Give Up

Author's Note: I guess I wrote this because I was in a bad mood and was for some reason thinking about people who just give up. I chose to write this poem as a big metaphor so I hope it's a good one. I see failure as a type of war, a war that you fight in your mind. You have to fight to keep going, to keep being successful otherwise your own mind will take you down. I think failure is a necessary thing in life but you can't let it get to you. Well, anyway, I hope you like this and please comment and tell me what you think.


Look around
at this place
you look at the
potholes and broken glass

You see
you remember
the sun and joy
that soaked this place

It is no longer here
the place you once knew
is disappearing
almost gone

There is no fighting anymore
just defeat and terror
fill this empty crater
that was once home

There is no hope
there is no love
there is no happiness
like there used to

This place you once knew
is different
it is like that place
drop off the earth-replaced

You begin to cry
you miss it
your home
your family

You lay there
alone and scared
a little child
among the rumble

You become part of it
this place you hate most
you let it take you
you gave up

Author's Note: This is a response to my favorite book, The Kite Runner, this is one of my favorite scenes but I wrote it different. I wrote it from the point of view of a bystander not the boys friend. Enjoy!

A lone kite flies in the baby blue sky
like a lone bird soaring overhead
a child watches, waiting
waiting for it to cut loose

The blue kite is almost lost
in the blue surrounding it
the wind whipping it this way and that
another kite takes action

A string cut loose
the blue kite flies with the wind
the young boy runs
running for the kite

The boys friend follows moments later
only to find that his friend
his brother, his servant
is no longer the same
the kite runner

Author's Note: This is long, I know but it is a kind of free-writing response to the book, Blue is for Nightmares, I thought the whole concept of being able to see the future through dreams was cool so I made this irony piece. I'm not saying I believe in Wicca, which is what the main character did to see the future, because I don't but I thought it was cool and different. Well, tell me what you think about this. Enjoy!

The dark hallway that lay stretched before me, mysterious and dangerous. I cautiously step down it, my footsteps echoing off the chipped, salmon pink cement walls. That whole length of it is in almost constant shadow except for pinpricks of lightbulbs swinging from the ceiling. The eery quiet that spreads throughout the hall makes me edgy and my ears are on full alert, ready for anything. I stay on the right side of the hall, my hand dragging against the ice cold wall. My breathing becomes labored, coming out in quick, short puffs. Then I hear the whisper only a few yards ahead. I step towards it eager to reach the shadow's voice.

"Stacey," it keeps whispering, a male voice but I feel like I know it. I want to reach it, to know I'll be safe then when I'm near it. My feet begin to drag as if stuck ankle deep in thick muck, dragging my slower and slower until it's a few seconds between steps, until I'm near tears in fear. I scream out to him, hoping he'll come to me but he doesn't. He just continues to whisper my name. I feel myself being dragged back, even farther away from the voice. The tears roll down my cheeks, I don't want to stop hearing the voice.

Then my feet are free and I sprint forward, blindedly into the darkness ahead. I can see him, his outline, his shadow. I get to him and gasp, he's just a shadow. Only his eyes are color, intense greenish hazel. He whispers my name and reaches out to me but he's being dragged back too. I yell and reach for him, wanting to stay here to keep me safe but he just continues to fade away into the grayness around us. I feel myself shaking, shaking so hard I can feel my teeth chattering. It's so cold, I fall to my knees and sit there shivering. It feels like my blood itself is freezing beneath my skin, like my body is just stopping. I lay on the ground and grab myself searching for warmth but none comes. My eyes flutter and I feel myself lifting away from this cold. I feel myself going, going far away out of this place, this nightmare of a place.

So Free

Author Note: This poem shows exactly what summer makes me feel like and I can't wait for it to come!

Jumping higher
and higher
the sun bright
the air warm
the grass green
the sky blue
so beautiful

The cool black mat
beneath our feet
springing us up
towards the trees
towards the sky
so mesmerizing

The smell
of hot dogs
and hamburgers
floating from the garage
so comforting and familar
the first signs of summer
so refreshing

Summer
a time for anything
where anything seem possible
the long nights
early mornings
running
screaming
laughing
so memorable

We laugh and share stories
as we sit under the stars at night
small pinpoints in the sky
we want to remember this
these times where there are
no worries
no school
so free

Promise to Never Forget- Poem Version

Author Note: This is the poem version of the post below this, Promise to Never Forget. Enjoy.

Running across the sand
The damp grains flinging to the back of our calves
The ball passing between us
From player to player
Bouncing, skidding

We’re laughing and jumping
Thinking of nothing but this moment
As the sun sets across the lake
Dark shadows against orange light
Young, carefree

We shift to the fire
To bask in the warm air
Thinking about leaving this place
This place you never want to leave
Recollecting, remembering

These days we’ve spent together
Not wanting to forget
These people here
Influence us in the future
Thankful, respected

The future so far away
When we come back to these
Perfect memories that wander our minds
Only emerging when needed most
Savoring, remarkable

The memories that made our childhood
Meaningful and memorable
We will thank them and beg
Not to forget these memories so
Engaging, caressing

Promise to Never Forget

Author Notes: This is a journal entry about summer time that I decided to write.

We're running across the sand, sand kicking up, plastering to the back of our calves. The ball passing from player to player, bouncing and skipping from here to there. We're laughing and jumping and tackling each other, so carefree and young. We think of nothing but this moment in time as the sun sets across the lake and the trees cast deep shadows over the orange lighting. We're daring this day to end, not wanting it to because when things are like this, life seems perfect and everything seems to be connected to perfection with no worries of breaking apart. We keep playing until the ball blends into the darkness surrounding us and we all sigh in defeat once again. We gather around the bonfire and recollect our days together and laugh and just enjoy these remarkable memories slowly, not wanting to forget because one day we will all stop coming to this place that made our childhood so memorable and meaningful. Meeting everyone here will change us into what we'll be later, in the far future and we will come back to these memories and thank them for all they've given us. These friends will seperate and some will forget what they had together here and the importance of this place and the affect it has on the soul. This place, this time, these people will hopefully never wander from my mind, and I beg it not to, because I want them with me forever so I can go back and relish in their caressing beauty.

Lost Forever

Author Note: This is based on a story I heard about when I was researching the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial for Social Studies. I thought it was a good one to show how the war affects us....I hope you like it!

The son raises his blind fathers hand
To his brothers name
His brother who fell in battle
Lost forever.
The blind father longing
To hear his sons voice again
The living brother grieving
Remembering watching
Everyone fall beside him
Lost forever.
And he remembers his brother fall
Screaming and gasping
Into the mud
Lost forever.
The brother weeps
With his father
The lost of family
And the bond of two brothers
Broken apart
Lost forever.