I startled awake, early Sunday morning,
fraught - my mind, darting like a panicked animal
because my assignment calendar
is wet, smeared and illegible!

Total darkness - I fish for my phone by it’s cord - it reads 3:08am.

I flop back onto a cloud of thick, memory foam.
Ahhh, jeeez, it was just a DREAM.

Of course, my assignment calendar
is safe, digital, redundant, cloud backed up.

“THAT was a little morbid.” I think,
as I drift back out of consciousness.

I can't help but wonder of your life outside these silly little walls. What memories and experiences have you acquired that I will never know? Tell me about your losses and your Christmas morning snow. How did your favorite day start and your worst evening end? Whats the drive down your street like or the name of your best friend? What was the layout of your freshman dorm or even just your after school norm? I can only imagine the little moments that make up your days, do you think you could should me all the ways you think and laugh and love? Then tell me what it is you dream of, I want to know you inside and out, as you leave me wanting more like a flower in a drought.

A.C.

It’s a city in the mountain view
**** I’ve never seen something quite like you
So fun and free, yet peaceful-
A constant reminder of nature’s beauty.

For some the growing happens after high school
For others, the change happens in graduate school
I was nervous to make the transition alone
However, him leaving turned out to be the best **** thing since edible cookie dough

You say that "one day you'll be great,"
Well, I guess you didn't lie one bit.
You never left it up for debate;
Making our heads split
With the information you so badly wanted.

Giveth thou mindful song,
And mix thine heartbeat
Ye shall see how far we fall
To see how far we fail
Only stopping and starting with a stall.

Driving us all along
To our horrid defeat
You tell us, "oh ye of so little faith!"
Only for thy to then bail
You little pathological wraith.

Oh, you wonder why so many fall away
Only to be the leading force
Ye eternal animosity towards our futures
Yet thy say you here for us to succeed.

You started something;
when you told us our feelings matter.
You started something;
when you said that you cared for our future.
You started something;
when you have us the reason to express.

You started something;
and we hope that it's finished.

I wrote a poem long ago
As an assignment for class
It was the first I was proud of
That feeling didn't last
It captured something
That rarely I'd place
An ever-present
Mask on my face
It was written there
Now lost forever
A truth I knew
Would bring me no pleasure
Titled "Masquerade"
I thought that was clever
Even used three words
To put rhyme to those letters
It was whole and it was tragic
Though I wrote it stone-faced
Turned it in, to the teacher
With no smile or grace
That page was Rumplestiltskin
Its lines gave form
To thoughts never shared
Within my brain's storm
The poem was an answer
From the hand that wrote it
To a baffled 12-year-old
Who couldn't control it
She gave it back to me
Along with an A
That I stuffed in my pack
And lost the same day

Here comes school
again - so it's time for
some school Senryus.

Teacher: "This piece is
really good, what inspired you?"
Me: "the deadline date."

Hours of homework
are up next - 'cause seven hours
school just wasn't enough.

I've come to believe
that "studying" is a contraction
of "students dying".

Awkward moment: A
boy you don’t know that well says
“don’t I get a hug?”