vol. 50 iss. 2
A 2016
Staff • Lili Tucker • Lauren Bernard • Kennedy Price • George Whitehill • Troy Workman • Megan Nalamachu • Jia Tucker • Miles Luce
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Introduction This year is one for the history books. After our Royals won the World Series, our community basked in the glow of Kansas City’s greatness. Within the walls of Barstow, we too have a very special thing to commemorate—Agathon’s fiftieth issue. Our Agathon staff has decided to celebrate our historic year with the creation of two issues to fully memorialize the literary genius of our three divisions. In our first issue, we featured the creative, refreshing thoughts of our Lower and Middle Schoolers. We picked their minds with our school-wide writing prompts that ranged from asking what they wanted to be when they grew up to inquiring about their thoughts on fall. This spring, we have published yet another issue featuring works from the High School and faculty.
—The Agathon Staff
Featured Andrew Aklagi Ryan Mohamadi Alexa Birt Ethan Onyszchuk Natalie Beyer Solomon Park Alec Brandt Rosie Pasqualini Danielle Davis Emily Reed Ethan Doskey Michaela Roxas Otto Eulart Tyler Sabapathy Daniel Ge Katharina Staecker Katherine Grabowsky Allie Tappan Emily Hattan Isabelle Top Mallory Hilvitz Anish Vadlamani Miles Knight Gary Whittaker Elizabeth Leach Troy Workman Shanley Lenart Xingtao Liu
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Troy Workman • Grade 11
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Chasing the Wind
There is such thing as a stupid question To be or not to be That is a stupid question For what is the point of being If all that is done, Will be undone. For if you are “be-ing” You will eventually not be
Alec Brandt • Grade 9
To Be or Not to Be
Shanley Lenart • Grade 12
Time crumples like paper does in his hand He was young, nostalgic Not long ago was he chasing the wind, Motivating himself again and again each time he failed He always forgot to consider time as the ultimate problem, Instead he would fret about the sweat on his neck, Quickly quitting assuming tomorrow would be the day And the sun cease to consume him the next day That day never came Instead time was prioritized to the real issues in the world, And he was forced to forget the dream he had He became part of a system, A machine that aesthetically looked unique, But it lived the same life as the others We live, we breathe, we die. Why not spend our time chasing the wind?
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Tao Liu • Grade 9
Michaela Roxas • Grade 12
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Video Games
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I sit on the edge of my seat, Waiting, thinking, watching, My eyes filled by a reflection, And my hand filled with a controller.
I start to drift away I start to become entangled within the Complex world. I look down, I am no longer on my couch I touch the ground and feel cold stone Looking up I immediately recognize the surroundings I start to take a step, And before I could move I hear a voice, My eyes burst open and my head jerks forwards. My dad calls for me again as I whisper, I need to stop playing so many video games.
Tyler Sabapathy • Grade 9
I vigorously press the buttons, And the screen buzzes with movement I dash to the right and quickly lounge back My hands move without any command.
Emily Reed • Grade 12
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Bamboozling Cranberries
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While walking through the woods One dark fall evening, I started dreaming of what would happen If I ate the gleaming cranberries.
I stopped to think while leaning on A nearby tree, But then I thought to myself, “What I am thinking, why is this Tree bamboozling me.” Finally I went to the tree, And I grabbed a cranberry. Stuffing it in my mouth, I realized That these bamboozling Cranberries were poisonous, And I fell down in agony Next to the bamboozling cranberry tree
Andrew Aklagi• Grade 9
As I walked toward the berries I started believing that what I was Seeing is very deceiving.
Isabelle Top • Grade 10
Alexa Birt • Grade 12
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Goodbye to the Gray
Ethan Onyszchuk • Grade 10
The sun shines and makes the day warm we enjoy it and cherish the day given to us. But we are too blind to see the oncoming storm And we abandon the metals outside to rust. The rain starts softly, gently brushing the ground We panic and scramble to get indoors But the rain picks up, so does the sound And we bid farewell to the beautiful day That was mine and yours. Lightning strikes and brings crackles and flashes We wait in anticipation for the thunder that follows But all to be heard is the sound Of the river bank and water crashes And we look to the gloomy sky, Reminded of our sorrows The clouds break and the sky clears We return to the fields to resume the day But we know that the storms will return for years And we say hello to the sun And goodbye to the gray.
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Allie Tappan• Grade 11
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White crystals form in the corners of the window The bitter air stings my delicate flesh The grass is stiff and cracks each time I take a step My breath forms a stream of a cloud-like figure Bricks that are my feet drag on the ground Numb, I sit on the roots of an oak The night stars laugh at me, The moon shows me the way Crawling, I reach the doorstep of a cabin, Curling up like a cat, the darkness falls over me.
Katharina Staecker • Grade 10
Woods in Winter
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Unicorns Emily Hattan • Grade 10
Unicorns are weapons coated in glitter They look fluffy and nice They poop rainbows And vomit bright colored candy Their horns are shiny and glittery But if you get too close They could impale you So maybe the reason no one knows if unicorns exist Is because the unicorns stabbed them With their fancy horns So be careful around unicorns
Michaela Roxas • Grade 12
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Senioritis
Haikus are pointless Haikus are not lines or planes No place for a point
Miles Knight• Grade 10
Haiku on Haikus
Katherine Grabowsky • Grade 12
Staring at the clock, I sit in class as the teacher talks, About probability and stats, Or the anatomy of the wings on bats. Days seem never ending, And college apps are still pending. Soon enough winter break rolls around, And I am second semester senior bound. Week now quickly pass by, And it is May in the blink of an eye. It is now my last History of Kansas City test, And English essays no longer make me stressed. The senior lounge is almost passed on, To the Junior class to have their senior fun. I am taking my last walk down the Barstow Halls, As I look at the student artwork covered walls. I parade in my white dress down the Barstow lawn, And senioritis is officially gone.
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Emily Reed • Grade 12
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Motherland
The summer’s gone, wind blows the souls to heaven Leaves have fallen down, telling an epic war; Toward the east, the devil’s being driven Thousands of horns unleash the thunderous roar. Arose, arose, hearing the jovial waves of them One piece of land, one drip of patriot’s blood; Crushing the foes, or capitulating to them Oh, motherland, we will preserve your life blood!
They say that April Showers Bring May flowers I find it interesting That the sky’s mourning Begins the ground’s renewal What happens deep in the clouds That brings such brightness to the Earth?
Emily Reed • Grade 12
April Showers
Daniel Ge • Grade 9
Shivering fingers and quivering land Nothing can stop the beast’s command Soldiers exclaim: comrades, we shall stand Liberty is in peril, defend our homeland!
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Gary Whittaker • Grade 12
Ryan Mohamadi• Grade 10
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Under my faux leather, I see her. Shapely bliss, curls and cotton blends. Designer jeans, authentic fur and cascading locks. How unbelievably real and original she is How imperfectly perfect she is. What a dream it is to know her. How lonely I’d be without her.
Ethan Doskey • Grade 10
To Know Her
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A Belief in Clouds Anish Vadlamani • Grade 12
I used to stare at clouds They would show me Exhaustion was just the price of success When out of breath The clouds showed me how to believe Belief in myself, belief in me But as I believed, I could see The only one who believed was me I would stumble The clouds showed me no more But as I laid a failure I realized something obscure The only belief I need Is belief in me And as I believed, The clouds showed once more Exactly what I believe for.
Allie Tappan• Grade 11
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Lessons
But by the same token Look for beauty And beauty you will find it
I leave with these humble words And hope You listened carefully and closely And looked into these humble words closely
Solomon Park • Grade 9
It was a cold but summer day The rain was pouring but it wasn’t cloudy that day And I was left in the rain A relationship is two sided A rain of sadness that day Its takes two to tango As i watched a girl leave me that day Yes I turned a new leaf Looked into my cup of tea But one to be undecided And saw the future stare at me Forget the ones that left Forget those That forgot you Forget the unkempt sadness that’s left But above all Live in the now Live in the now Not the past Not the past Dare to dream Plan for the future As you can not plan for the past Listen to the yes sayers and Not the nay sayers This is the truth That I learned from mistakes A thousand mistakes Solves a thousand problems You learn from your mistakes So you don’t make mistakes And look at least once into Your cup of tea Do not look for perfection Where you will not find it The decision is yours Evidence provided If you look for flaws But think of this Then flaws you will find them When the other is undecided
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Shanley Lenart • Grade 12
Ethan Doskey • Grade 10
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HAPPY!HAPPY!HAPPY!
Rosie Pasqualini • Grade 12
The hospital chapel and the limousine Make the same lump In my thoughts, like a light-tumor. So does viibrydlexaproadderallprozacvyvanse-So does the half half half breath Before they touch you. OxyContin, you say? The Bonding hormone? The clean, serene Chime tones Of seratonin? Or don’t you mean D o p a m i n e? Before the fall you called it the God-feeling. But Tate’s oblivionHA-HAChanged that. Words are vague approximation Of the truth - la vague de l’esprit qui fabrique l’infini-and feelings Are the language of the damned, the master’s unlasting masterpiece. We were sitting In the guts Of the hospital chapel and the limousine There was no difference But indifference, the gentle emptiness after.
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Mallory Hilvitz
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Memory
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Beyond this misted lake I see a face Of which is filled with sweet and sonorous sorrow, This wretched thing a burden to erase This horrid beauty, fading, hard and hollow
Remembering is a truly awful task, I find it too defiling to describe, And so I will submit unto the past, A life corrupt with loneliness and lies There was a lonely mansion on the sea, A girl with hair as ripened as the sun, The gardens teemed with bending willow trees, And all around the suffering had succumbed One day I might explore this lonely path, If only I were finished with my math.
Danielle Davis • Grade 10
Many a worthless thing we strive to gain Especially those that tremble into dust These things they offer nothing but a stain Upon our burdening hearts and fading lust
Tao Liu • Grade 9
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Ode to Grilled Cheese
Boy Bands where art thou? Your frost-tip hairstyles The darkness of the bronze spray-tan Leave me wondering Where have you gone? Pogs, we mustn’t forget, Nintendo 64 for Christmas, Return to me, Ramen-noodle-haired Eminem Return home.
Otto Eulert • Grade 10
Ode to the 90s
Natalie Beyer• Grade 10
Oh, how you ooze out of your sides, How your center drips onto my plate You fill up my house with your greasy aroma Your mouthwatering sizzling in the pan Even if I burn one side of you The other side will make up for it My favorite combination of you, The combination that I always go to is, You and some tomato soup and a coca-cola On a warm summer day, On a cold winter’s night, You always make me feel good on the inside Like a nice hug you get from your grandma. With your crunchy breading And your melted cheese, You, my friend, Are perfect.
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THANKS FOR READING