Despair & Hope

Every girl sees the world through a unique set of eyes. Some see it as a place in need of great change, others as a place of beauty and possibility. While these poets explore their frustrations and hopes, ask yourself: Which point of view do you agree with?

Living Without Borders
Melissa Butt, 18
Canada

We, as humans, are all merely creatures,
balanced, so it seems,
upon a barely stable ball.
Afraid to slip,
afraid to fall…
Why must one waste precious moments
on fear of one wrong step?
I say, take many steps,
the fall results in lessons learned.
So, why the fear?
Dive headfirst into dreams
at full strength and full speed!
Allow your eyes to brightly shine,
to show your inner fire,
With flames burning high above the clouds.
Speak to the world,
do not contain yourself.
Smile towards the sun
and feel its warmth upon your skin.
Let your thoughts flourish
with the weight of the world behind you,
and the fear of living cleared from your mind
because you cannot find peace.
You cannot be free if you, and you alone,
deny your soul its life.

Hope
Andrey Fabre
California

Hope is a small word
that means a lot.
It is a word of inspiration,
your smoke after the fire burns out,
your last match.
Hope is the last push,
the last thing you may have.

I have nothing,
but I have hope.
Hope in my dreams and future,
To have hope gives me a push to keep going,
not to give up.

Even if sometimes I am losing that feeling,
I must hold on to it.
Even when life tumbles further down,
hitting the sharpest edge.

Hope is my last piece of possibility
that is hardly holding on,
But I must push to succeed.
Hope is a word I need.

A Misconstrued World
Torie Michelle Anderson, 16
Arkansas

So many have these convictions,
These beliefs, these ill traditions…
You think you know everything,
And you believe the world is in your hands.
You think you are the one and only,
And your creator doesn’t even know your plans.
This statement is for the people for all the land:
You are living in your own misconstrued world.

Our famous rappers and singers go around and praise the Lord,
they pick and choose their lyrics…
to make sure his name is included when they’re feeling a little bored.
They have the audacity to ask for forgiveness in their songs…
Then turn around and let out a slew of curses
and chants about thongs.

So many people seem to be confused,
but life isn’t forever.
You may take your days for granted
under the belief that they are promised,
but I am trying to let you know
you have to be strong to survive the weather.

You walk around talking about what you did with whomever.
Next day, you find out whomever
wasn’t what you thought they were,
whatsoever.
Months later, you’re walking around with whatever,
wishing you had never been with whoever.
You all seem to not understand that your days might be limited,
So why go out and get something when you know you can’t deal with it.
For all those who are under the umbrella of the “Unconcerned”:
Get with the program boys and girls…
and stop living in your misconstrued world.

Now, we’ve got our lovely scientists who are determined to make a man.
Or so they say they’ve accomplished it?
Well what now?
Will we be forced to make clones of ourselves?
What’s really good about having mini-me's somewhere,
ready and waiting in test tubes as soldiers for armies now?
Seems to me, this isn’t how things were meant to be.
But now with cloning, I guess out goes the window
with the natural way of making a baby.
People please, here’s the message again:
Get out of that terrible misconstrued world.

You say you believe in Allah,
or perhaps you’re Hindu,
or maybe it’s Buddhism for you.
You may claim to be a Christian
but how can you
if you don’t understand the reason for your faith?
You believe in what you’re told.
You’ll stand up and shout in a minute,
you’re at church on all four Sundays,
and you were at choir rehearsal on the eighth.
Ask you why, and you don’t know.
What do you say?
“My mama made me go.”
There’s much more out there in the world than who you know,
or money and fame.
However, you must realize,
those are the only things that
motivate the players in this game.

Step out of the clouds and back into reality.
Each person has a purpose, and a specialty…
You must train yourself to outsmart and outshine,
to have strength and be valuable,
yet understand that you are not divine.
Despite what Being
I choose to have faith in
or whether I choose to only have faith in self…
Despite what I believe and what I may achieve…
and the sight of the inevitable,
and things you SHOULD NOT attempt to diversify…
You should always keep this statement
just for you:
“Don’t let myself get caught up
in another’s misconstrued world.”

Always Wrong, Never Right
Danyel Sheely, 16
Ohio

Amazing how fate always wins,
leaving old lives behind,
when a new one begins.

Wild and free, the child will run,
and then she grows up
with mere memories of fun.

Yes, she was happy,
but also quite scared.
Scared about the changes,
wondering who cared.

Waiting to find herself
in a world not fit for her,
reaching out to anyone, yet
never finding her place,
never fitting in.
Getting lost inside her mind,
feeling lost from deep within.

Needing a hand to hold
everyone just turns away.
Vividly she remembers
every second of the day.
Every second of that pain
keeps her, reminds her,
why her life is now this way.

Running from the terror in her eyes,
are isolated, murderous tears.
Greeting the scar upon her heart,
once so pure, now full of fears.

Hideous nightmares taint her
through the night.
Truth is shown,
when she knows she’s always wrong,
never right.

A Revolt
Jessica Canady, 17
Alabama

A revolt, I’m screaming
a revolt!

It’s a simple procedure
pen to paper
face to face.
A war cry of a sentence
setting a character ablaze.

Melodramatics
an ABC scale,
crisscrossing waters
just follow the trail.

Fingers grasp a pencil
introductions the same
tenlinesfourstanzas
secures him an A.

Name in the corner
She isn’t done yet.
Dotting the last line
it’s what the rubric* expects.

Rising up
She saunters past her desk
Chartreuse eyes sing out to her
Twentyfourwordsnobreaksorarest

A revolt, she’s singing
a revolt!

*Rubric: requirements for an assignment.

What If...?
Meaghen Finn
California

What if the world weren’t cruel and
people loved the morning’s first light?
What if adults didn’t drink too much
and kids never grew old in hunger—
or never grew old at all?
Marriages really lasted forever,
all the way till death do us part?
And love still had meaning beyond sex.
What if rain cleared a dirty heart
and giving away meant forgetting?
What if our eyes really saw the
great moments when they happened
and we could hold them forever?
What if punishment actually worked and
locking up the body didn’t mean crushing the spirit?
Would the world go on?
Would you go on?