Poetry
Lovely
Dedicated to Sam
This world is art.
Lovely, ugly, stunning chaos
that means more than meets the eye.
People come as fast as they go
and sometimes they try to go too fast
and too soon
and you might think I’m sad
but I’m not just blue
I feel like standing on a roof
and screaming at the moon
because nothing is more unfair
than when people are alive but not living
and dying but not dead.
some say this world is a castle
but I know too many that have tried
and when they die
the only kingdom they will see
will be two feet wide
and six feet deep
and you still don’t see how ugly this world can be.
there was a time I wanted to die
and if you’ve never known that feeling
then you can’t understand
because when you want to die
your heartbeats feel like gunshots
slowly killing you from the inside out
we are losing control
our minds going mad
good people are turning bad
and bad people are turning worse
this world is a blessing
but the people are a curse
I’ve almost lost five people
because they were sick of being strong
and you have the audacity to tell me
that there’s nothing wrong.
And I know it’s tough
because when life gets rough
you want to bottle it up.
Some have learned to hide pain so well
you can’t even tell
everything is so complicated
there’s always more than meets the eye
someone that is always there for everyone
just might want to die
and the people who die do not have beautiful deaths
because death is ugly.
and that’s why this world is art.
It is not beautiful.
It is complex and lovely and ugly
and it makes you feel things
you cannot begin to understand.
Defying Gravity
wild and reckless
we’re all just kids falling in and out of love
once we let go
and start defying gravity
we will begin to breathe
and live
and every moment takes you to a place
where goodbyes are hard to come by
We will begin to fall in love
but this time not with someone
or something
we will fall in love with life
all its flaws and imperfections
summing up to a perfect complexion
it's true the world isn’t fair
but we can’t let that turn us bitter
we should flaunt our love and infect the world.
For the first time
in a long time
everything will be inspiring
We will begin to love things for being delightfully chaotic
and beautifully messed
We are all balls of organized chaos
as is life for that matter
and we are not perfect
once we let go
we will learn to stop trying to be
we will learn that the world is a confusing mess
that time doesn’t pause for anyone
and the things that make us feel alive
are the things that can kill us
We will die laughing
in the middle of this perfectly broken world
when we are the people who broke it
We will stay up til 3am
wide awake with the dreamers and the believers
the artists and musicians
the risk takers and the writers
the mysterious strangers and unheard poets
the hysterics and the reckless misfits
The very people who learned to let go to the things
that don’t really matter
The very people who would rather live than just exist
The people who don't follow all the rules
the people who see the world through different eyes
without even trying
the people who different
and force us to see the world differently
A lot of people say this world is beautiful
and a lot of people say this world is ugly
and the truth is
the world is whatever you want to see it as
It is not perfect
and it is not bound in with our fate, or life, or death
because fate doesn’t exist
death is bound to happen to us all
and birth
as beautiful as it is
can come from reckless choices
I believe living an extravagant life
is the most beautiful way to kill yourself
the whole world is in our hands
and we have no idea what to do with it
so me?
I’m finally letting go
I’m growing more and more in love with life
and I have to say
it is terrifying.
I’ve never been in love before
When I Was Young
I remember back when I was young
I remember when my days were spent out in the sun
I remember playing in my treehouse like it was a tower and
I remember when all day was my happy hour
I remember when I woke up and every day was new and
I remember when my new shoelaces were a fucking breakthrough
I remember when I didn’t even think about adulthood and
I remember when I thought that everyone was good
I remember when a scraped knee was the worst pain I ever felt
I remember back when my thank you cards were kinda heartfelt
I remember when my life wasn’t full of drama and
I remember when the floors were made of lava
I remember when my socks were never counted and
I remember when I mixed all the drinks at the soda fountain
I remember when my castle was my pillow fort and
I remember that my childhood was never stopped short
I remember back when I was young and
I remember when my days were only full of fun and
I’ll remember now and so on and
I’ll remember really missing back when I was that young.
Whispers
By: Victoria Coffman
The whispers of breath raising her neck hair
Of a monster’s voice giving an awful dare
A small child, unsure of what should be done
It kept on tempting her and almost won
Speaking words of gold, treasure, tempting dreams
Streams of words, taunts, and dares torn at the seams
we dance with our own demons, bravely spin
So we can eternally be stuck
And they spin round and round in their flawed rot
Not listening to the sound of conscious thought
They’re stealing her to the depths of her hell
And there she will wait to come out of her shell
A Barred Owl
By: Richard Wilbur
The warping night air having brought the boom
Of an owl’s voice into her darkened room,
We tell the wakened child that all she heard
Was an odd question from a forest bird,
Asking of us, if rightly listened to,
“Who cooks for you?” and then “Who cooks for you?”
Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear,
Can also thus domesticate a fear,
And send a small child back to sleep at night
Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight
Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw
Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.
Parody Songs:
Ring around the lit grenade
Ring around the lit grenade
Pull the pin
Throw it in
And we all go
BOOM
If school makes you wanna die clap your hands
If school makes you wanna die clap your hands
If school makes you wanna die
And you really wanna cry
If school makes you wanna die clap your hands
Worth
By: Victoria Coffman
I used to love
when people would teach me about “true love”
like when you find your soul mate
that they are your other half
they complete you
but the more I think about it
I realize I actually hate that idea.
and I hate that we tell kids this.
That someday, somebody will complete them.
As if they are not already complete by themselves…
as if they are not whole
unless they have someone else.
They grow up being taught this and then
they are thrown into life where at times
they are all they have.
where they dont always have someone else.
and all of the sudden the world
seems very lonely.
very...
empty.
You see what we should be teaching kids
is that from day one
they already have everything they need.
that they are complete
that they are enough.
and that their worth will not change based on the opinions of others.
that they are not defined by what people think of them
and that the person they should learn to value the most
is themselves.
It took me a long time to figure that out.
In seventh grade I wasn’t even my own person.
I tried to be what everyone wanted me to be
I tried to listen to the music everyone else was listening to
I tried to talk to the people everyone liked.
and I thought that who I was wasnt enough
for people to like me.
Then in eighth grade
some part of me decided I wasn’t good enough
for anybody.
and that was a bad year for me
but I know now that I was not alone.
That there are many people in the same place I was
Id love to see you walk in my shoes
but these shoes have already been worn
by so many other people.
So many other people have had that same problem
and those same days
and those same years
and it’s not easy.
It’s not easy because it wasnt always like that.
It wasnt always bad days and sad music
and forgotten homework
it wasnt always impenatrable fear and crippling anxiety and dropping grades
all the while your dad terminates your social life
and yells that “you are better than this”
implying that no matter how hard i am trying now
I wasnt good enough
It wasn’t always panic attacks and overwhelming stress
when your sleep depried and on the edge of your seat
like its a building ledge
it didn’t used to be like this!
but i remember
back when i was a kid
i probably wouldnt have been able to comprehend a problem like that
because to me
i was great.
I was amazing and I let myself shine.
I learned to get up when I got pushed down
and I loved myself.
Im not saying that I felt I was better than everyone
but I loved myself.
and I dont know why I ever stopped.
back then I knew that I was enough
I could look in the mirror and i knew I had value
that i was a person who mattered.
and I didn’t have to care about what anybody else thought of me
because i had more important things to think about
like how many icecubes were in my lemonade
and how many dogs i had seen that day.
something changed as I grew up though.
I wanted to find that completion
as I had been raised on the fact
that somebody would complete me
and when I didn’t find somebody
I remember, I was very alone.
and this is a problem when you can’t find somebody
to tell you your value
and so in return you dont value people
this is a problem because this means we have a world full of people
that love things and use people
instead of loving people and using things
when will we learn
we can’t go about our lives looking for someone to give us our worth!
we all are worth more than the entire universe
and the fact that we feel like we aren’t worth anything
unless someone else tells us we are is a problem.
Everyone always wants to be happy
but nobody realizes that you have to learn to love yourself to be happy
you have to learn to love yourself
and accept yourself for who you are
and that from day one you have everything you need
It took me a while to figure this out
and I know a lot of people wont figure this out for a long time.
because everyone cares to much about everyone else.
I know that there are a lot of people out there that say
“just stop caring”
but its way harder than that.
It took me two years to get where I am today
but its been worth it.
right now I can honestly say
I dont care what music you listen to
or if you like my shirt or not
I dont care if you are popular or not
because I will judge you based on who you are as a person.
Right now, I am extremely happy.
Just imagine the whole world like this.
And we all fall down
ring around the rosie
pockets full of posies
blooming they fell
in ashes we dwell
and we all fall down
Falling or flying
whichever we’re dying
day turns to night
all joy out of sight
and we all fall down.
because roses are red
but lately we’re blue
I just can’t help the way that I
dont…. feel for you
Repeat After Me
Repeat after me,
I am free.
They sit and tell us many things.
Go to school.
Get good grades.
Do your homework.
Keep your room clean.
Stay active.
Be social with your friends,
but don’t spend too much time with them.
Listen to your parents,
do what your teachers ask.
Graduate from school.
Go to College.
Get a job.
Pay your taxes.
Mow your lawn.
Pick up your paper.
Always vote.
Never protest.
Be kind to others.
Don’t make too much noise.
Don’t stay out too late.
Don’t do drugs.
Don’t drink alcohol.
Don’t take too many sick days,
and follow the law.
Repeat after me,
I am free.
The Things That Keep Me Up At Night
I don’t know how to put this.
One.
The fact that I don’t want to lead an apple pie life
Even though most people do
I do not want a white picket fence
An average day job with invariable routine
Fixed responsibilities
Planned out holidays
And to be honest with you
I’d rather get hit by a minivan, then drive one
Two.
The future terrifies me in a way
That makes me want to savor every moment while it lasts
Three.
Love is contagious
And hate is infectious.
Four.
People aren’t medicine
But there’s a few people I wish I could cure
Five.
People bleed emotion
From the way we fight for what we believe in
To the way we drink our coffee
I wonder what people see in me
That I don’t mean for them to
Six.
There are millions of formally dressed skeletons
Six feet under the surface of the earth
And I’ll be one of them someday
But I have no idea what day that will be
Seven.
I don’t believe in happy endings
But I believe in everything ending up okay
Because you shouldn’t wish for everything
To be left on a happy note
You should wish to be strong enough
To be okay when things dont
Eight.
We are all notorious for finding things to hate
Whether it’s someone else
Or our nose or our weight
Is that just human nature?
Or can we change?
Nine.
We are completely free
But we always make excuses
About why we can’t do things
We are the only thing holding ourselves back
Ten.
I have no idea who created the universe
Or how
Or why
But it seems like a very reckless decision
And one day we will be long gone
And the way the world will end
Will be like sloppy poetry
kind of like this