11