MIDDLE SCHOOLS 

 

 

 

HOLE IN MY HEART

Sometimes people go through things.
It leaves an empty hole in your heart.
Past tense, it really is.
Don't keep worrying about the past and focus
on the new doors opening!
Life is a great ladder every set getting harder,
and each person you met and memories,
helping you reach the top.
A step breaks, and the entire ladder shatters.
When your heart has a hole in it,
we sometimes try and break our own steps.
But we have to sometimes monitor
Other's steps too.
This will keep us happy.
And happy is all that really matters.

 

London Oliver Allegra
Ella Baker School, 7th Grade

 

 

ALONE

When the light is dim,
The air is silent.
The candle reflects off the lonely mirror.
You, only you.
Let your head speak to you.
As it knows the truth,
EVERYTHING.
Every emotion at once
The wax,
DRIPPING.
The sight of fire can
so beautiful.
What a way to ESCAPE.
A staccato breath,
INHALE, EXHALE.
The candle went out.

 

Max Duke
Ella Baker School, 7th Grade

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A PAINTING OF PEACE

Opening a box of
fresh new color
red, green, black,
gray, pink,
a dark
shade of blue
take up the front row.
A light blue, purple,
red as dark as blood
take up the back row,
picking up the brush
with a view of a
new world in my mind.

But what exactly is a new world?

White clouds
a blue sky
a field of flowers
painting dying dreams.
People of all kind
holding
each other
like there is
no tomorrow.

I would paint

dignity
pride
acceptance
government
evils gone
the end
of desire
for war
death
racism

And nothing else

 

Ruegen Khalid
Ella Baker School, 7th Grade

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THE GRAVE

I am the eyes and lips and nose of death.
A morbid song
Authored by a bullet
It takes two for sacrifice
Was it for my country?
Where the graves I dug for them a sacrifice
for theirs?
We were simply beating hearts
An adrenaline rush
Searchlights for some kind of belief

 

Ida Louiso-Belsy
Ella Baker School, 7th Grade

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THE HEIGHTS

The heights
sound loud
loud as screams
in the air
loud as people
popping noises
The heights
taste amazing
from rice and beans
to patalitos on the street
The heights
smell the best
with all the food
parks and trees
The heights
rough and rocky
The heights
NOT always clean
but still the heights.

 

Adam Selman
Ella Baker School, 7th Grade

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DAY BREAK

Life like day breaks eventually
What I will do when mine does
is anyone's guess.
But still I wonder how?
How will it end?
Will I end it?
Will someone else?
When?
Why?
What happens
when life just
becomes too much for me?
Will I black everything out?
Will I just stop?
Will I let the day break
or will I break it?
If I do, how?
Will I wake upset next day?
Or will I fade into the night?
  All I know is that
sometime,
somewhere
the day will break
one last time.

 

Julia Dorvillier
Ella Baker School, 8th Grade

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ONLY SEEN IN A REFLECTION

Hello, hello, valor.
Hello, hello, grace.
Hello, all that happiness

I see strewn across your face

Hello, hello, that love

which we all say we fight for

Yet I see Lies and Cheat knocking upon your door

Goodbye, truth.
Goodbye, honesty.
Goodbye, glee,

and all that love never could we see.

​

Goodbye, goodbye, meaning.
Goodbye, goodbye sense.
Goodbye, true knowledge.

which would make us all tense.

​

Goodbye, goodbye, valor.
Goodbye, goodbye, grace.
Welcome, welcome, lies

that will soon take your place.

Come new, beauty.
Come new, perfection.
None of this is real,

only seen in a reflection.

 

Varenne Salazer
Ella Baker School, 8th Grade

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UNTITLED

I looked down
onto the track
arched back
nervous hands
The rat sits
below the rails
a whisker
away from death

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Yet

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There is an
Innocence
in its small
posture

I looked down
onto the street
heads down
umbrellas flared

The pedestrians and cars take turns
hurrying back and forth
a whisper away from silence
yet a steady pulse

a hum pushes them onward

I looked down onto the gutter
stagnant in the face
of colder months
a wealth of litter and trash

and yet

hidden in it is treasure.
A ring, a piece of gum.
little everyday joys
lost under the street

 

Nadia Solomon
Ella Baker School, 8th Grade