What's Wrong?

Don’t ask me what’s wrong,

You know what’s wrong

I’m living to die

In a world of liars and cheats

Of homeless and poor

Of lust and lure

And yet we sit and idle by

Like none of it is happening.

Tell me I’m wrong,

And I’ll quit now.

Yet you can’t tell me I’m wrong,

You know I’m right

We’re corrupt and need a new start.

Our world is in turmoil,

Yet we worry about who’s wearing what.

Oh, is that a new trend?

Seems so, my friend,

But how hilarious our lives may end!

There’s a man who’s got bombs

Oh, you’ve got bombs?

Well so do we, don’t you see?

This is our problem

Yet you don’t care

You’re too busy worrying about what to wear

For that boy in the coffee shop with the great hair,

But surprise! He’s gay

Or is he?

I can’t say because I might be ridiculed and hated forever

Because no one can assume anything these days.

Our children have phones

Oh, your children have phones?

What happened to trees and grass?

Sorry, I forgot, it’s the pollution, we’re taught

But we don’t do anything about it.

So the next time you want to ask me what’s wrong

Don’t ask me what’s wrong

Take your eyes off your screen

Then maybe you’ll see

Why I’m preaching what our world could be.

-B

Two Voice Poem

I am your wife.

I am your husband.

I like to make sure everything is nice and neat, before people come to my house.

It’s okay if the house is a little dirty, it’s not going to hurt anyone. They can put up with a little mess.

I think your crazy, having to put up with your silliness.

I like how you put up with my silliness, makes me smile.

You make me feel younger.

You make me feel like I lived my glory days.

At the end of the day I love you!

At the end of the day I love you!

You, Me, and Everything in Between

I am a man.

           And I am a woman.

I am aggressive.

                I am passive.

But I wasn’t born that way.    But I wasn’t born that way.

                 I was taught to be polite.

I was taught to be an authority.                                 

      I was taught to play house.
I was taught to play war.

I wasn’t born this way.        I wasn’t born this way.

You give me life.         You give me life.

You give me death.        You give me death.

You keep pestering me.

                You still ignore me.

I give you my best.

                I can’t do this anymore.

I’m done with you.       

No, wait!            No, wait!

Come

                  Back

I    

                  Still

Need

                 You.

As Seen On TV

We interrupt your scheduled programming to bring you this message.

Hi, Milly Bays here with a fantastic offer

The easy-dump fryer and dual-veggie chopper

In one easy sweep from the knife to the oven

This pan makes a meal your family’ll be loving

Hi, Tarles Francesco, I’m back in the kitchen

With product reviews for which I’m sure you were itching

A chopper-pan combo that I should mention

Is a disgrace to God and mankind’s worst invention

Most choppers are tiny, not made for a pumpkin

Now sliced up in minutes, ready for consumption

Tomatoes and onions and melons and pickles

Our stainless steel blades cut even through nickels

It just isn’t practical for any usage

The long, blunted blades bring problems in surplusage

Taking full-body effort to slice down potatoes

All while creaking and cracking a chorus staccato

But wait, there’s more!

No needlessly spilling produce on the table

When it comes to catching the fryer is able

To trap in the food and then trap in the flavors

Making fresh, crisp fries for both you you neighbors

But that’s not to mention the tricky contraption

Attaching the chopper to pan where there upon

You can’t even stir while the stirrer is frying

‘Cause the machine on top will stop all of your trying

It’s dishwasher friendly, so easy to clean

You can’t fit it into a washing machine!

Durable copper makes food slide right off

And adds shavings of metal to beef stroganoff

And if you thought I was done

Call right now!

And they throw in another!

A second deathtrap

For your sliced-carrot lovers

For 10 easy payments of 9.99!

Plus shipping and handling for seven week’s time

So do yourself a favor and

Call now! Don’t even bother.

-Gaston

Memories Are Made

Here I remember moving to a place unknown

Albion Nebraska so different from where I lived before

That was where my parents were born and raised

On a farm in the country

Here I made my first communion

With a class of 13 at st Michaels

There I made so many new friends and memories

To many friends to count

Here is a place that i call home

There is where i got my first, second, and third Job

My favorite being the pool because of the stories

Here is where i started High School

And it was a terrifying experience

Here is where i learned to drive and almost died.

This was all Ashley’s fault

There is where i had my first convention

One of the best experiences of my life.

There i made tons of friends

Friends that i can talk to for hours

Here i moved to a new house that’s bigger and better

But still needs improvements

Here i finally got a better room

Bigger than a closet

Here is where my memories lie

Here is where my life may not have began but it is where it is at now

Here or there it is all the same as long as memories are made.  

~Justine T.

Mind Storm

Years ago in a mind far and deep, 

There was a brain that just could not stand sleep;

So this brain thought up something dark and dreary,

Something oh so eerie,

Something guaranteeing me to wake up in fright;

Oh, I knew I wouldn’t make it through the night;

Chasing me, a tornado of red,

So quickly, I fled

From the pool, I ran to my home;

Now is not the time to roam;

Almost made it to my safe location,

My eyes, on the storm shelter doors, have a fixation,

A little late, I hear the tornado siren’s call,

Then suddenly, in my alley, I take a fall;

With a jolt, I wake in trepidation;

All I feel is a scared sensation;

I take some deep breaths and start to calm down,

Then, I start an animal countdown:

100, 99, 98 sheep...

Soon, I go back to sleep

-AJ

You Are Going to Die

She writhed in my brain like a serpent

A deadly poison ready to give its effect.

It was a pain I couldn’t escape from

A pain that no one should experience.

She laughed and I cried

As she sank her claws into my entire being.

I watched as her hair was blown across her face

By the winds of evil.

Fear consumed me as she leaned in close

Her skin cracked and white as paper.

“You’re going to die,”

She smiled.

Five simple words

With so much meaning.

Five words that any moment from then

Could mean a certain ending.

I am still waiting

For that ending.

I am still waiting

For the moment when her words become reality.

I am still waiting

For my death.

-B

The Bitter Truth

There once was a bakery

Possibly a “cakery”

I don’t remember which,

But I know there was a hitch.

Once upon a time

A few mistakes ago

Cocoa powder called my name.

It was all but a game

when I engulfed a spoonful.

Coughing.

Choking.

Hacking.

Puffing like I was coocoo for cocoa puffs.

Twas a bitter enlightenment

In my entitlement.

~Ann Marie

I am a Wordsmith

Hark! And hear me, young of voice,

You naive workers of patois,

Those who seek to now belong,

Among the halls of sons of song.

We are the Wordsmiths, the shapers of sound!

The graces of language our brothers expound!

An offering I grant, a final chance

To heed admonition before you advance.

For through these lungs flow fierce, hot ire,

Minds set ‘blaze by tongues of fire,

Fields set razed by spoken name,

Breaths besetting Babel’s bane,

Ceaseless Storms and Towering Tides

Cast out on worms with curses cried,

Lightning wit, Thunderous applaud,

And wise men worn by Word of God

Retire now you will-less weak

With feeble lips unfit to speak

For fools clasp naught these final warnings

Condemned by Thoth to usher mournings.

But those among you straight of heart

I shall relinquish to this Art

To be made literate, succeeding growth

To honor long our solemn oath:

Hark! The Sages of Sacred Speech

The Blessings of Word we know Beseech

Movers of Men are Movers of Jaw

For I am a Wordsmith, and my tongue is law.

- Gaston