it’s the first day of school!
Kim, 11th grade
East Anchorage High School
Keelin, 8th grade
Anchor Lutheran
August 21, 2013
enough
Push start, to start.
Washing dishes for twelve, days looking through glass
with a window over the sink,
and blooms below.
Hang it up, hang
with steam rising from the iron,
the window air conditioner humming in my ear,
reruns on the television,
permanent press.
Hot water in the bath,
not from the stove,
boiling diapers, hanging them to dry.
clothes in the tub, dripping.
a stove, to cook.
No hot plate, no water in a plastic jug for a bath.
A stove, to cook.
Heat on.
Food in.
Lights through.
enough.
A mad housewife
with a perfect pie.
Four years ago,
seems so long now.
It was time to do or die?
#
The secret is out,
never shrinking or too brown,
with no one to speak,
that was all the news there was,
even in this busy town.
#
But, that was the last time
my mom would ever know me,
Watching Kung Fu Panda, eating dinner,
nothing left to take its place,
nothing left for me to see.
First there were four
and then there were three.
Now there are two
on the first day of school.
Kim 10th grade
Keelin 7th grade
August 22, 2012
Hanging on by a thread…
before,
the price is right.
but it needs some length.
After
and since you’re only 14,
let’s cover up a bit more.
All ready!
Small places
quiet spaces.
Empty faces
upon my return.
Sitting tight
waiting with all
my might
to turn empty faces
Back toward those
small places.
Bricks and mortar,
each one in the assigned place.
Deceptive in appearance,
turning ’round a different face.
Bricks and mortar,
lining up to bring about.
Coming in…going out
some of a lifetime is left to shout.
I don’t believe in blessings…
granted by Grace of some god on high.
For someone to say they are blessed
implies
they are more worthy of fortune
than you or I.
When things go well, we like to say
we’re blessed with all we hold.
Those dying, starving, abused, unwanted
a god
doesn’t bless them?
if I may be so bold!
Looking past my dirty window to a
world of pink and gold,
is a wider path,
more divergent lives
those stories which need to be told.
My mom would always say, “There, but for the Grace of god, go I.”
and then would angrily point out my Sin
When I simply asked, “god wasn’t very Graceful,
was he,
when he did all that to them?”
If feeling blessed makes some feel better,
no argument will come from me,
except to say,
Look around, take it all in
and for once,
please,
know it’s time to really see.
No voice has she…
Looking close,
I think this could be me!
A moment of silence
A thought without speech.
Never forget,
It’s all within your reach.
on the first day of school
from preschool
’til now
each year showing more gray hair,
longer legs
time closer to being
out that door!
August 16th, 2011
German Chocolate Cake
Always sings happy birthday to me.
My grandmother always made one,
made it from scratch,
just for me to see.
German Chocolate Cake
marks the years as they go by.
One cake, two cakes,
birthdays, gifts and wrinkles, oh my!
There are bugs among us…
pushing against the glass
to drop and wait
Not clever enough
to take a place in line.
and
stay hidden
among the Greens.
They didn’t
notice the new growth
dormant
from last winter,
or detect
the camouflage,
to stay unseen.
so they remain
small
and never stand out
to experience
the joy of being the
one to survive.
with
Uniqueness
intact.
The accoutrements
displayed.
Representing pain.
Growth in an underbrush
of
aluminum and plastic with
tight-fitting healing.
Knowing that if I had just held on,
the Statistics of loss
would not be so
incredibly
Staggering.
Hey my golden girl…
I put some gold up for you,
hoping life would be gold all around.
But,
I can’t get you good teachers.
They just can’t seem to be found.
I didn’t want you in those rooms,
when they show such lack of respect.
Is it too much to ask for,
that you are worth more than those “things”
just right below your neck?
PE posters in your school state, “I’ll shave your legs, then I’ll shave your butt.”
Tell me these people
think you are worthy of only one thing
and it’s an age-old, age-old rut.
You are worth more–let’s learn it well this year.
Because if you cannot–
Life
will be very hard, I fear.
Is that why they call it puppy love?
A decade
Of
Romance books,
McBurgler valentines threatening to steal you away
pinned on bulletin boards.
New dresses for dances,
empty promises of love.
A loss…
when I didn’t even know the thoughts existed.
Gone now, I can’t think the same any more.
Who knew? I ask myself,
turning inside out and outside in
was simply something I use to be able to do?
A loss…
so I will settle for less than perfect and take
the final step away.
To say, it’s good enough
To put it in the mail
and send it on its way.
small, braided rug for Burton’s birthday.
A little wonky, without the outside butted edge.
This is not what I want to do…
right now.
The view changes only in color,
with content replicated daily.
I’m on hold…
by my own design,
with small increments leading,
to an undefined topography
of impending resolution.
I hope it will have been worth the wait.
an anchorage 