Epistrophe
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Imagine a place, worries aside, where vast possibilities abide…
Where we reclaim our power, and truly be free.
A day where guiding light beckons the way, deep in the essence of creation’s core. Birthing all life forevermore.
Running away from the fear of the shadow Running away from the face of death. Losing myself to the fate of the helpless Losing myself to this fate that I've met. Keeping my way on the path that I've set. Pausing only to make sure I didn't forget
I know not what tomorrow may unfold,
or where the roads, as yet untrod,
may lead, but i know there are no borders,
only wind. Like you, I was born.
Like you, I was raised in the arms of dreaming.
What can I be?
Shall I be another person,
Wasted talent on a fast-food job,
Living paycheck to paycheck,
No smiles, only dread,
Another lifeless body roaming the streets.
When I was small, I was told to smile
Or else I could never be loved,
So I smiled.
When my uncle died,
They said I was too young to grieve,
So I smiled.
Silent, quiet, calm
Never harmless,
Though harmful enough.
Unknown to all,
The Thought.
Lovely, happy,
Wicked, evil.
Sharper than a thousand daggers,
Though duller than anything.
Mother
The one who cares for you
Her complete self she shares for you.
Her heart always aches for you.
Every struggle she takes for you.
The sufferings with a smile, she bears for you,
The dark city follows us folks,
The shadows, the pain they invoke,
Step after step, dusk covered skys,
Conceal the light which we coped in,
I used to be afraid of the dark
But darkness consumed my life and I lived my life in fear
The night was dark
I used to have hope and stars in my eyes
But my hope was burned alive and ash covered the sky
And she came sitting right beside me
Shortie be the slim type moving like she wants' me
I bet behind closed doors she can even ride me
It ain't hard to tell baby girl really like' me
Inspiration is like an open sea
Spread out there before me
With its silent ebb and flow
It takes me to worlds i’ll never know
Oh, over did this willow fall
Bough bending beyond limit
Then broke
Exposing rotted roots
to Them, their eyes
To You
Tear caution from your lungs
Release the shout in your breast
Will You Read to Me?
by McKinzie K. Smith
Will you read to me?
When I am young and don't understand,
When I am just learning.
Will you read to me?
In that perfect voice you have,
Inspiration, dedication, motivation.
The 3 things that have been encouraging me on this journey called life.
Music, baseball, and loving mother, have kept me going for 16 years.
A grandma cements the steps your mother walks in life
A daughter follows close behind
The Precious knowledge one day left behind
Is what you'll look back on
Then pass on in time
One step.
Some glide across a plain
Others prepare to conquer mountains
Some see a wall reaching the heavens
Mountain Top
Can I make it to the top without a car?
The top of the mountain looks way too far.
With me, I brought two boulders.
Would that grace were bred in us all,
Would that man's feet sprang as lightly.
Would that my hair waved as gently,
Would that my eyes shone with such gaity.
However, not so; for
Such was not to be,
Vocab 1
Who cares what they think
Who cares what they think
Who cares what they think
It’s our decision to be ourselves
I am a girl who loves to sing
I wonder if the arts will disappear one day
I hear the lyrics written out on a worn, overused notebook
That could have been me,
The one that sorrows
And is on their knee.
That could have been you,
The one who is arrogant
On these long and steady roads
Torn apart when stone erodes
There lies a heart, knows nothing best
With wandering eyes, kept to singing.
A dotted path with sunshine leaves
I wanted the new shoes and all the trues
To get the attention of little dudes
And to fit in with the cruel
Because my naive self thought that was cool
At four years old
I skimmed my knee
Crying on the pavement, sobbing, screaming
Bloody band-aid, red checks,
Waiting for someone to rescue me
At eight years old
I failed my first test
The salt stings my eyes,
As tears blur my vision.
But I refuse to let them fall.
The skin on my palms now covered wih little crescent moons,
As the fear of losing you becomes real
The salt stings my eyes,
As tears blur my vision.
But I refuse to let them fall.
The skin on my palms now covered wih little crescent moons,
As the fear of losing you becomes real
When I grow up, I said
I wanna be an astronaut, I said
I wanna be an engineer, I said
I wanna write a book, I said
I wanna go to college, I said
I'm now grown up, I say
I was four when it happened. Locked in the bathroom, hugging and sobbing together while the police were outside trying to keep my parents from not being in the same room together.
3,000 miles is a lot
3,000 miles is a lot to move away
from the normality and reality of your everyday
life, the start of a new routine
even a new wardrobe
which is a teen girls dream
You leave me
Then try to come back
Again and again
Stabbing into me with shards
And wrenching them out
Again and again
You stab them in my back
Piercing through my heart
Again and again
... and I keep pondering
over your 2 seconds
Who are you
and
Why do you bother to dissapoint me again?
after so long?
Coming from anger, I understood, why the seeds were planted within this merchandise. Many visions were bombing my conscious; why am I not surprise.
This oblivion is the only world I know
No one can see me, not even my mother, nor my brother, nor my father
The rest look at me with disgust
Yet they worship a robust slut named Kim
From the outside my childhood looks plain.
I did soccer and cheer,
doodled in class,
and whispered promises of forever to elemtary school friends.
No one wouldve noticed the pain I carried with me.
Life is strange and windingA faded forest trail.Constantly remindingThe path is all that's clear-It's narrow atmosphere...
I cannot leave the way.I'd surely loose my way.
When you looked at me,
I knew we were meant to be.
You warmed my happy heart,
My young soul believed we would never part.
When we laughed at each other,
Illustrious,
She is Illustrious.
Confidence glints off every step,
Basking in the respect and admiration from past victories.
She is Illustrious.
Feel these signs, feel these signs?
Take them as your warning sign, warning sign
If you can just pull away, pull away
You only have so much time, so much time
Feel these signs, feel these signs?
What does it take to capture a King?
A war,
A net,
And a mistress.
Don't take it so literal
Just stay ahead
Feet firmly planted
It's all in your head, no action needed
There's that one word...
It keeps me from succeeding...
Failure.
It's bound to happen,
So why try to be
Successful?
I do nothing
Because I won't win.
I miss chances
The times you spent with them
The moments of happiness and joy
Kisses, hugs, and compassion only shown by the truest of men
Those moments will never return, you were merely a boy
Stop the pain, stop the rain but yet it continues to pour
Violence right around the door
Killing, shooting when will it stop. No listen, the rain continues to pour.
my mind functions like a broken clock
being rewired by the one trying to fix it
only to make it half of a whole
only to make me half of a whole being
i don't know what happened to make my head this fucked up
From the moment we are born there are things that shape us into the people we are today. For me and you we are given the choice to be shown the way.
Because you were friends with a couple of Britons,
Because you wanted to help girls help their country and others,
Because you founded Girl Scouts.
MOM
You gave me life.
MOM
You changed my diapers and spent many tireless nights taking care of me as a baby.
MOM
You taught me how to shower, brush my teeth, and dress myself.
MOM
I wake up in the midnight
when the sky started to cry.
Im not a pessimist but
I can say it`s going to interrupt my sleep.
As the rain drops beat the roof
and making a huge sound,
I cursed the sky,
I often sit wondering
how different life would be,
if my one and only mother
had not given her all to me.
I am so eternally grateful
for all that she has done.
Poetry taught me how to write Poetry
Prose has lots of rules and grammar and punctuation and it’s very cluttered in paragraphs, orderly yet stifling
Poetry has less rules
Poetry
A tool that allows us
to take a glipse through the eyes of others.
It is like a crystal ball
allowing us to see what life is like
words fall out of my mouth like coins from a machine
words
words
words
so many words
the world is made of words
how funny it is
that after three days of lying next to someone,
sharing secrets, matching heartbeats, and pressing lips together,
one can fall in the first stages of what may very well shape up to be love.
What's set forth isn't always true,
you must find what's real in you,
because what's inside the great divide
is your real hue,
and the lines don't define your true value.
My Name
My Address
02/12/2018
Whom it may concern
Somewhere, USA
02/12/2018
Attention all Leaders,
This is my last call for help.
I think I'm falling in love with a ghost, dear,
I think I'm falling asleep.
I see him on the edge of my vision,
singing me soft lullabies with ethereal beats.
The ghost's eyes peer out at me,
Dear Society,
Why do you always judge me?
Not only me but my whole ethnicity?
Why do you say I have
My individual rights?
Birds sing o'r the breeze
Life then stands so still, so free.
Lucious clouds above
Fly so high, like peaceful doves.
Can it be so true,
What nature can do?
My American Dream is blue,
I've lived through the true,
Watching everyone fail,
Everyone is prevailing with truth and bail,
I think poverty is cruel to the poor,
but the rich gets more,
Talking.
Talking is hard.
Breathing, eating, sleeping.
It all seems hard.
From the time I was a young girl to now, everything has been hard.
Exspressing my feelings is hard but I have a dream.
There may be times when you are feeling down,
when someone blows your rekindling ember,
and you can't help but put the biggest frown,
or raise the flag in white to surrender
in front of many people who've shamed you
“It will be fun,” they said.
One day in, and I was already close to dead.
This adventure I was undertaking was supposed to last a week.
From my pores, sweat was starting to leak.
Your hair is blond your pretty and cute, your love is unfair and your trust is brute.
Your smile is bright just like the sun, one day I hope I can see it one on one .
Dear Mom,
You have raised me to be strong as hell
You’ve taught me not to take shit from anyone
And I mean anyone
Including you
Mom
Because I love you
I say I'm okay when they ask me what's wrong
Because I love you
I say I tripped over the rug when they see my bruise
Because I love you
I’m from a small town,
lonely and lost,
my dysfunctional family,
with a lost hope in humanity,
growing up with so little,
so little to love,
As I sit in my chair, typing away at my computer, I feel eyes, watching me. Not bad eyes. No harm is intended, I can tell. But someone, perhaps more than one person, watches me.
When i am upset with boo,
I Switch the ring
To the right ring Finger.
He calls me Ginger
When I am like this.
He knows i love him
Like wheat cereal
So he supplies milk for my Bath
With Tea.
Enter the light,
for it is good.
Enter the light,
for it is grace.
Enter the light,
for it is warm and caring.
Go.
Be in it.
Enjoy it.
For it is the light,
Everyone’s afraid.
Everyone is afraid of something.
Everyone is afraid of different things,
But the fact still remains that everyone is afraid.
I drank him in like the fifth bottle of beer.
Swallowing the toxic liquid, I relived the fear.
It is one o’clock in the morning,
I received a text saying,
“Baby, I’m home from work. Show me your body. I love you.”
I'd spend every second with you, why?
because i love you
I'd work the worst jobs in the world for you, why?
because i love you
If needed i'd die for you, why?
because i love you
A new branch has formed on my family tree...
Because I love you.
You show me compassion even when we are upset...
Because you love me.
Tightrope walker, reaching to the core of focus
for balance
Athlete on the beam, holding tight her thoughts
for balance
Surfer cutting into the wave, sinuous burn of muscle on board
Our Love Can Bare (#BecauseILoveYou)
We respect, we trust, we love, we care
In the bond that we share.
Everyone thinks our love can bare
What’s Healthy?
Having all kinds of friends is healthy.
Enjoying ethnic festivals and food is healthy.
Always respecting people is healthy.
Because I love you
I don’t care if you sometimes look like a mess
Or that you talk with your mouth full
Or snort when you laugh
Then
Then is a word that I think of often
Then was so long ago
Then is full of fond days and memories
And times I won't let go
Because I love you...
I will protect you
From anyone
or anything
that I am able.
Because I love you...
Because I love you, I allow you to hurt me and to break me down until I’m not myself anymore. Because I love you, I accept being treated less than what I am worth. I accepted your flaws.. the lying.. the cheating.. well because.. I love you.
I came out broken and wilted
Out of a relationship where
He did physically hurt me
He did verbally abuse me
But he told me
We all know what they say, Lust is wicked, Love is weak.
It clashes with our society and it truly confuses me.
Sex, money, and drugs are trending,
Because I love you
I dance with you
I sing with you
I laugh with you
I dine with you
Because I love You
1
Window
2
3
4
Windows
5
6
7
Plural
10
11
20
More
30
50
100
and more
1000
1000000
infinite
The love I have for you s like an addiction,
Nothing will slow down this feeling even if it’s friction,
You offer me what others can’t,
They can all say they how much they love me in their rant,
#BecauseILoveYou I put you first every day,
Between asking you to tell me when you get home,
And focusing on you when I pray.
#BecauseILoveYou I put you first every day,
Between asking you to tell me when you get home,
And focusing on you when I pray.
Put On That Other Dress. Why?
Because I Love You.
Wear More Makeup. Why?
Because I Love You.
Watch Your Figure. Why?
Because I Love You.
Stop Acting That Way.
Don't You Love Me, Too?
My euphoric state of mind
The pictures my mind creates
Envisioning the times you spoke
Of the things we thought we could create
Chased by my conscience
Chafed by my heart and soul
Because I love you?
Days turn into months
And months into years
As I patiently wait for your return.
Just thinking,
Where could you have gone?
Gone like the wind.
You left me here waiting,
Just waiting.
I love you in the morning,
your hair a mess and your breathe smelly
your eyes i love to get lost in
gently blinking away the remnants of sleep.
i love you when you think no one is looking
Depression is not eating for days.
Depression is greasy, unbrushed hair.
Depression is laying on the couch for hours, crying, fighting an internal battle to get up and do something.
Why do I do,
The things I do and say to you?
In strict terms these things I do,
Because I love you.
I'll comfort you when times are rough.
I'll promise to do my part.
I catch a glimpse of your dimples when you laugh,
Thinking to myself,
Why are you still here?
I watch as you water the garden we planted together,
Thinking to myself,
Why are you still here?
Remember our past and the things we used to do
when we were so young and unsure?
Do you remember what I used to sacrifice for you
because I knew you were capable of more?
Cautious steps in the woods
Little red shoes tip-toe
Humming a little song to yourself
Be careful, don’t let them see
tiana didn't ask for a prince
she was an entrepeneur
she didn't ask for her best friend to be a rich white girl
but she took it with grace
she wasn't supposed to turn into a frog
Who says?
We all have happy endings?
Who says?
We are free?
Who says?
I can't wear my hair short, or rock striped leggings
Who says?
I can't sing off-tune or off beat
Or dance off beat or wild
Strong
Independent
Brave
Undefeated
All words I sought to correctly describe myself
They were true definitions until you introduced yourself
I thought I had it great
The glass slipper fit
I've never known you
And I don't intend to.
I've never known your face,
I have never known your name,
Nor your voice,
I have never known you.
You brought me into the world,
This is something most alarming,
All the guards are scurrying, swarming,
Carting 'round the great Prince Charming,
Knocking every village door!
If you ignore 'em they come charging
Not my fault,
They say
Not my fault that you could not make something of yourself, in a land that gives
Everything...
Not my fault...not my problem...
Not my fault,
They say
You are blind.
Do you realize our shape?
You are misfitted, who are you, one of a kind?
No, I think not.
You do not come together.
Instead, we're all the same but yet we are separated;
abandon ship please
abort! abort!
they don't
want you here
anymore
my pathetic mask
it screams! it screams!
it is with deep sorrow
I must inform you,
my previous
it goes like
work work work work work
fifty hours in three days, i'm not management though
daddy ain't never let me anything but great and i wish
wish i was anything but cuz these white folks?
America, the home of the free
Founding Fathers resisting a tyrannical power
Oh how we brought them to their knees
And now, here we are, at the end of our nation's hour
With the violence taking over the world
Is America great?
Or is saying that a mistake?
I see our addiction to doing,
I wonder where there is time to reflect.
As the spring flowers are blooming,
No one stops to smell.
Oh to be in love
Love, that fickle thing
To yearn for time with them, yet never appreciating the time that you have
To find someone whose soul thrums at the same frequency as yours
I look out into the congregation of individual souls,
Temporarily blinded by the whites and yellows on the horizon,
A feeling of peace and content;
Open up your sleepy eyes
Darling
Wake up from your dream
This isn't paradise
Face reality as it seems
Who am I?
I am a woman of color that God made to be strong.
I am beautiful and full of pride.
Who am I?
I am a daughter of a strong black woman.
I came from generations and generations of struggle.
Open.
I see my window and the light shining through, I smell the toast in the kitchen,
I feel the sheets on my bed, I taste the damp air,
I hear the singing birds.
Determined, empowered and bold
Words that always screamed my name
My life
My identity,
Now embossed, and sealed on the life of another
Did I create this? Me? Did I make this?
All I wanted was okay
as a child, a teen, and an adult
All I want is okay
to smile, to laugh, and to live
And to be okay
No struggle, no strife, and no pain
Night
it's to be a time of rest and restart
yet all I know is how it tears apart
a family
a love
a being
it was night
that a young girl had her heart shattered
A year ago today,
I began to count down the months.
The months, the days, the minutes, the seconds,
Until the Deadline.
The Deadline had always been there,
Hanging over my head,
Do You Remember?
By Jovanna Justo
In Loving Memory of my cousin Fabiola C.
1997-2016
Do you remember how we used to play?
Winter.
January 30th, 2016
I officially start my 19th year.
I am strong and I am proud.
Spring.
March 2016
I begin my journey into sisterhood.
A smile is all I've got
When he makes me feel like I'm not worthy.
A smile is all I've got
When he decides his words won't hurt me.
A smile is all I've got
On cloudy days of gray,
Mom lights a candle
A diya, a lamp
I have to choose
Red or blue
Voices of reason
Larger, louder
November 26th, 2016
I sit in my room
Crying
Hoping
Surviving
Welcome to seventeen year old me
Currently crying that you probably did not get into your top choice for college
It’s been black, a long time.
It’s been lonely all the time.
I’m ready, yes ready.
I’m ready to move on.
And everything has changed, I can’t tell what matters
We live in a world where we allow Facebook to run and control every situation we face.Even in our relationships we ran to Facebook to relay shit. When we in our feelings of course let's get on Facebook and see how we relate t
This is a meaningless poem.
Just another piece of gray trying to be a color in a monochrome world.
Just a shade of gray, trying to prove that it is better to be some-what known.
My whole life has been leading up to this class-this moment.
I am in AP Art.
I’ve made it.
I’m one of the strong ones, holding tight through the current
Yes. I am a girl,
and no, that doesn't make me weak.
I'm a girl,
and no, that doesn't make me meek.
Just because I'm shorter and smaller
doesn't mean you can holler
at me, and cat call as I walk by,
I wrote this at 12:25
I feel my eye,
dry
Sleepy an sleep deprive
From staying up until about 3 maybe 5
I've , come accustom to this college live style
An it feels like I'll zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Dear dad,
To this very day,
There is so much to say,
Pen to paper,
No ink,
Please don't go away.
Dear dad,
Each step means no less,
It matters not to me,
Through the days in which I feel there is no good, days in which there is no escape
days in which I cannot be in a worse mood, and my life has fallen into rather poor shape
There are books.
Senioritis has hit me hard
So I might as well be a bard
And explain to you why
I'm stressing.
I wanna be lazy
It must seem crazy
But senioritis makes my nerves fry
I'm stressing.
Morning
Wake Up!
A new day!
The sun shines so bright…
What time is it? 8:54…?
I have class in six minutes! Run, run, run…!
Was that due today??
I'm falling hard, but it's my time to go.
Be who I'm destined to be they say, but what do they really know.
Senior Year.
I've had enough of this crap, I'm done.
A cloud of Turmoil
Stress can just soil
Positive Hopes Left Unsurfaced
All the Dark Weather is
Just of Satan's Teather
To Pull you in the
Sand that quicks the
Despair of life that Creaks
A cloud of Turmoil
Stress can just soil
Positive Hopes Left Unsurfaced
All the Dark Weather is
Just of Satan's Teather
To Pull you in the
Sand that quicks the
Despair of life that Creaks
Cold crisp air slicing my lungs with every breath
Socks wet from the soggy ground,
Feet aching, becoming numb
Everything shivers with cold
January hurts
Breaking the walls; normalcy: overrated
Breaking reality; imagination: falls free
Calling all dreamers
Calling all dreamers
You should be sorry.
Sorry for cheating.
Sorry for being a bad friend.
Sorry for being bitter.
Sorry for lying.
But not sorry for existing.
I'm already sorry for that.
I should've noticed that you never actually cared.
Shame on me.
I should have seen that you hated everyone around you, including myself.
Shame on me.
I know you want me.
I can tell by how you smile when I tell you a story.
If only you knew that I want you too;
I can just feel that what we have will never get boring.
But I know that if I just come out and say it,
This easy going softhearted girl,
smiles as though shes fine as ever.
Listening to the screams of the innocent children,
she pertends that everything is alright.
This easy going softhearted girl,
The place I call home -Jessica Jazmin Michaca Silva
I come from a place where families are always united
I come from a place where music is always blasting at every corner
Shots in the background but everyone just ignores them, for if they dare to care they'll
be the next reason why they are there shots in the background but society pretends not
Journal after journal after journal, one after another, Each better than the last, You make me look like a monster, You tarnish my name, And only a few select know,
Black is the new blackThe old blackAlways black to blackand back to blackIt's back to that Blacker the black the sweeter the blackNot the deeper the lack or the cheaper the crackNot the triller the trap but the iller the rapNot the breaking of bac
Had to write for English,
Everyone has their stories.
Who am I?
They had a life-changing move,
She got in trouble for habitual lying.
Who am I?
I'm the one who looked forward to this,
There are two
very
important
things that you learn in anatomy class.
The first
All I need,
All I want,
Him.
He's my favorite story,
He's twists and turns,
Neverending.
He's my favorite view,
He's beautifully flawed,
All I need.
If I was stranded,
Whatever.
Whatever you say.
Whatever, I don't care...
Whatever that--whatever--means, he can't be bothered to care.
"Whatever" he said.
ARGH! Just makes me want to pull at my hair
Show me the part
In your scripture
Where it reads
"The female shan't carry hair in her pits."
Show me the picture
Of hairless legs
And straightened locks
And bared nether regions
I wish I were among the stars
There is better than where we are
I'd shine above the world below
And sparkle when I wanted so
Down here on solid ground there's hate
Life comes with all this stress and weight
A ‘somebody’ to me is someone who is successful. Somebody who can tell their future kids someday that you can accomplish anything with determination and self-discipline. For me, a ‘somebody’ also means someone who can change people’s lives.
Crying
the wounds she bears
scratched in flesh
paves the light
peaking from scars
it whispers
future
When you see someone who is plastic
Or has strings attached to their bodies
She has struck again
Using them as an army
When their movements seem so wooden
And their emotion is dry and grey
When your soul mourns for more
When love's value seems poor
When your heart has lost its tik
That's how you know, you've made yourself sick
When the world around you seems very dark
I wear a mask
That constantly changes
Depending on the person
It rearranges
It makes me religious
While speaking to the pastor
It makes me peppy
When talking to the chearleader
She was the doll
At the bottom of your toy box
The one that you'd forgotten
Broken and abused
Tattered and misused
Scarred and bruised
She was the doll
Lost in the past
Pink
Pink
Pink
She wanted it
It's what I wanted too
The thing we wanted
I'm sure for a while she was going
To show my walls had come down
Together. Could it be?
Psst. Here's a secret.
