TO BE A WAVE

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I dipped my toes into the wide sea of a new creation

I felt whispers of far off currents charged with kinetic purpose

I sensed velvety depths where ideas lurk before floating to the surface

To clash in foamy surf with all that has already been judged

By the sure rays of the sun

 

Now I stand firmly, ankle deep

The tide excavates the sand beneath my feet

With each delicate drag it pulls me deeper

 

So that someday, if I stand persistently and trust stubbornly

It might consent to consume me completely

 

My feet are buried in the sea and I am the sea

I dearly wish to catch a current

And braid myself into it

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Ohhhhhhhhhh

What fun to be a wave! who's journey ends in clapping glory

Sparkling, alive, loud, and unique

Giving all that it has and taking what it should

Let me gather myself from the deepness, befriend a current

And find myself again

 

Of all the waves let me be one!

To wet the sand so that it might reflect the sun and sky

For a few moments of my own

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          by: Mahallia Pollard

 

 

 

SALMON SONG

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I saltate up the rocky bed, a king among my soldiers

Who all are heroes, as am I, with duty on our shoulders

A duty, which when stripped to core is all the world encompass

The same for bear, and bird, and bee, and each to come before us

 

And in order to fulfill my task as it was laid for me

In order to ensure the life of newborn family

I and we, the strongest yet to live the widest blue

Must from within find where we came, and then begin anew! 

 

A journey at adventure's end will lead us back to where 

We were when first we drew our breath in water clear as air

To there is where we strive to go when fortune catches ride

On bodies strong as gravity that find the flowing tide

 

For, I am Salmon, king of all the creatures of the sea!

The righteous one who lives to live and illustrate to thee

The wonderment which lies within the suffer and the pain

The beauty which is at the top, the freedom that you gain

 

When once again you come upon the purest highest place

And that is where your duty lies, a one that's filled with grace

And all that you've endured until this point at journey’s end

Is for the sacred freedom of the long-awaited son and friend

 

A journey at adventure's end will lead us back to where 

We were when first we drew our breath in water clear as air

To there is where we strive to go when fortune catches ride

On bodies strong as gravity that fight the flowing tide

 

For, when we find the source of one which once we called our home

It is not down but up we go, an effort quite unknown

To any bird or creature else who strives for re-creation

It is I and we who truly know the struggle worth a nation!

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          by: Madelyn Morgan

 

 

 

IRIS FINGERS

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You see that painting there?

The one that moves?

I see a bunch of little thoughts in it

Going round and falling out her fingers

 

          Squishing color, holding lines

          Molding seeing inside minds

          Tracing gentle fingertips

          Thoughts uncovered, gleaming tricks

          Painting breathing pictures

 

There’s life in there and I want to be in it

Successful, happy, playing, sappy

Painting as a medium

To mark up the world

 

          Moving in with visions blurred

          Setting color, feeling stirred

          Fast and steady, strong but light

          Darkness under, shifting sight

 

Let’s mark up the world with our hands

Our stories, our songs, our riddles and rhymes

You make one, and I’ll figure it out

I’ll take it in my mind, turn it around and spit it out

 

          Feeling something changing course

          Rearranging things rehearsed

          Laughing inside, sharing some

          On the outside, bearing none

 

Let’s take all the colors we know

And rub them between our fingers

And run them together so that they move

Secure, and sure, and curious

 

          Feeling with a touch of paint

          Messy mending, no restraint

          Chaos quickly comes around

          Grounded in its structured sound

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          by: Madelyn Morgan

 

 

 

GOLDS

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When I get off the morning tram

I look around to see my man

He's standing tall against the sky

I smile at him and start to cry

 

I say to him, how came I then

To be your love and stay your friend

It wasn't very long ago

That you first, shyly, said hello

 

Let me soon become your wife

To build with you a precious life

We'll live together all our days

Until the golds fade into grays

 

He said to me, I love you now

You're all the world to me, somehow

I'll never need another friend 

With you beside me till the end

 

When you soon become my wife

You'll build with me a precious life

We'll live together all our days

Until the golds fade into grays

 

We'll live together all our days

Until the golds fade into grays

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          by: Madelyn Morgan

 

 

 

LET THEM DO THE CLEARING

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I lately heard a song that sounded harsh but felt complete

Its lyrics were the layered kind its melody was sweet

 

At first the voice before the rhyme was grinding to my ear

but when I stopped to listen I again rewound to hear

 

I rewound again to hear the truth behind the rhyme

It was a rhyme I didn’t know for it was his not mine

 

But good it was to hear a simple story plainly told

It had no face or form attached and yet a heart unrolled

 

To hold on to a feeling, and to let it be expressed

To give it up to music then to leave it there undressed

 

Is the fortune of a person easily inclined

To take up pen and paper then to let them clear his mind

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          by: Madelyn Morgan

 

 

 

STUCK IN PLACE

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Stuck in place

Same thing day after day

Ride the elevator look at phone

Ignore the crowd you don’t know

But you see them every day

 

Go outside

See how the world is wide

You are lonely in your box, I know

There is much more to show

Than the things we choose to see

 

It’s really nice when you look up to smile

It’s really cool when we can all just smile

 

A friendly hello

And then we will go

Our ways

 

Push and shove

Climb to see from above

Seven billions of lives entwined

Make room and you will find

There’s air enough to breathe

 

Water, land

Bend to kneel on the sand

Barefoot all together

Bow to pray

That we might see a day

As beautiful as this

 

It’s really nice when you look up to smile

It’s really cool when we can all just smile

 

What is left?

The life of love in every breath

The sweet singing of a gentle phrase

The rich youth of cherished days

 

Or will we fade into the sound of wasted words and empty repetition?

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          by: Bella Ward

 

 

 

CANARY IN THE COAL MINE

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Every now and then, a gracious rain will grant a parched field one long, cool drink

Every now and then, a brave little blossom will peek out of its cold, sidewalk slumber

Every now and then, an expired heart will persist in its delicate rhythm

Every now and then, a great and noble tree will make its mighty fall to the earth 

 

And every now and again, mankind, in its slaving daze of routine, 

With its loud activity so deafening to the human senses, and its bright ego 

Illuminating all that is common and cheap, 

Again misses the gentle calls of its Mother, 

Of the small parts of her that have not yet been eroded away by the noxious winds and waters of the material

 

Again beats the flesh

Again poisons the tongue

Again incarcerates the mind

Again takes Again forgets Again doubts Again there aside and watches 

While its own intelligent and wise and civil hands tear apart all that is good in a family.

 

Like the pinching of a candle, or the last drop of water.

 

Like the canary in the coal mine, when through the darkness it meets something heavy

And in the solitude of its fate the alarm in its sweet song goes unaided, 

Until the breath in its lungs is extinguished

And, beholding the perished body in that dark and small chamber, one might begin to feel the compression of the dense rock above, and the bitterness of the air, and just as one begins to dream of forgotten sunbeams, there comes along a panicked and uneasy breeze

​

          by: Bella Ward

 

 

 

PASSING FEAR

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When you see me there without a care do you know that I notice you watching me?

Do I write my book based on your look with my conscience fervently knocking?

 

When I shake your hand do I feel the man that you’ve worked your whole life to be?

Or will I only know the comedy show that holds you bound – unfree.

 

Will I know you after we’ve talked a while, or will I remain in the dark?

Will I want to believe in all you achieve or patiently smile at your lark?

 

When we become friends will our friendship depend on the pretty things that we can’t see,

Or will I know you, and will you know me, in candid vulnerability?

 

When you look to me—do you see a dreamer with starry nights in her eyes?

Or do you see a strong believer in firmness as she flies.

 

When I look to you, do I see your inner, untouched by fearful lies?

Or do I see a rough beginner, bravely relinquishing tries.

 

Our stories are but what we show

How different they are from what we know

How can we uncover our honesty, and how can we simply be?

 

          Our stories are not only things that we show,

          For what little we show is not all that we know—

          Is the truth I see a reality, do I show you the realness in me?

 

Our stories—they are so much more than we show…

They’re all that I see, they’re all that you know.

 

Am I the girl who is always near, or the whirl that you cannot hear?

Are you the one who will change my fear, or just a passing cheer?

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          by: Madelyn Morgan

 

 

 

SHANTI

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Her devotions were crystallized inside of her

They were formed under intense heat and pressure

Deep inside the Arkansas landscape

Landscape of her childhood

She holds so much love

 

Her past where the crystals were formed

Was just like anyone’s past

She lived in that time as everyone does

Spinning in the wake of her parent’s thread

Spinning, falling, holding on for dear life

To the ones she loved

 

She loves so big

This girl loves so wide that sometimes her care

Breaches the limits of reason

 

She gives of herself

Gives and gives until she has no care left 

To tend to the spark

Of her own persistent flame

 

Yet she persists, she transfers her warmth

To others, busily neglecting

The diamonds shivering just below

Her calm and clear and steady surface

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          by: Madelyn Morgan

 

 

 

EMMANUELLA

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Whenever I see the sunset I think of you standing right beside me

Your hair is as bright as the sun and shines like the stars

When the morning comes again I can't wait to see your face

Your face is more beautiful than every star in the sky

And every sunset there ever was

 

Seeing you smile I see a rainbow because your smile is full of color

Hearing you sing brings happiness for all to hear

Your voice is a song that is waiting to be sung

 

You have the grace of an angel and when you are dancing everyone cheers

Because when you dance you are beautiful

You are beautiful to me

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          by: Elise White