Kayla

I.
I was a replacement child;
Born to fill the void.
The times of sadness
Were no more.
Born in a mountainous region,
My birth brought joy to all.
The room was full of smiles,
And my grandfather was proud all the while.
He stood;
Grinning from ear to ear
As he always would
Whenever he was proud of me.

II.
I’m looking through the glass
At the world around me.
A river runs through the backyard.
The Canadian geese fill the air
With their shrill honks.
The moose stand in the middle
With their noses in the air.
They turn their massive heads
To eat the lush, green
Of the willows.
Serenity.
My home.

III.
A friend.
A teacher.
A mentor:
My sister.
A guardian.
A saint.
A blessing:
My sister.
Trusting.
Honest.
Beautiful:
My sister.


IV.
My favorite pastime:
Tennis.
Rain or shine,
You can find me on the nearest court.
Backhand.
Forehand.
Volley.
Lob.
The Wilson drifts over the net.
Into the back corner.
Victory.


V.
My bestest friend.
She’s a fighter.
A winner.
We grew up together.
We share the same mind;
The same thoughts.
Her troubles are my troubles.
If she is in pain,
I am in pain.
Her family is my family.
My family is her family.
We are sisters.

VI.
I love basketball.
The ball spins through the air;
A rainbow of sorts.
It hits the backboard.
Circles.
Endless.
All eyes fixated on the perfect ring.
Goes in.
A loud gasp
And the crowd cheers.

VII.
My grandfather’s house:
A children’s playground.
A big yellow slide
That never ends.
An old, rusting swing set against the shed
Reminds me of younger days.
The hammock, now destroyed,
Was once new
And the center of everyone’s attention.
Caught in a web,
We all giggled with joy.

VIII.
I feel like an only child.
My sister has left the house.
We were once so close,
But now she is far away.
She has a new life
With new opportunities.
The one she lives now
Is a world different than mine
With glassy skyscrapers
And heavy traffick,
But I do love my Montana.

IX.
Some might say
They love the sunshine.
I do,
However I prefer the rain.
The rain is good for lots of things:
Dancing.
Singing.
Playing basketball
(One of my favorite things to do).
It washes away yesterday
And leaves the promise
Of a tomorrow.
A new day.
Cleansed.
Fresh.
Free.

X.
Fill your cup with paint.
Any color.
You choose.
Become your character.
Absorb that color.
You are now a different person.
When you are on stage,
You are not yourself.
I love these funny anecdotes
That we must do
Before we perform
In a play.

The Dream

The rain was a torrential downpour.
It woke her from her dreamless sleep.
She got up to explore
But fell back asleep.

Her dream consisted of imaginary things:
Mystical unicorns, elves, and dragons,
Beautiful birds with red-tipped wings.
She would be sad when she awakened.

She woke up all too soon.
She wished she would have never woken up.
She felt as if someone had taken a pin to her balloon
And then it blew up.

She hoped she would dream of that place again,
But she didn’t know when.

Summer

The rays of the sun shine down upon my head.
I let out a sight of contentment.
The sunburn on my arm is blood red
And vibrant.

I wade into the shallow water
And let it surround me.
In the distance I can see a sleek, brown otter
Crawling towards the shade of the great, green tree.

The ants tickle my toes,
And I flick them away.
A day like this helps me to forget my woes
And keep them at bay.

The sky turns to pink and purple with the sunset.
A day like this is something I won’t forget.

Mental Tennis

My head is spinning.
I’ve worked so hard.
Right now I’m winning,
But I always play the mental card.

I focus my eyes on the yellow ball.
It’s coming fast.
There is no time to stall,
And I don’t want to be surpassed.

I take a deep breath in and out.
The air is fresh and cool.
My opponent is worn-out.
This time I didn’t have to play the fool.

I fill with accomplishment as I hit the final blow.
I put a smile on my face and everybody can see that I am aglow.

Poetry Appreciation Week #2

I chose "Why Nobody Pets the Lion at the Zoo" because it has a fun rhyming scheme and a positive message about human nature. I thought this poem was fun for everyone. I chose "Arithmetic" as my number two because it makes you think, and it is humorous. I chose "Summons" as my number three because oftentimes I never want to sleep because I feel like I will miss out on something. There's so much I want to do in life and little time to do it. The second and third peoms probably only appeal to adult audiences. I liked all three because they have a deeper meaning and may teach a lesson.

Poetry Appreciation Week

Why Nobody Pets the Lion at the Zoo

by John Ciardi

The morning that the world began
The Lion growled a growl at Man.

And I suspect the Lion might
(If he’d been closer) have tried a bite.

I think that’s as it ought to be
And not as it was taught to me.

I think the Lion has a right
To growl a growl and bite a bite.

And if the Lion bothered Adam,
He should have growled right back at ’im.

The way to treat a Lion right
Is growl for growl and bite for bite.

True, the Lion is better fit
For biting than for being bit.

But if you look him in the eye
You’ll find the Lion’s rather shy.

He really wants someone to pet him.
The trouble is: his teeth won’t let him.

He has a heart of gold beneath
But the Lion just can’t trust his teeth.






Arithmetic

By Carl Sandburg

Arithmetic is where numbers fly like pigeons in and out of your head.Arithmetic tell you how many you lose or win if you know how many you had before you lost or won.Arithmetic is seven eleven all good children go to heaven -- or five six bundle of sticks.Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from your head to your hand to your pencil to your paper till you get the answer.Arithmetic is where the answer is right and everything is nice and you can look out of the window and see the blue sky -- or the answer is wrong and you have to start all over and try again and see how it comes out this time.If you take a number and double it and double it again and then double it a few more times, the number gets bigger and bigger and goes higher and higher and only arithmetic can tell you what the number is when you decide to quit doubling.Arithmetic is where you have to multiply -- and you carry the multiplication table in your head and hope you won't lose it.If you have two animal crackers, one good and one bad, and you eat one and a striped zebra with streaks all over him eats the other, how many animal crackers will you have if somebody offers you five six seven and you say No no no and you say Nay nay nay and you say Nix nix nix?If you ask your mother for one fried egg for breakfast and she gives you two fried eggs and you eat both of them, who is better in arithmetic, you or your mother?




Summons

By Robert Francis

Keep me from going to sleep too soon
Or if I go to sleep too soon
Come wake me up.
Come any hourOf night.
Come whistling up the road.
Stomp on the porch.
Bang on the door.
Make me get out of bed and come
And let you in and light a light.
Tell me the northern lights are on
And make me look.
Or tell me clouds
Are doing something to the moon
They never did before, and show me.
See that I see.
Talk to me till
I'm half as wide awake as you
And start to dress wondering
whyI ever went to bed at all.
Tell me the walking is superb.
Not only tell me but persuade me.
You know I'm not too hard persuaded.

Changed

Charlie lived his life doing the same thing day after day. Every morning he woke up on the right side of the bed and had two pieces of toast and one egg for breakfast. After that, he would take a shower and put on a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. He always wore white socks and the same old white shoes everyday. It was obvious that Charlie was afraid of change. He had lost all his friends because they couldn’t stand doing the same thing day in and day out.
One day, Charlie woke up and realized something was missing in his life. He didn’t know what, so he continued on with his boring routine. That night, before he went to bed, he decided he would embrace change.
The next morning he woke up on the left side of the bed and had two pieces of toast with grape jelly and a bowl of cereal. He dressed himself in shorts with a blue T-shirt. He put on green socks and a brand new pair of tennis shoes. He called up his old friend Bob and invited him over. Bob greeted him with a hug and forgave him for all the years that he wasted. Then Charlie and Bob went out for dinner. When they got there, Charlie immediately took notice of a cute, young woman sitting alone. It took him awhile to gain his composure, and some courage, but he finally asked her to join them for dinner. She accepted. Her name was Mary, and Charlie liked her from the very beginning. She loved his outfit and agreed to go on a more formal date with him. Charlie was glad that he took a risk to change.

The Procrastinator

Katrina was a smart girl who always got her homework done on time. She worked hard in everything she did. The first thing she did when she got home was do her homework. Even on days that she had drama practice or tennis practice, she always got her homework done. Most nights she would stay up until the early hours of the morning just to finish her tremendous pile of schoolwork. She would wake up five hours later to get ready for another day of school.
One day, for her creative writing class, the teacher, Mrs. Hunt, assigned three parables for the class to write.
“You have five days to write them. They’re due on Friday.”
Katrina thought that was easy enough. She had finished all her previous assignment with a couple days to spare. She figured she could write them in no time. As the week progressed, she had only written parable that made absolutely no sense. At this point, she began to worry. Justina had finished all her parables before the second day, and Kailey already had a great start on hers. They were starting to make her look bad.
It was the day before the assignment was due, and Katrina was freaking out. She already had so many other things to worry about and a lot of other work to do. What made things worse was that she had a tennis match that day. The tennis meet would consume all her time after school, and she began to wonder how she was going to get everything done. In a panic, she thought about her options. Maybe Justina would be nice enough to write one for her…. No, that wouldn’t work. She couldn’t think of anything else but to just do it on her own with any spare time that she may have. The only time she had was in study hall that day. She immediately ripped out her notebook as soon as the bell ran. Her hand was screaming across the paper as she tried to finish a parable. The paper was covered in blotchy handwriting, but at least she had something to turn in the next day. That night, after tennis, she went home and worked on the other two all night. They were not good at all. Katrina was worried for the next day because she knew she did horrible on the assignment.
Before she knew it, she was sitting in her creative writing class and had to read her work aloud. She tried to hide her face as it grew hot with embarrassment. As soon as she was done, the kids laughed at her, and Mrs. Hunt said, “That was poop. You did not take your time on the assignment. You fail the class.” Katrina cried and never went back to school.
You should always take your time and do your best.

The Race

Once there was an old, rich man who had two sons. His oldest son, Joseph, was obsessed with money. He would like cheat, and steal to get what he wanted. The old man’s other son, Jachob, had many friends and was well liked by the community.
One day, the old man realized he was getting too old and didn’t have much time left, so he organized a race for his two sons. The first one that would cross the finish line would inherit all his money and land. Joseph was very excited by this. He could just see himself winning the race and rolling in the money. The people in the crowd would surround him and congratulate him. On the other hand, Jachob was not concerned about the race at all. He already had all he could ever want: great friends and family.
It was the day of the race and both boys were on the starting line. As soon as the buzzer went off, Joseph pushed his younger brother to the ground and ran ahead. Jachob slowly got back up, but, by this time, Joseph had already won the race. Joseph was throwing his arms in the air with glory, but nobody was there to congratulate him. Everybody was gathered around Jachob helping to brush off the dirt.
In the end, Joseph was very lonely and not even his money could help him. Jachob had no money, but he had friends that were willing to help.