#studentpoetry

[artandwildernessinstituteblog]

Ode to Western Fence Lizard

Western fence lizards are quite awesome

They wait for bugs next to a blossom

If a tick bites them, it stops lyme disease

That must really put you at ease

One thing they really like to do is to sun

If you scare them they might run

The male has a bright blue belly and chin

Territories they strive to win

Their lifespan is up to five years long

The do push-ups to make them strong

During winter they go through hibernation

Hopefully they won’t get starvation

Western fence lizards are insectivores

Thankfully they eat lots of bugs galore

Their eggs hatch in August with 3 to 17 babies

Don’t worry, they don’t have rabies

The lizards are diurnal

Females lay one to three clutches, that’s just normal

It’s all I have for you today

Later on,come back for what else we have to say

Asiya Rizvi, Age: 11

[ro-oneyblu]

He smiled and his joy poured forth to // the world. // He laughed and the earth was a clean, // bubbling brook. // He looked and he saw nothing but innocence, // He was Youth and I rejoiced. // He breathed an air that was clean and pure; // He spoke of an age that made all men free. // He knew not fear, ignorance or pain. // He was Tomorrow, and I took hope.

Sue Finegold, “He”

[arts-at-princeton]

Gracie became a ballet dancer at Lincoln Center. All she wanted to do was dance on the platform. She didn’t care for the eyes, she believed in traversing the parallel tracks, ricocheting between giants. Forget grace.

Hillel Rosenshine, “I Know New York” New York, NY. This is stanza 8 of Rosenshine’s poem that won 1st place in Princeton University’s Program in Creative Writing 2016 High School Poetry Contest. Read the rest of Rosenshine’s poem and the other winners’ poems here.

[stonecuttersmag-blog]

There

Each movement made–

Every sound noticed (they all were).

There was nothing to see; the air was dark.

I could only sense

And conjure malnourished theories purely speculative.

And hope.

I’d done it all before.

But it was great. It wasn’t perfect, but that’s too much to ask.

In me wove a congested highway of solely personal thought. I was being selfish. And it felt natural. But, More importantly, So did you.

-Jeremy Samuels ’16

[stonecuttersmag-blog]

if i could pluck the fruit of luck,allowing happy smiling mistakes,the sun would come forth, but not too closeand find the bud of friendship untrampled(stomp instead the seed of hatedespair and rage, the thorns of ageskip mimics and critics who clinktheir empty glasses full of wine)

i’d stumble into jungles as loud and alive as cities where ants have a seat on the subway where people don’t carry their faces in pockets and musical honey is eaten by ears

wearing a hood is not considered a crime people are busy, but there’s always enough time carbon does not wander around it sits in stomachs too full to complain

ships dock home to petrified ports the paintings all differ with equal appeal love is not caught at the end of a fishing pole love is something universal and real

-Jared Gentile ’16

[stonecuttersmag-blog]

Road Kill

There are, I think a million ants on the road and they make Euclidean lines.

They are crawling out of its eye to the pines, warm smell, with a disturbed symmetry they keep, like old books on a shelf.

The thing’s body is a punctured accordion. Lungs fallen into more relaxed geometries. Death only means it no longer plays a role in the wondrous machine–

But to me the ants speak more. Their mathematical indifference and rigid axial designs, something I could learn from. Or their unfaltering ability to find home.

Instead I stare at the pulp, and wonder how we got there. How memory is a woven thing and gravity, the number We call falling.

-Javi Arango ’16

[osians3amthoughts]

Primadonna Rhapsody

I look so. damn. good. I’ve just got off the bed, and not the sleeping kind, And I’ve been lifting since 6 a.m, so I won’t be hard to find. My haircut’s booked for 4, I’ll rep that short back and sides, And we’ll see which lucky girl gets to take me home tonight.

Cause I’m big and I’m bold, and I ain’t afraid to show it, And my carbon copy crew’s the same, we’re sexy and we know it. We like to party rock around the clock, ain’t a single way around it. If skirts ain’t liking us they must be mad. What they looking for? Love Poems?

It’s Saturday night, we’re doing it right, gonna drink until we pass out. Gonna rock that vest in every club, flexing with my arms out. When I’m shoving to get to the bar, that’s what I call my fast route, Cause if I don’t get my drink in time then I’m liable to act out.

And when I’m finished sippin’ on my blue WKD, I hit the floor and get my grind on, got girl dropping just for me. Show them that shuffle and that two step, give them that show for free, Then lean in “alright darlin, come here often? Have you got a kiss for me?”

I’ll take my pick of the litter, won’t find a bloke that’s fitter, In the morning make excuses and I’ll do my best to skitter, And head straight to the gym, so I can keep on getting bigger, In anticipation for the next time we get back on the liquor.

I’ll be like a repeat the next time I’m in that stupor, Doing what the hell I want with my vested, tanned Stormtroopers, And taking home the next girl, till the time then comes to boot her, Taking the solace in the fact that I’ll never be a loser.

[thecacoast]

My Furry Friend Sachi Nandedkar  6th Grade, Cerritos

This gorgeous drawing was one of the Honorable Mentions of our 2015 Coastal Art & Poetry Contest for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.  California students are invited to enter the 2016 contest.

Entries must be postmarked by January 30, 2016 to be eligible. Prizes provided by generous donations from Rubio's Restaurants, Acorn Naturalists, and Aquarium of the Pacific.

Judging assistance for the poetry entries provided by members of the Tabula Poetica program at Chapman University. Here is the 2015 poetry WINNER for the Grades 4-6 category: 

The Great Line What is the horizon line, that great Line, that's been there since the beginning of time? That great line, stretching stretching across the earth, that has confused mankind, since mankind's birth. That great line, down at the bay, and under its watch the dolphins play? But alas when we try to figure out, that line just keeps on moving out, as we get closer, it goes farther, Away, away, away... Isha Singh 4th Grade, San Jose

Listen to Isha read her poem, recorded for TAB, The Journal of Poetry & Poetics. 

Contest Guidelines HERE