This week the young vikings explored cinematic approaches to poetry. They read “Please Refrain from Talking During the Movie” by Robert Polito and “Movie” by Eileen Myles. It was the toughest week to narrow down which poets to publish because every student wrote a gut buster. I am so proud of them. Here are this week’s poems!
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
“Lost & Found” by Tanesha G.
The streetlights flicker–shadows stretch too long
footsteps echo, a metronome of nowhere to belong
she drifts through doorways, names peeling like paint
a girl reborn in papers, each like a hollow saint
rain on cracked windows sings her a lullaby
foster home whisper, rules she never asked why
a suitcase, a ghost, packed tight with no past
she walks in slow motion, moments never meant to last
in mirrors, her reflection flickers and bends
a montage of faces she calls “just pretend”
but in the night, under neon’s hum,
she stitches her name where no one can come
and one day, the wind won’t carry her thin,
she’ll stand, steady, where the world begins
and she won’t need someone else’s shin
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
“Ads” by Sam N.
Advertising is a powerful thing
to get people to do things
to own things
that’s what I want to do
give people incentive
but they wont see my face
that’s what I want
I don’t want people
coming up to me on the street
I’m not that guy from that thing
you don’t know me
and you never will
but you will know what I do
what I make
I’ll be like my grandpa
you don’t know him
but you know what he made
make icons
without being one
I’m behind the camera
the script
but I’m a man with no name or face
that’s what I want to be
you will know me, but you won’t know me
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
“Flashback/Fast Forward” by Gracen A.
I want to be a different person.
Cramps in my head
in the car with my mom.
The little girl who
was never able to take as much as she gave
is just bigger now.
I want to be a different person.
One day I’ll get out of this waiting room
and I”ll be fixed.
One day I’ll go out in the yard
for the last time
and I’ll know it
and I’ll feel sad/okay/happy.
I’ll feel something.
I want to be a different person.
Someone will think
about me and me alone
and they’ll wonder
instead of know.
Someday I’ll be
someday I’ll feel
and I won’t just have to think
that’s just the way things go.
I will take control.
I’ll drive the car.
I won’t pack bags.
I’ll be purposeful
and other people will see it.
Maybe they’ll understand.
Maybe they won’t
but I’ll be alright.
I want to be a different person.
I want to be a different person.
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
“Where Blood Meets” by Louie B.
The boy’s hands were soaked with blood
from finger tips to his wrist, this lightened
from the moon light.
Not old enough to know how to shave
but everyone has to eat so he kills.
The boy is an outlaw, a cowboy.
He is unknowing that his life and actions
will be romanticized.
As he mounts his horse,
his mind starts to ride.
He wishes he could read
the letters his mom left him.
He wishes he could play an instrument.
As he rides, he passes a withering flower.
He wishes he knows what it means.
